BurmaNet News, November 4-6, 2006

[Editor]

November 4-6, 2006 Issue # 3081


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: Gambari might not meet Suu Kyi: Analyst
BBC: Burma's NGOs face pressure from the government
Xinhua: Myanmar to step up measures against child exploitation
AP: Report: Politics keep Suu Kyi's personal doctor away from her for 2
months
Irrawaddy: Crime wave brings calls for insurance cover

ON THE BORDER
The Times: The 'giraffe woman' who cast off her brass coils
Mizzima: Angelina Jolie meets Burmese refugee women

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Migrant women workers denied health care

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar, South Korea to cooperate in forestry

REGIONAL
Xinhua: Lao PM to visit Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Haiti, Myanmar and Iraq most corrupt: Transparency International
The Daily News: Part of the American melting pot

OTHER
ABC: Burma agrees to humanitarian project guidelines

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 6, Mizzima News
Gambari might not meet Suu Kyi: Analyst - Mungpi

The United Nations undersecretary for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari,
who is scheduled to visit Burma during this week, is likely to avoid
meeting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a Burmese
analyst.

Win Min, a Burmese analyst based in Thailand, said the UN envoy, who is
visiting Burma for the second time this year, might not meet detained
Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi but would rather emphasize on
pressing the military junta to kick start the stalled national
reconciliation process.

"Since Gambari wants to revive the national reconciliation process, there
is a possibility that he will meet only junta leaders and pressurize them
for the process," said Win Min.

Given that Gambari has already met Suu Kyi during his previous visit, he
may rather want to prioritize other issues such as release of other
political prisoners, less restriction on UN agencies, and scaling down of
hostilities in Karen state, added Win Min.

Kyaw Hsan, the junta's information minister, during a press conference on
Thursday said, "Gambari will only meet State leaders because he was
invited by State leaders
 Mr Gambari has never asked us about visiting Daw
Suu Kyi or Min Ko Naing."

Kyaw Hsan further said that Gambari will probably visit the ongoing
National Convention in Nyaung Hna Pin about 30 miles north of Rangoon.

Win Min said, "Than Shwe, for sure, is trying to use Gambari's visit to
get support for the seven-point roadmap, by encouraging Gambari to visit
the National Convention."

____________________________________

November 4, BBC Burmese Service
Burma's NGOs face pressure from the government

Students say Shwedagon Pagoda Trustees have made a complaint about the
prayer service due to the government's pressure

Non-governmental organisations can not operate freely from the
government's pressure, claims the 88 Generation Students group.

Ko Mya Aye, one of the student leaders, told the BBC Burmese Service that
the Trustees of Shwedagon pagoda made a complaint with the police about
the students' prayer service after the chief of police mentioned the event
in the press conference.

The students group managed to hold Kathina ceremony at a Rangoon temple
but they were denied to perform the ceremony at sacred place.

Ko Mya Aye said this was unusual and the monks were being careful not to
disappoint the authorities.

____________________________________


November 5, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to step up measures against child exploitation

Myanmar will step up measures  against child exploitation by establishing
two special task forces to monitor such crime committed in upper and lower
parts of the  country, said a report of Monday's Myanmar Times
pre-published on  Sunday.

In line with the goal of the United Nations Convention on the rights of
the Child (UNCRC) and Myanmar's Child Law, the task forces will be formed
for Yangon and Mandalay regions to protect children from violence, abuse,
neglect and exploitation, and to help care for orphans and street
children, the report said.

The task forces will also focus on protection against commercial sexual
exploitation, it added.

Myanmar enacted the Child Law in 1993, followed by the establishment of
the National Committee on the Rights of Child (NCRC) to undertake various
forms of child protection duties.

According to Myanmar army recruitment rule, the age of joining army is
designated at the age between 18 and 25, and the military authorities are
working hard to ensure not to recruit minors for military service.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has trained Myanmar
police officers to deal with young offenders, earlier reports said, adding
that women officers are specially trained to better suit than their male
counterparts in handling child offenders to prevent physical and mental
effects.

