Falam

Destination Falam

We arrived in Falam around 6pm, it was completely dark and very rainy. Despite those conditions the governor of Chin State was waiting for us at the entrance of the town. We were guided into Falam by the Chin State Police who had met up with us about 20 minutes after we left the Kalay airport so that they might escort us to Falam.

The whole team of officers were waiting for us upon our arrival. This was so unbelievable, I felt so honored and yet I found it a bit too much to have the township leaders waiting in the cold rain for us.

We were able to stay in the government's guest house which was very pleasant. The townships department leaders cooked all our meals and the food was wonderful.

Left: Falam Baptist Church

Prayer

Our first meal, Daniel prayed and thanked the Lord for our meal. However the following day I mentioned to Daniel that I didn't want to bother everyone with a corporate prayer before meal instead for us to just pray on our own before the meal. Shortly after our prayers, the the Minister of religious affairs himself a Buddhist said "why did you start eating and before you pray for us." They wanted Daniel to pray for all their meals and they wanted him to do it out loud. Wow, here we were with the Buddhist community and yet they wanted us to pray to the Living God for them. Daniel complied with their request and he prayed for all of the meals and other occation. Since then Daniel prayed for the minister and the whole group.

left: Daniel Lim was praying for the journey to Hakha

Development

15 September 2008

During the early morning of our second day journey, we had villagers dropped off letters filled with requests for to build or repair schools, hospitals and roads along with many other needs.

One village representative came to me to request for a building of a primary school in his village. I immediately informed the state governor of this need and to our surprise the request was immediately approved.

Above & left: Levi & Chin State Governor (Army uniform)

Above: Local leaders

Falam Hospital

At 11 am, we visited the hospital, which was located on the top of the mountain. This hospital was considered the best hospital in Chin State 20-30 years ago. Even patients from Kalemyo regions went to Falam Hospital to receive medical treatment.

The hospital buildings were not maintained and were not in good shape.

There are a few beds in that Hospital. Beds are really old, only wooden plank without mattress. The hospital did not even have enough bed for the patients.

Samuel was caught cool and so the doctors decided to take x-ray of his chest. This however was no ordinary x-ray, it was a very old machine. There was not any screen viewer or light to view the x-ray film results. Their ingenuity astounded me when I saw that they view the results up to the window where the sun shone in. Samuel noticed how antiquated this was and couldn't quite understand.

What amazed us even more was that this hospital runs a nursing school but is ill-equipped with medicine and equipment.

We were able to make a list of the needs that summed up around $20,000 and shortly after we were able to purchase them. God is so wonderful he supplied all their needs.

Medical Equipments


	Bed

Cement Factory

I came to Chin State with the purpose to help the Chin people in anyway that I can and even to find friends that may be willing invest to develop industry in the Chin state. Since not too far from Falam town there is a limestone deposit that is 10 miles long and the local geologists believed it is perfect for cement production, we were open to visit the site.

The geology department and energy department did some research to find out how they could set up electricity in that region to supply power for the prospective cement factory. The Department of Energy explained to us they have found options on how to get power up to this related area.

The main hurdles in this area is the difficulty of the terrain in Chin state. There are few options for accessibility to the main towns of the Chin State. Airplanes can't land as there is no air-strip and helicopter cannot land due to bad weather and poor visibility and big trucks travelling on those narrow winding roads can be hazardous.

However, I am open to idea of improving the road condition and building new ones in order to help the people but for now I am still unsure how equipment are going to be mobilized up to region especially heavy equipment.

Most inhabitants of Chin state are Christians. There is no source of viable economic activities to sustain the population beyond subsistent means thus Chin people flee from the state in large numbers.

The government invited us to visit the state so that we may find some possible option to help these Chin tribes who are leaving in much poverty and needs. The population of Chin state is approximately 500,000.


	Map of Mable & Hydropower

Tea Plantation

The Myanmar government announced in the newspaper that they wanted Chin State to be known as the Tea plantation state. With this new project in effect, the governor and the minister gave us a tour several tea plantations, which was located in the middle of the forest near Falam city of Chin State.

We visited tea plantations that were surrounded by bushes. During our visit, I was told there were leaches on the ground and the bushes. Every time, I felt something moving on my skin or touching my body, I would scream aloud.

This tea plantation projects in Chin state started about three to five years ago. Some tea plants have grown to about two to three feet high. The tea plantation has taken on an organic approach.

There were also larger trees around us while we walk through the plantation. Sometimes, I observed some shadows behind those trees. Later I realized they were soldiers, police officers and security guards who were fully armed to protect the governor and the minister as well as us.

We had plan to visit a nearby village which had recently received a small scale hydro-electric power generation. Rain in the evening deterred us from making the trip that village.


	Falam Tea Plantation

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