MAI JA YANG, Kachin State — Nomin clears his throat to translate. “He says it is a Biblical concept that the first crop must be shared in this way. In Kachin culture, we also have a traditional Thanksgiving.”
The pastor smiled politely. “All year we plant everything we need and then we bring our crops to church and praise God. Here we bring together our strength and what we have as a people. We call it Nlung Nnan Sha Poi—the first rice festival.”
A line of smiling Kachin musicians greeted the congregation at the gate of the Mai Ja Yang Baptist Church. The sound of bamboo flutes, an iron bell and marching drums set a festive tone.
Children ran around the courtyard and others shot marbles amid the polished Sunday shoes and flip-flops. The courtyard buzzed with laughter as people shuffled to the immaculate church. Everyone stopped at one of the wood alms boxes to drop in a few Chinese yuan or Burmese kyat before crossing under a flower draped archway.
Inside, nearly 800 people looked toward a high stage covered with bouquets. At the foot of the stage was a cornucopia of rice stalks, tamarind, sugar cane, squash, orchids, roses, eggs, ginger, cherry tomatoes, mandarins, marigolds, pomegranates, dragon fruit, corn, a carved melon candle holder, and a Bible. The offerings were beautifully arranged by loving hands.
“We can eat this entire stage!”said a Kachin woman, gazing at the display.
The festivities offered a well-deserved break to the villagers' daily toil. In Kachin State, the average income is about US $1 a day, and as an ethnic minority, rural villagers are marginalized to the lowest level of poverty. Living on the border of China's Yunnan Province, most Kachin in Mai Ja Yang depend on two things: selling their sugar cane crop and the meager civil services provided by a revolutionary political organization that struggles against the military government.
Fifteen years ago, after 46 years of civil war, the regime proposed a ceasefire. In the name of stability and development, the Kachin Independence Organization established an autonomous zone on a range of hills the size of the Gaza Strip and started to rebuild hospitals, teacher training colleges and churches.
Burma's military government, the State Peace and Development Council, began to sell off the remainder of Kachin State to foreign investors who bought up rights to mining, logging and hydropower dams. Chinese laborers took much of the work, the SPDC took the wealth and the Kachin people got leftovers.
Kachin villagers are usually lumped into the “armed ethnic groups” category, frequently mentioned after political prisoners and pro-democracy activists. There are few opportunities for Kachin, especially those living behind rebel lines. Pair this with a history of wicked oppression and limited contact with the outside world, and you can begin to understand the plight of the Kachin today.
As one young woman put it, “We are a forgotten people, but we know who we are.”
The students of Mai Ja Yang's Intensive English Program (IEP) had prepared their holiday offering all week. In a drafty cement hall under the flickering light provided by the Chinese power company, 56 students will sing “Praise Ye Jehovah.”
But these students bring more than a simple hymn of praise. In a way, the IEP students are themselves an offering to the community. English is a major step toward realizing a better career and more thriving communities.
“I want to be a teacher so I can help my community develop,” said one student. “There are many poorly educated people in Kachin. I want them to develop their lives. I want to serve my country as well as I can.”
To open the day's festivity, the IEP students carried handwoven baskets lined with flowers and grain and brimming with fruit and vegetables.
“Every family has brought a basket for the church,” Nomin said. “Every family has a garden and they bring a lot of things. The baskets are offerings to the pastors and the deacon and their families. It will also go back to the people. ”
Following the musicians around the church and down the isle, the students placed their offerings at the foot of the stage. The floor swelled with baskets, displaying the natural wealth of the farming community for all to see.
Children from the primary school took the stage, each holding a vegetable or fruit. One by one they said a few words praising the land.
Standing beneath the words “The Lord loves those who give with a cheerful heart,” the pastor read from “Psalms.” He spoke about thankfulness and encouraged the congregation to give, not out of duty or to be seen as someone of status, but to give through sacrifice and happiness.