The trained police officers would be attached with the establishing
special task forces to deal with juvenile culprits under an action plan
being drafted by the NCRC.

The UNICEF has also launched a survey program since 2004 on street and
working children in Myanmar, aimed at developing measures to protect them
from being abused and exploited in various forms.

In cooperation with two Myanmar ministries relating to social welfare and
labor, the UN agency has reportedly conducted an assessment of children in
three cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Pathein to determine the living
conditions and the vulnerability of them to various forms of abuse and
exploitation.

The agency has carried out training for dozens of social and religious
workers, teachers and caretakers in the two prior cities in 2004 on
protecting children from being deprived of care and from being infected by
HIV/AIDS.

Besides, a study has also been made by the agency on internal and
cross-border migration in five townships in collaboration with an
international non-governmental organization, the World Vision, to monitor
the link between migration and the problem of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is drafting a national plan of action in  line with the
UN agenda "A World Fit for Children" drawn up in 2002 which includes 21
goals focusing on education, combating HIV/ AIDS and protecting children
from being abused and exploited. The agenda is targeted to be achieved
within a decade.

Myanmar became a signatory to the UNCRC in 1991.

____________________________________

November 4, Associated Press
Report: Politics keep Suu Kyi's personal doctor away from her for 2 months

The personal physician of Aung San Suu Kyi says he has not visited
Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader for more than two months because
of political developments in the country, according to state media
Saturday.

The report in The New Light of Myanmar followed reassurances from police
last week that Suu Kyi was well and that her doctor has unhindered access
to her at least once a month.

The newspaper said the doctor, Tin Myo Win, wrote a letter to authorities
saying that he did not visit Suu Kyi in September and October because of
recent political developments including the anniversary of the founding of
Suu Kyi's party and the arrest of five student leaders in September. He
did not elaborate.

The doctor's last visit was on Aug. 24.

Last week, police chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi tried to reassure reporters of
Suu Kyi's condition in response to rumors that the doctor had not been
allowed to see her for more than two months.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has expressed concern over
the persistent rumors.

The Nobel Peace laureate is in virtual solitary confinement at her
lakeside compound in Yangon and is generally not allowed outside visitors
or telephone contact. Tin Myo Win is one of her only connections with the
outside world and, according to the newspaper account, also arranges
things such as house repairs during his visits.

A military junta seized power in Myanmar after suppressing mass
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. It held a general election in 1990
but refused to hand over power after a landslide victory by Suu Kyi's
party.

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 11 of the past 17 years, continuously
since May 2003.

____________________________________

November 6, Irrawaddy
Crime wave brings calls for insurance cover - Khun Sam

Calls for the introduction of insurance against crime are increasing in
Burma as criminality runs riot across the country.

Insurance against criminal acts is not available in Burma, but an official
of the government-operated Myanmar Insurance told The Irrawaddy it was now
being considered as increasing numbers of individuals and business people
were demanding it.

The Flower News weekly journal reported last week that crime—particularly
theft and robbery—were rampant throughout Burma, one of the world’s
poorest countries.

A Rangoon businessman said he and many others were concerned about the
rising crime and wanted crime insurance introduced to cover the risks.

The demand for other forms of insurance, particularly on property, is also
rising, apparently prompted by the devastation caused by the cyclone Mala
which hit Burma’s west coast and Irrawaddy delta earlier this year.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 4, The Times (London)
The 'giraffe woman' who cast off her brass coils - Nick Meo

Mae Hong Son, Thailand: They are known as giraffe women because of their
extraordinary elongated necks, and they have become one of the most
lucrative, and most dubious, moneyspinners in Thailand.

Tourists flock to see the women, whose necks are encased in brass rings
from early childhood. But rebellion is brewing in the so-called human zoos
where they live as virtual prisoners. It began when Zember, 21, decided to
cast off the brass rings.

