On January 13-18, Senator Mitch McConnell is going to Burma. After he returns, he has requested that Crescent Hill Baptist Church host a community meeting so that he can meet with folks from Burma and those in Louisville concerned about what is happening in Burma. The Senator wants to share his thoughts on what he saw in Burma and to get feedback, particularly from folks from Burma, about what changes they would like to see occur there. The meeting will be held, Saturday, January 21, at 10:00am.
Also, that weekend...
US Campaign for Burma’s Myra Dahgaypaw to Visit CHBC:
Will Speak During Sunday School Hour on January 22nd
Myra Dahgaypaw will be with the CHBC family the weekend of the McConnell meeting. Myra will be meeting with the community from Burma in Louisville that weekend. She will lead a discussion about what is taking place in Burma at the moment in the sanctuary during the Sunday School hour beginning at 9:30 am on January 22. She is also available to speak to students, groups, etc. on Monday, January 23. Please let Jason Crosby, jasonwcrosby@chbcky.org, know if you are interested in securing Myra to come speak to your group.
Myra Dahgaypaw is a Karen human rights activist from Karen State, Eastern Burma. She was an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) for more than a decade and a refugee for 17 years until she fled to the United States. Myra lost many of the people she knows including but not limited to her own immediate family members, close relatives and close friends due to the oppression, torture, and killing by the Burmese troops.
She has been a community organizer and a committed Burma human rights advocate for over a decade. Myra has spoken at many schools, universities, and conferences about the situation in Burma throughout the US. She has also testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which had convened a Congressional hearing on human rights abuses in Burma in April 2009.
After working as a Burmese human rights advocate at the United Nations for almost four years with the Burma Fund UN Office, Myra is now working with the U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB) as the national campaigns coordinator. USCB is an organization dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to rally for human rights and to bring an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.
During her leisure time, Myra is passionately advocating for the Burmese refugee rights in the United States. She spends most of her weekends visiting, counseling, and educating the Burmese communities in and around the Northeast region. Myra is a member of the Karen Women’s Organization, a board member of the Karen American Communities Foundation and a Carl Wilkens Fellow with Genocide Intervention Network.