The Return of the Monks

This is the third jot (see Part I and II) concerning my talk with four monks who escaped Burma in mid-November.

These jots are the first and only English language accounts of their heroic ordeal.

U Sandawara told me he stayed at the poor village monastery for about a month.

He then made his way to Mawaddy, a Burmese town on the border, where he met up with his buddies from the monastery in Rangoon. Together they found their way to a safe house in Thailand. U Sandawara said:

We faced a lot of troubles, and saw great suffering; and then we became confused about what to do after the crackdown. Fortunately we reached the border areas where we were able to make contact with some people. And we got ideas. And plans for future movements.

At this point in our conversation, U Sandawara made this solemn declaration:

We will return to Burma. We will share our convictions and and experiences. We will consult with experienced and knowledgeable monks. We will execute the plan to remove the military system in Burma.

First, we will organize. Not only the monks -- but the ordinary people of Burma. The time has come when even rural townsfolk are ready and willing to participate any next moves against the military regime.

Second, we will organize those monks and folks who did not join in the protests before. Before the protests didn't reach remote places. So now monks are spreading out. We will make the next protest twenty times bigger than the last one. Which means it will be a general protest, a general strike across Burma. It will involve the whole country; all the different regions.

It will be different next time.