Contrary to what guides tell tourists, her head did not collapse on
atrophied muscles; but mutiny by the most photo-graphed woman in Nasoi
Kayan Tayar village has provoked spectacular results.

Bitter arguments exploded between young and old generations, the Thai
businessmen who run the camps were furious and worried, and a new role
model was born for a generation of disgruntled women.

When they arrived a decade ago as refugees from Burmese army offensives
ravaging their homeland, the Kayan people meekly accepted their role of
being photographed by tourists. Their daughters, however, have grown up to
question the humiliation of their tribe. Billboards showing the women's
necks are on roadsides all over the north. They advertise exotic
sightseeing for Thai and foreign tourists alike in hill-country villages
-in reality refugee camps that the women are forbidden from leaving -along
the Burma border.

According to different legends the brass coils were to protect wearers
from the bites of tigers in their jungle home in Karenni state, or began
as a tribute to a dragon-mother progenitor. At about the age of 6, girls
are allowed to choose whether or not to put them on. Wearers say that they
are not uncomfortable, although their weight forces the shoulders down,
making the neck look longer.
Zember, whose hand darts constantly to her bare neck, admits that taking
off the rings was a difficult decision.

Business has fallen off at her souvenir stall and her family no longer has
the payments that women receive for wearing the coils, a fraction of the
profits made from selling entry tickets to tourists.

She said: "I want to keep my people's traditions but we are suffering
because of these rings. We are denied education and the authorities will
not let us go abroad, although some of us have been invited to leave for
Finland and New Zealand."

Without work papers or citizenship, the Kayan have little say over what
happens to them. They also face a plan to move their villages to a remote
location on the border with Burma, where they believe they will be at risk
from bandits.

____________________________________

November 6, Mizzima News
Angelina Jolie meets Burmese refugee women

Angelina Jolie, Hollywood actress and goodwill ambassador of the U.N. High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) met Burmese refugee women on Saturday on
her visit to India.

Ms. Jolie was told by a Burmese woman that they fled military-ruled Burma
after her husband was arrested by the junta, said a press statement
released by the New Delhi UNHCR.

The actress also visited the Khalsa Diwan Welfare Society, an organization
run by and for Sikh Afghan refugees in west Delhi. Meanwhile, her son
Maddox, 5-years old played with refugee children from Burma

"I am grateful to the refugee families who spent time with me today and
shared their stories. They are remarkable, courageous people. I want to
thank the people and the Government of India for their longstanding
hospitality to refugees," the press statement quoted Ms. Jolie as
saying.About 1,750 refugees from Burma have been living in New Delhi.

The Hollywood star discussed refugee related issues with Minister of State
for External Affairs Mr. Anand Sharma for about an hour.

Ms. Jolie is in India since last month for shooting the film 'A Mighty
Heart, about the slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl
by Islamic militants in Karachi in 2002.

_____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

November 6, Irrawaddy
Migrant women workers denied health care - Sai Silp

International medical aid agencies have urged the Thai government to
resolve the health problems of woman migrant workers in Thailand who are
denied access to critical medical services.

Médecins Sans Frontières said in a report that many migrant women working
in Phang Nga Province, in south Thailand, can not access medical services,
especially birth control and reproductive health care. MSF runs a medical
and health education project in the area. Most of the women denied
services are Burmese.

“Many of them have to give birth by themselves at home without treatment
by medical staffs,” an MSF report stated.  "Newborn babies do not get
necessary vaccines. Beside that more than 80 per cent of children less
than five years old did not have complete vaccinations.”

Suthipong Kongkhapol of the Migrant Assistance Program, an NGO working
with migrant workers in Phang Nga, said many women are jobless or have
temporary jobs and do not have work permits or health insurance. Many of
their husbands are fishermen.

“The HIV infection in this area is getting higher because of a lack of
health education that could help them learn to protect themselves and
their families,” he said.

The MSF program has provided assistance to migrant workers in Phang Nga
Province since 2004. The number of migrant workers in the province has
risen, partly a result of the increased workforce following the
post-tsunami reconstruction.

