Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

When we pulled up to a chain link fenced in courtyard in front of the building, about one hundred children of all ages rushed near the fence when they saw us coming. These children were starving, and they were scared. A security guard unlocked the gate and we drove inside the refugee camp. Bro Bill, Jerry, Lee, and I walked the halls of the refugee camp, going into every room so we could see firsthand the situation these children and women were facing. Many of them had not eaten in days. The children came up to us with their hands out, hoping we could give them food. Because the military junta government had inadequate food and needed supplies, they hid these families away behind lock and key in this refugee camp so the rest of the world would not know about them. One of our drivers suddenly signaled we must go and go quickly. We scrambled back into our vehicle, put it in reverse, and shot back out of the gate as quickly as possible. The guards closed the gates, clamped the locks shut and motioned for us to leave the property. A blue van marked “POLICE” was about a half a block away. We could see them approaching as we escaped the area. We knew if the police came and caught us in the refugee camp that we would be immediately removed from Myanmar. Or worse, we could be detained by the officials. Our hearts were broken as we thought of the faces of the children who were looking to us to give them food since they had not eaten in days. We knew we could not just turn our backs on them. We quickly headed to an area in town where we had been told we could go to buy food on the black market.

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