Myanmar Journal: Express Delivery
The following thread is being written by a vipassana meditator from the tradition of S.N. Goenka who is currently in Myanmar, who has played a pivotal role in the organization’s mission. For his safety, personal details have been obscured, but he has made it his desire that his observations be read by meditators everywhere. Please note that we are now able to ensure donations reach this person as well as the community he is supporting. Please consider making a contribution.
Today we had a small package that we needed to pick up in a neighboring township, about a 15 or 20 minute drive from where we are located. For reasons not to be mentioned it was necessary that I receive the delivery which for safety reasons is something I have not done before. Before leaving we carefully checked with others to try and get a feel for the situation along the roads I would have to travel. From everything we were able to learn the circumstances were looking very favorable which was a relief to all of us especially myself and driver.
This was my first opportunity I believe in weeks that I was able to go beyond the boundaries of our Quarter and I was shocked by what I saw, or more specifically, what I didn’t see. Along the entire route I did not see a single soldier or policeman. I was amazed, confused and quite relieved. Not in the least what I had expected.
Arriving at the destination I picked up the parcel but was shocked to see that the package was much larger than we assumed it would be and certainly of a size that could not easily be hidden in the car. We were left with no choice but to place the package on the floor between my legs. We were not terribly concerned because of the lack of any presence of soldiers or police along the way.
So, off we went and when we got closer to home we began to see a larger presence of troop transports but as we were just 5 minutes from home we didn’t think too much about it. While I am looking out to the side of the passenger window the car suddenly jerks and we are in a full speed U-Turn. I have only a second to look but that was long enough to see that since we passed 30 minutes earlier now a large checkpoint had been established! Neither the driver or I said a word. I could see that he was afraid and in deep concentration trying to figure out another route home. We were so close!
Limiting ourselves to smaller roads I was shocked to see so many troop transport vehicles that were nowhere to be seen just 30 minutes ago. We knew that we had 1 unavoidable place to pass where there are always soldiers posted so I was in a sweat while the driver remained quite cool. We were quickly approaching the difficult area and I am trying to think how I could possibly hide the package and was unable to come up with any idea other than to just keep it at my feet. 100 yards ahead we could see the military post but we were relieved to see that vehicles were not being stopped. In fact, where there were typically 6 or 8 soldiers now there were only two which in itself was very strange. To our great relief we were not stopped and ditching to side rides we finally made it back safely.
Arriving back home we were amazed to learn that road blocks had been established in many areas throughout the city and all cars were being stopped and thoroughly searched from front to back and underneath. We heard of a couple of instances where cars tried to avoid the road blocks by turning around and in some cases these cars were photographed and even shot at. In one instance while shooting at a fleeing car a pedestrian along the sidewalk was also shot. We heard she was killed but we have not been able to confirm that she died.
To this day we don’t know what exactly the regime was looking for but apparently they heard of some thing or things being smuggled into the city. In all, it was a valuable lesson. Given the size of the package we picked up I never should have accepted it. In the future we need to take much better care.