The rebuilding of the tourism infrastructure is an effort largely done by
the migrant workforce. Currently, an estimated 50,000 migrant workers live
in the Phang Nga area, of which about 17,000 are registered with the
government. Many migrants fail to seek registration because of the
complicated paperwork and cost of registration.

MSF has asked the Thai government to allow all migrants to register, to
simplify the registration process and to reduce the cost. This would do
much to improve the health of migrant women—and men—who contribute to
Thailand’s economy and society, the report stated.

The MSF statement was released to coincide with a meeting of senior
government officials from the Southeast Asia region November 6-7 in
Bangkok to discuss ways to provide more services for women migrant workers
in Asia through the establishment of an international treaty promoted by
the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The migrant workers' health
issue in Thailand will be discussed at the conference.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 6, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar, South Korea to cooperate in forestry

Myanmar and South Korea are seeking to cooperate in forestry in addition
to agriculture and energy as part of the bid to promote their economic
ties.

According to Monday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar, the
Myanmar-Korea Forestry Cooperative committee met in the new capital of Nay
Pyi Taw last weekend and discussed cooperation in development of forest,
wood-based industry, related human resources, technology sharing and arid
zone greening projects.

Myanmar and South Korea have been engaged in a project of "Specialized
Complex of Agriculture" under mutually beneficial basis to boost the
development of Myanmar's agriculture.

The project, initiated in February this year between the  Myanmar
Agriculture Department and the Chonnam National University and the KBH
Company of Korea, covers undertaking agricultural  research, human
resources development, growing of agricultural  crops on commercial scale
for export, dissemination of  agricultural technique to Myanmar experts
and exchange of  information and communications technology through online
system.

Meanwhile, the South Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will
also fund Myanmar's development programs with 2 million US dollars during
this year, local sources said, adding that the programs cover the sectors
of health, agriculture, ICT, electric power and rail transportation.

Since 1988, KOICA has sent 70 volunteers to Myanmar to engage in exchange
in agriculture, ICT, language and sports with Myanmar experts, while
inviting 700 Myanmar staff to South Korea for training.

Besides, the KOICA is conducting a survey on building a railroad to link
Myanmar and Thailand. The railroad will be constructed in southern
Myanmar, extending from Mon state's Yay township to Thailand.

Myanmar and South Korea have also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the
sectors of energy and mining, set-ting up a joint cooperation committee on
energy and mineral resources at a time when the Daewoo International of
South Korea is concentrating on its investment in the oil and gas sector.

South Korea's direct investment in Myanmar has so far reached 191.3
million US dollars in 34 projects, involving 100 South Korean companies,
since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988, the latest
official statistics revealed.

The figures also show that their bilateral trade amounted to 124.59
million dollars in the fiscal year 2005-06 with Myanmar's exports to South
Korea amounting to 38.63 million dollars and its imports from South Korea
taking 85.96 million dollars.
____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 4, Xinhua General News Service
Lao PM to visit Myanmar

Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh will pay a goodwill visit to
Myanmar in the near future, said an official announcement here Saturday
without disclosing the date of his visit.

Bouasone Bouphavanh's trip to be made at the invitation of Myanmar Prime
Minister Lieutenant-General Soe Win and it is his first visit to Myanmar.

Myanmar and Laos are neighbors and enjoy good bilateral relations. There
are few links of trade and economic cooperation between the two but
frequent exchange of visits at high levels in recent years.

Former Lao Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachit visited Myanmar two times in
August 2001 and in December 2004.

Lao Vice President Lieutenant-General Choummaly Sayasone visited Yangon in
March 2001. During the visits, the two countries agreed to expand
cooperation on economy, trade, culture and technology.

In November 2004, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat
Lengsavad paid an unannounced and brief visit to Yangon to study the
latest developments of Myanmar's situation.

