Training

Hardly anyone moved between the villages at night. Fighting in Kachin State was constant and soldiers from the Myanmar military patrolled the jungles, stopping anyone they found for questioning. The Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military were in the midst of a civil war that dated back to the 1960’s, but which had intensified since the 17 year long ceasefire broke in 2011. Monitoring groups estimated that upwards of 75,000 people in the region had been displaced by the fighting, with increasing reports of atrocities committed against civilians.

During this time, Chili Lu travelled through Kachin State, meeting with villagers in conflict areas documenting and reporting on the abuses they were suffering at the hands of Myanmar soldiers. Incidences of the military deliberately targeting civilians had been documented, but the fighting made the region extremely dangerous and there were precious few people conducting fact-finding work.

Chili Lu sat with scores of villagers and collected their firsthand accounts of the horrors that had become everyday occurrences in Kachin State. She listened to a woman who fled into the jungle with her 6 month old baby as soldiers swarmed her village, and later received word that her husband had been murdered. She heard stories of neighbors disappeared, carried away by soldiers and never seen again. She met with men who had been forced to work as porters, made to carry heavy loads, facing torture if they refused. Another woman remembered how her whole village watched as her home was burned to the ground. Everyone had seen what had happened, but there was nothing they could do. They were afraid of what retribution would fall on them if they were to talk, and so Chili Lu met with them in secret. By documenting what they told her, she was risking . . .

I am always honored to hear how one of our supporters became acquainted with EarthRights International, and reminded of the many ways our work can affect people. Recently, my good friend Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert, Co-Chair of our board of directors, told our supporters how she discovered ERI. Her story, pasted below, is unique and humbling, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you for everything, Rebecca! And thank you to all of our supporters!

Subject: Why I Support EarthRights International

Dear ERI supporter,

It was just after Christmas, 10 years ago, that I embarked on my first journey East. My grandfather, David Rockefeller, invited my brother and me (age 22 and 24, respectively) to travel with him to Burma. I fell in love -

“The villages of Inlay Lake are so beautiful,” I wrote in my journal. “Light splashes on the houses, dancing with the waves. Corrugated, rust-colored roofs compliment the vast green and blue of water, and everywhere golden pagodas glint or stupas protrude.” I was moved by the people: the school children singing American nursery rhymes; vendors who painted thanaka on my face; my friend Moe Moe, who taught me to say “it’s okay,” (yabade), and “thank you” (jesutimbade).

It was this trip that brought me to EarthRights International, through which my love of Burma and her people has only deepened. Though I have not returned to Burma since that first trip, ERI has given me the opportunity to connect in other ways.

On my first trip with the board, I met the plaintiffs in ERI’s landmark Unocal case, who so bravely told their stories of rape, torture and murder, and won a slice of justice against a goliath U.S. corporation. Talk about speaking truth to power – these men and women are true heroes. Last

. . .