Those who are fighters in the trenches, literally or otherwise, will find my report on Kachin State anywhere from mildly to wildly inaccurate and unrepresentative of the real situation there. I have never been to Kachin State, or Myanmar, or any of the surrounding countries of Southeast Asia. I have never witnessed the atrocities of the fighting men of Burma (Myanmar today). I have never experienced anything like the life-style of the mountain people struggling for their existence as a people there. I am simply an observer from afar, and apologize up front for my dependence on meager and probably inadequate sources of information.

I know also that there are the theological types who will be critical of the whole premise of persecution in Kachin because, as will be pointed out, much of what happens in Northeast Burma is political and has seemingly nothing to do with the church. They will suggest that many of the people dying there were Christians in name only.

I imagine some of that is true. I also imagine your own family has people like that, and your church and your community. But when the blood begins to spatter on the sidewalks of our towns here, it will be difficult for us to ignore the reality of the trauma that is occurring. And even if 9 out 10 of the people falling are not your spiritual brothers, I am certain you will not be able to look on the scene without terror filling your heart, as you rush to find a way to stop the bloodbath, and to save your family and your neighbors, the rest of them.

I ask that you view Kachin State through that lens, the lens of neighbor-loving, massacre-avoidance, personal tragedy, as though it were your own person affected, and allow God to be the judge of who knew Him and who didn't. Kachin State is a horrific tragedy and needs Christian concern and it needs it today, now.

I have found in this research a mystery, a lot of history, and an opportunity for God's people to react.

I. The Mystery.

There are probably many unsolved mysteries about the Kachin. But the one that troubles me the most at this writing, is, why am I just now hearing about the Kachin people? Where have I been all this time when their history was developing? I have worked with the persecuted in one way or another for nearly 30 years. These are largely a Christian people. Why didn't I know about them?

And why has the media by and large ignored the slaughter here and in places like Nigeria, Kenya, the Philippines? Something to do with American interests not being served by helping folks that live up in the hills of a foreign country? No oil wells? No serious political ties?

Have you heard of these people? Let me share with you the little bit of information I was able to glean from the ever-present internet.

II. Some History.

A. of the Kachin people.

The Kachin people go by quite a few different names. They are called Jingpho, Singpho, Jinghpaw, and more. They live in at least 3 border nations, mainly in northeastern Burma, but also in neighboring China and India. My focus will be on those who live in Burma, or Myanmar, the modern name of that country. One million Kachin live there, as opposed to only 150,000 in China.

Who are they? The various tribal groups that make up the Kachin people do have some clear characteristics: "fierce independence, disciplined fighting skills, complex clan inter-relations, embrace of Christianity, craftsmanship, herbal healing, and jungle survival skills." (Wikipedia)

But not all who live in Kachin State (northeastern-most state of Burma) are Kachin. The territory is home also to Thai and Lao natives, Lisus, Rawangs, Nagas, and the largest ethnic group in Burma, the Burmans. Though some want to call all of these residents of the state, "Kachin", the Kachin tribe itself does not favor such a designation. That is where "Jinghpaw" comes into play. "Jingphaw Wunpawng" means all the residents of the state, wheras Jingphaw used alone refers only to ethnic Kachins.

Confused yet? There's more. In Kachin State people have found 2 ways to categorize the various groups. In one form, you take all the groups that have overlapping territories and similar skills, and you call them a single people. In another form, you go by language only. Very complex. And yet the Jingpo know who they are regardless of the efforts of outsiders to tell them.

Thing is, though, most of the tribes come from the same basic background, despite all the posturing and self-identifying of the groups. We'll leave it at that. Generally speaking, there's this group of people who dwell in Kachin State with similar language, ways, and even religion. We'll call them Kachins for the rest of this report.

The Kachin people can be traced back for many hundreds of years. They lived on the Tibetan plateau, perhaps in Mongolia before that, and gradually worked their way south to their present location, China's province of Yunnan, and Burma.

The Burmese government in time ceded to a number of people, including the Kachin, full autonomy in a special agreement in 1947. The State of Kachin was formed in 1948.

When Burma became independent of Great Britain, tribal conflicts of ancient nature surfaced. One serious problem was the Burman government and its attitude toward the Kachin people. When Burma declared Buddhism to be the national religion of that nation in 1961, an uprising of the Kachins which had already been in progress, escalated.

The Kachin Independence Organization with its military arm formed alliances with other independence groups through the years, but gradually the new government of Burma with its superior army was able to bring the KIO to a ceasefire. This was 1994.

While the KIA laid down its weapons, the Burmese Army continued to strengthen itself, and to this day is causing untold pain and suffering to the residents of the Kachin State. Civil War continues on and off. Serious fighting erupted in 2011 and continued into the next year. 5,580 internally displaced persons arrived at Burmese controlled camps that year. Some people leave the country altogether, never to return. But some refugees, as is the case with the refugee North Koreans, are forced by the Chinese government to go back to their homes, even though the fighting continues.

As of october, 2012, 100,000 "IDP's" were taking shelter in various camps across the State. Perhaps 1,000 died in the conflict.

China enters this sordid picture in other ways, one by deforesting portions of Kachin territory for its own purposes and people. Poverty has overcome the state, and many women and children are being forced into the sex trade of Thailand and other places. Migration of the ethnic Kachins to Thailand and Malaysia is yet another step in the undoing of this once populous territory. But not the final step. These nations often send the Kachins on to a third home in the West, in a process that can take 5-7 years.

It is not a happy thing to be a Kachin in these days.