In December 2000, Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
Vice-Chairman Vice Senior-General Maung Aye visited Laos, during which a
protocol on border trade and an agreement on the establishment of
Lao-Myanmar and Myanmar-Lao Friendship Association in their respective
capitals were signed.

In May 2003, Myanmar SPDC Chairman Senior-General Than Shwe paid a state
visit to Laos, during which the two countries signed an agreement on the
promotion and reciprocal protection of investment between them.

Myanmar Prime Minister Lieutenant-General Soe Win visited Laos in November
2004 to attend the 10th summit of the Association of  Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and in April 2005 as the first leg of his three-nation
tour to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Both Myanmar and Laos are members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations as well as the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation.

Besides, Myanmar and Laos have also been cooperating in drug control,
agreeing to prevent trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, and
control banned chemicals.

With the Mekong as their common border, Myanmar and Laos started the
demarcation of their boundary in 1990 under the management of the Joint
Boundary Commission, and have completed the drawing of the Agreement
Relating to the Fixed Boundary between the two countries in the Mekong
river.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 6, Agence France Presse
Haiti, Myanmar and Iraq most corrupt: Transparency International - Deborah
Cole

Haiti, Myanmar and Iraq are perceived as the most corrupt countries in the
world while Finland is seen as the cleanest, a respected global graft
watchdog reported Monday.

Transparency International (TI) said in its annual Corruption Perceptions
Index covering 163 countries that some of the world's poorest nations were
also the most sleaze-ridden, undermining international development
efforts.

"Corruption is still a cold, hard fact of life in the 21st century," the
chairwoman of the Berlin-based organization, Huguette Labelle, told a news
conference.

"The reality is that it compromises the lives of millions of people and we
know, according to the World Bank, that about one trillion US dollars is
lost every year to bribes around the world."

The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen
by business people and country analysts and ranges between zero, which is
highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.

On the 2005 list, the worst levels in perceived corruption were in Chad,
Bangladesh and Turkmenistan.

TI said that corruption was shockingly rampant worldwide with almost
three-quarters of the countries in the report scoring below five,
including all low-income countries and all but two African states.

The worst levels of corruption were seen in Haiti, which scored just 1.8,
followed by Myanmar, Iraq and Guinea, which tied at 1.9.

Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and
Equatorial Guinea rounded out the bottom 10 countries.

Labelle said that because the index is based on subjective perceptions,
the fact Iraq had plummeted in the ratings may be rooted in the bigger
international profile of the country since the US-led invasion in 2003 and
the huge influx of reconstruction funds.

But TI chief executive David Nussbaum said the violence and mayhem
wracking the oil-rich country were clearly hobbling anti-graft and
rebuilding efforts.

"Corruption in Iraq is very bad," he said.

"Because there has been conflict across the country and in this case
chronic conflict, that tends to mean that the things that uphold integrity
in a country are not functioning."

Wealthy democracies topped TI's list, confirming the link between
anti-sleaze efforts and prosperity.

Finland, Iceland and New Zealand scored a near-perfect 9.6, followed by
Denmark (9.5), Singapore (9.4), Sweden (9.2) and Switzerland (9.1).

Norway, Australia and the Netherlands also made the top 10.

TI noted that while industrialized nations scored high on this year's
index, corruption scandals continued to rock many of them.

A significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption was seen in
Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago,
Tunisia and the United States, which dropped to joint 20th place from 17th
last year, with a score of 7.3.

Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius,
Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay showed a marked drop
in graft, TI said.

The organization noted that the index includes only those countries that
feature in at least three surveys, meaning that many nations -- including
some which could be among the most corrupt -- were missing from the list.

TI said many countries' weak performance could be blamed in part on
"facilitators of corruption", often from the West, who help political
elites launder or protect unjustly acquired wealth, including looted state
assets.

"Bribe payers and bribe takers are often brought together by third parties
-- the facilitators who enable the corrupt to steal the wealth of nations
from their citizens," Nussbaum said.

"Without them, large-scale corruption could not happen."

