Burmese monk waiting to hear from family in Myanmar
MYANMAR CYCLONE | 'WE ALL NEED TO PRAY'
Ashin Ukkamsa, a 35-year-old Burmese monk living at an Elmhurst temple, doesn't know if his parents, three sisters and his brother are dead or alive.
"I don't know the situation of my family, if they are safe or not," he said. "I don't know."
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)
Ukkamsa is one of an estimated 1,000 Burmese in the Chicago area whose families were directly affected by Cyclone Nargis, which left 23,000 dead in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, the U.N. reported Thursday. Another 42,000 are reported missing and an estimated 1.5 million are affected, the group said.
Though the cyclone hit Saturday, the Myanmar government continued to deny much foreign aid, said Jeremy Woodrum, director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
"The situation is fluid," Woodrum said. "It's almost unfathomable that a government would do something like this."
Woodrum estimates there are as many as 100,000 Burmese in the United States.
Local Burmese are holding a prayer service Sunday at the Elmhurst temple where Ukkamsa lives, a service where they also hope to raise $10,000 to send to Myanmar.
"I worry about my family and my friends," Ukkamsa said. "They may have great suffering."
Yan Lwin knows his family in Yangon, the country's largest city, is alive. But there is limited water and electricity and communication is difficult.
"We all need to pray and also help out and do the best we can," Lwin, a physicist and professor emeritus at Western Illinois University, said. "The scale of it is unimaginable."
Peter Burns, 34, is a Quincy, Ill. native who has taught literature and social studies in a Yangon school for four years. After days of hoping for the best, "we finally got a quick [instant message] Tuesday morning," said Mary Burns, his stepmother.
His message was followed by an e-mail from the American embassy saying Peter Burns is likely to be evacuated next week. He was planning on returning once the school year ended.
"Being evacuated like that?" Mary Burns said. "No, that's not what he was planning."
