Greetings,

As most of you will know, when we return to Thailand next year, one of our main areas of focus will be the Karen people that continue to be subject to abuse in eastern Burma. When visiting churches this fall, we have encouraged any who are interested to keep informed of the situation so they can pray more effectively. So we wanted to let you know of a couple new resources that are available over the internet about the situation along the Thai/Burma border. Both of these resources are available on the website of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium at www.tbbc.org.

First, the latest 6 month report of TBBC was put on their site in September. This report has good summaries and maps of the history of the conflict that is producing the refugees and provides a good summary of current conditions and political climate. If you have seen my presentation about the situation in Burma the maps I used came from an earlier version of this report. Since then, the maps have been upgraded. You can find this report by going to the TBBC website above. Toward the bottom of the opening page of the site is a list of "What's New". Looking down the list, you will find a link for the "Latest 6 month report: Jan – Jun 2006. You will need Adobe Acrobat to open this file. Depending on your computer, you should also be able to click on this link: www.tbbc.org/resources/2006-6-Mth-Rpt-Jan-Jun.pdf. It is a large file as the report is over 100 pages.

Of particular note is that the number of refugees being cared for by the TBBC increased by 7,694 over the past 6 months representing the largest 6 month increase in the last 10 years. Currently, 162,906 refugees are being fed, clothed and housed in the 9 camps along the Thai/Burma border. The estimated budget for 2007 to care for all these people is $31.7 million US. During the first half of 2006, 1052 refugees were resettled in third countries. This is much less than expected, mainly due to legislation in the US that delayed processing. The problem has been partially resolved and it is expected that more refugees will be coming to the US soon. By the end of 2006, perhaps 5,000 will have been resettled.

A second report you might find of interest is titled "Internal Displacement in Eastern Burma – 2006 Survey. This survey was also compiled by the TBBC. The Executive Summary hits some of the highlights of this report. During the past year, at least 82,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to attacks by the Burmese army with northern Karen state being the most severely affected. Combined with results of earlier surveys, there have been some 3,077 separate incidents of village destruction affecting over a million people. The link for this report can also be found on the opening page of the TBBC website under "What's New". Or if your system allows click on this link: www.tbbc.org/resources/2006-IDP.pdf. This file too will require Adobe Acobat.

We got started visiting churches in earnest in September. So far we have visited churches in Ohio, southern Indiana, central New York, and North Dakota. On Friday, Duane will leave for a 10 day visit around the Indianapolis area. It is always great to be able to visit you in your churches. I wish we could see everyone but time and distance limits what we can do. Whether we get to see you or not though, we appreciate all you do to make our mission work possible. We are praying for a good World Mission Offering this year and thank you for all your support.

Yours in Christ,

Duane & Marcia Binkley