TI called for a number of measures to fight such facilitation including
the adoption of corruption-specific codes of conduct by professional
associations, professional training to ensure honest intermediaries do not
become unwitting accomplices and legal sanctions for professionals who
enable corruption.

It also urged stronger scrutiny of the role of non-transparent financial
centers in aiding graft.

____________________________________

November 5, The Daily News (North Carolina)
Part of the American melting pot - Patricia Smith

Morehead City: At first, Lah Say Gyi couldn't come up with just one thing
he likes most about America.

He and his family, refugees from Myanmar (or Burma), have been in the
United States less than two months, and it is still so new to them.

"They like it all because they never had any of it before," said Chaw Sue,
a volunteer interpreter who has been helping First Presbyterian Church in
Morehead City, the family's sponsor.
But no sooner had she spoken the words than Gyi flashed an impish smile
and brought laughter to the room by pointing to the television set.

Then his wife, Aye May Gyi, told how when she saw the house where her
family would live she thought it was just beautiful.

"It was an exciting moment, they really loved it," Sue explained.

It is a very modest house, really, for Morehead City. Yet it was so
different than the 10-by-10-foot plastic tent that Lah Say and Aye May Gyi
and their three girls occupied for nine years in a refugee camp; so
different from the home they fled in Myanmar, where their Christian faith
was not accepted.

Since 1999, the U.S. secretary of state has designated Burma as a "Country
of Particular Concern" under the Inter-national Religious Freedom Act for
severe violations of religious freedom.

The military government restricts the worship of non-Buddhist minorities
such as Christians and Muslims and actively promotes conversion to
Buddhism, according to a 2006 International Religious Freedom Report
released by the State Department.

The Myanmar military government, which seized power after crushing a 1988
pro-democracy movement, has rejected the U.S. allegations as politically
motivated.

But Lah Say Gyi, through Sue, told a horrifying story of how his family
came to flee to the refugee camp.

They were mountain people, farmers explained Sue, who also came to the
United States in 1997 after fleeing Myanmar.

"They are very gentle people, they don't know anything about politics,"
Sue said. "One day the government came in and just shoot everything and
let everybody run."

And so the Gyi family ran, leaving all their possessions. They ran to a
refugee camp on the Thailand border.

"She told me every day women and children and elderly people, 20 to 30
died," Sue said after Aye May Gyi spoke.

As she interpreted, Sue's eyes welled with tears.

"I had the same boat," Sue said. Except in some ways, for the Gyi family,
it was easier.
"Their valley was close (to the border)," Sue said.

Sue did not want to talk about what she went through, only that she
experienced a "very different time" when she fled from her home in the
middle of the country.

"We wanted to be like a democracy," Sue said. "I never wanted to kill
anyone; I wanted peace."
Every night her mother would read Psalm 91 to her family.

But of the 3,000 that started out in her group, only 600 made it, Sue
said. Malaria, snakebites and starvation took a toll.

The refugee camps offered safety and food, but little else, Sue said.

"It's like a prison because you're not safe outside the camp," Sue said.

Depression and alcoholism run rampant and there is no hope for the future,
Sue said.

For the Gyi family, hope did finally arrive one day when an official asked
them if they would like to go to the United States.

First Presbyterian Church had wanted to sponsor a refugee family for some
time, said Cynthia Capps, co-leader of the church's refugee ministry. They
were able to make it happen through Interfaith Refugee Ministry in New
Bern, which coordinates immigrant resettlement efforts through area
churches.

Interfaith operates under a federal grant that, along with the church, has
provided funding for the family, Capps said.

The Gyis went through a legal immigration process and arrived in North
Carolina Sept. 6.

A church committee of 20 people has been working to provide for their
needs, Capps said. The committee rented a house, provided clothes and food
and are attending to their medical needs.
The three Gyi girls, Lahmay, 14; Khu Khu Htoo, 12; and Sensen, 9, are
enrolled in school, and the parents are learning too.

The church is teaching them basic hygiene, house cleaning and English,
Capps said.
"We hope to have them employed by December," Capps said.

