Myanmar: Restoring hope to families of the missing

I have been fortunate to carry out house visits to deliver news to some families here. One that struck me was a family who were unaware of the whereabouts of their loved one for two years. 

We had driven for over two hours to Khayan township in Yangon region, through areas I had not seen before. The buzz of Yangon city was far less around this area. We had a vague address as house numbers were not exactly precise. As we do when searching for people, we stopped a few times to ask for directions and if anyone knew the family we were looking for. The reputation of the ICRC precedes us and people were eager to help us find them, even without knowing why we were looking for the family. 

We had called the family to notify them of our arrival, so they sent someone to the road junction to wait for us. He led us but the car could only go so far. We walked the rest of the way, but not for long. By this time, the family had come out to greet us and we all walked to their house together. The house, located in a swampy area, was made of wooden floorboards and bamboo sticks then held up by stilts.

The family had limited information on the ICRC, so we carried out a dissemination session on our activities. We got to the part of restoring family links and explained that it was the reason for our visit.  We provided a name, asking the family if they knew him and as his name was mentioned, you could see the anxiety on their faces. One of the family members was eager and nudged us to get to the point. We would later find out that she was his sister. When we mentioned that we had news from him, the anxious family was overjoyed to hear that their brother was alive. His sister burst into tears when the team mentioned he had some news. She later told us in relief that when we called his name, her first thought was that the worst had happened, and he was no longer alive. The lack of news from family members takes an emotional toll on those waiting, and it is palpable for the team when we meet with families. 

In another instance, a volunteer we worked with, who ended up being a beneficiary of our activities, fled from fighting in his town with his family. They only had the clothes on their backs. At the time I was speaking to him, he had fled for the fifth time and was planning to leave again, as there were rumours of possible attacks on the current village where they were. But in his words,

I love the work we do of restoring family links as I see the joy it brings to people to hear of their loved ones. I can’t imagine how my life would be without my family with me through this difficult time.

We meet many families like these ones, and testimonials like these reassure me that our work indeed makes a difference.