No Name Place and They All Stuck Together

The group is led by Black Spot to the Karen tribal villagers after an arduous climb into the remote forested and tropical hill-country of Burma. As they near their destination they cross a deep ravine by means of a handmade rope suspension footbridge, which is then let down and hidden until needed. (The friends are still unaware that they have been kidnapped… what trust!)

They are treated like royalty since the villagers believe that Rupert is the missing “messiah,” returned as promised, with the book of Important Writings to protect them from the violence of military soldiers, who search for them.

I had trouble engaging with these chapters on several levels, which I won’t go into here. What distracted me, though, as a result of the political reading of the book, is the current media news all this March and into April, of Buddhist monks protesting against the Chinese government in Lhasa. The monks have come from Thailand, Tibet, Burma, and within China itself:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/29/MN2KVSAJ5.DTL&hw=Buddhist+monks&sn=004&sc=293
(Go to sfgate.com, enter Buddhist monks in search box, for all continuing coverage.)

What can we do? How can we help? Boycott goods from China? Send money? Find activist groups? It is troubling to be made aware of the violence and suffering of people without participating somehow in support…isn’t it?