Burma

I’ve been closely following the news on Burma/Myanmar these days.  Monks are locked up.  People arrested.  Every ten years or so, the people revolt and the government suppresses them.  This has to be one of the scariest regimes on the planet.  This was also once one of the wealthiest Asian countries, now it’s one of the poorest.

I can’t think about Burma without thinking of its gemstones.  And it’s something that continually haunts me.  Gemstone areas are poor.  The miners are poor.  They live in makeshift shacks and the entire family works long hours sifting through water and dirt for valuable stones.  The journey the stone makes from ground to finished jewel has got to be one of the most inflated journeys of any good around. 

I was in Burma in 2006.  In some ways I loved it.  The people were amazing and so hungry for any contact with the outside world.  And I also felt like the government knew every move.  I only saw select parts of the country and I can’t help but wonder about the vast regions of the country that are banned to outsiders.  I wonder about the villages that disappear.  The people who disappear or are relocated.

I can’t help but think of Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader of Burma under house arrest.