The church is asking the community to help find jobs for them, possibly in
landscaping or house cleaning, Capps said.

In the coming weeks Lah Say and Aye May will start training for these
skills at the Hope Mission soup kitchen and at the church, she said.

"Our goal is to make them self-sufficient, like Sue," Capps said.

Sue makes sushi for one of the local supermarkets.

Neither the Gyis nor Sue believe they will ever be able to return to
Burma. The country has suffered political strife for generations, and even
if a democracy were to come into power, they would not trust it to stay.

They are part of the great American melting pot.

"Our feeling is this is our home; this is our country," Sue said. "We're
willing to take it now."

Contact staff writer Patricia Smith at psmith at freedomenc.com or (252)
808-2275.

____________________________________
OTHER

November 2, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Burma agrees to humanitarian project guidelines - Karen Percy

AM Radio Program

TONY EASTLEY: International aid agencies are hoping for a new era of
cooperation with Burma's military leaders. The generals have agreed to
guidelines for a new humanitarian project aimed at addressing the chronic
problems of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in the isolated country.

Australia has joined the $130 million United Nations-backed fund, which is
expected to start up next year. Previously such programs have all been
plagued with the accusations of corruption and interference by the
military.

The ABC was recently allowed a rare visit into Burma. South East Asia
Correspondent Karen Percy filed this report.

KAREN PERCY: At a monastery in the Burmese capital Rangoon a group of
young monks is doing a jigsaw puzzle. As they fit the pieces together
there is the usual boyish reaction when they see that it shows a man and a
woman in an intimate embrace.

It's part of an education program promoting safe sex and warning against
the use of intravenous drugs. Ordinarily monks wouldn't be in need of such
information, given their vow of poverty and chastity. But the reality for
these boys is very different.

Joanna Hayter is a Burma-based AIDS educator with the Australian disease
research agency, the Burnet Institute.

JOANNA HAYTER: The novices are essentially students. Their families have
enrolled them into a monastic education system believing that education is
really, really important. They don't pay for the monastic education, so
that makes a difference to predominantly very poor families.

So, hundreds and hundreds of these guys are in schools around the country,
based mostly on an education. But it's a wonderful opportunity to talk to
them about sex and HIV and reproductive health and so on, because most of
them won't grow up to be monks. Most of them will go back into a
mainstream society and get up to all the things that young boys get up to
(laughs).

KAREN PERCY: 360,000 people are believed to have HIV/AIDS in Burma. That's
about 1.3 per cent of the adult population. Deepening poverty has made for
a more transient population as people travel further afield to find work.
And long spells away from home have led to a rise in casual sex and drug
use.

Brian Williams is from UNAIDS in Burma.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Responding to HIV is a challenge because it requires
addressing cultural issues, which many societies around the world have a
hard time addressing in a more public forum.

There are issues around sexual behaviour, there's issues around women's
empowerment, women's standing in society, issues around vulnerable
populations, which are often highly stigmatised in a society. And Myanmar
is no exception.

KAREN PERCY: Another challenge is the military regime itself, which in the
past has taken some project money for itself, and put restrictions on aid
activities.

The United Nations is demanding more stringent financial controls on the
Three Diseases Fund for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The regime
also stands accused of adding to the problem by neglecting health
expenditure, especially at a time when oil and gas revenues have boosted
its finances.

Brian Williams again.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Certainly here in Myanmar there are many things that the
Government could do with their own resources, from drug procurement and
medical supplies, more doctors, more staff. So, there's lots that they
could do, and we advocate for that.

KAREN PERCY: Aid organisations are also confronting problems because of
personnel changes within the Burmese Government, says the UN's chief in
the country, Charles Petrie.

CHARLES PETRIE: We've lost contact with the senior leadership and as a
result our ability to argue our point with the regime is consequently
limited.

KAREN PERCY: But even with these difficulties the people on the ground
believe the need is too great to ignore.

This is Karen Percy reporting for AM.