Myanmar!!

Hi everyone. I am using Leslie's Blog to help send out a message about what is going on in Myanmar right now. Please look online to find out more. Leslie and I traveled to Myanmar last April to work with some of the music students at a local musical school called Gitameit School of Music. We also had a chance to work with the National Symphony Orchestra. The students and teachers were all great and we hope to go back sometime soon.

Ever since our trip last April we have been closely following some of the political issues brewing in Myanmar. If you don't know much about it, check out a book called, Letters From Burma by Aung San Suu Kyi and Fergal Keane. Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the leaders in Myanmar that has been advocating for a democratic government, however has been placed under house arrest for years!

It is very tense right now in Myanmar. Recently, there have been mass protests again a government that has been oppressing its people for years. Please go online and read about what is happening there. I think the most important thing right now is to spread the word to people who might not already know about it. Over the last month or so, thousands of revered monks have been marching the streets of Yangon protesting the current government. This is an amazing first step toward making a change in their country. While Leslie and I were there, we heard many first hand accounts from the Burmese people who were frustrated with the current government and yet terrified to speak their minds. There is no free press and no way for them to openly speak out against the government. If they do, the government will find them, arrest them and send them off to jail. Most of the people that have been sent to jail in Myanmar have died so this is a way for the government to install fear into their citizens and it has worked for quite some time. What makes the current protests different is that the protesters are mainly thousands of monks! These are people that are very well respected and they are demanding for a change and a chance for the people of Burma to have a choice. I just read today that the government has decided to crack down on these protests by the monks with tear gas and canes. The military is beating these monks as they are preying. I am completely shocked by this and I just want to spread the word that this is going on. Please have the Burmese people in your thoughts as they fight this oppressive government and pass this on so that other people are aware. Thanks so much!

Dave Hart