women activists of burma, july news

2 articles:

July 22, Mizzima News
Naw Ohn Hla severely injured in car accident

A prominent Burmese political activist Naw Ohn Hla was severely injured in
a car accident on Monday afternoon and is admitted to the Rangoon General
Hospital (RGH) Emergency Ward, a fellow activist said.

Naw Ohn Hla, who regularly held prayer meetings on Tuesdays for the
release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, was severely injured in
a car accident and was reportedly admitted as in-patient at RGH Surgical
Ward, at about 4 p.m. on Monday.

\"She was severely injured in the head and received 17 stitches. And her
left collar bone and rib bone is broken. She was brave enough to talk to
NLD members who visited her at the hospital,\" a member of Burma's
opposition party – National League for Democracy - who visited her, told
Mizzima.

According to the fellow activist, who took her to the hospital, Naw Ohn
Hla was traveling on a Toyota Hylux light truck, Pa/8679, which is used as
public bus on the Taikyi-Rangoon bus Route, at about 2 p.m. on Monday. She
was heading to Aung San village in Hmawbe Township in Rangoon division for
her usual Tuesday prayer meeting and to offer Waso robe and alms to the
monks for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the unfortunately, the bus overturned before reaching Aung San
village, her fellow activist said.

Naw Ohn Hla and another passenger are currently treated as in-patients at
RGH Emergency Ward. Five other passengers received minor injuries and a
nurse is in a critical condition.

Since 2004 July, she has visited Shwedagon pagoda and prayed for the
release of all political prisoners including pro-democracy leader Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi.

After taking part actively in the saffron revolution in September 2007,
she was barred from going outside Hmawbe Township. She had been receiving
physiotherapy for her joint pain but could not continue after the
authorities imposed restriction on her movement.

She was on her way to Shwehmawtin pagoda in Aung San village to observe
the 4th anniversary of her Tuesday prayer meeting and to offer alms and
robes to the monks.

The scheduled alms and robe offering ceremony was done by her colleagues
on Monday as she could not attend after the accident.

July 22, Bangkok Post
Nobel laureate meets Burmese women – Amitha Amranand

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams met a group of women from Burma
as well as from various ethnic groups in this northern province yesterday
to gather information about their plight. ''We're here to bring messages
of the women of Burma, of the marginalised, to the world. We're here to
listen. We're here to learn the common concerns that women of the world
seem to share,'' said Ms Williams, an American teacher and aid worker who
received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel laureate was accompanied by actor-activist Mia Farrow, together
with Dr Sima Samar of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and
Chinese labour activist Qing Zhang.

The Nobel Women's Initiative delegation focused on the plight of Burmese
women in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis during their
information-gathering trip to Thailand.

They had a closed-door meeting with marginalised Burmese, ethnic and Thai
women in Chiang Mai and also visited the Thailand-Burma border.

The women shared stories of discrimination faced by hilltribe women and
shed light on the continuing struggle of Cyclone Nargis victims.

''I am still shaking [from listening to these women]. I am moved and
inspired to go forward stronger than ever. I want to be part of the
solution anyway I can,'' Ms Farrow told a symposium at Chiang Mai
University.

Renowned Burmese women activist Charm Tong, of Shan Women's Action
Network, told the symposium that political pressure must be maintained for
genuine political change to come to Burma.

''Aid alone will not solve Burma's problems. Unless political issues are
addressed, this crisis will continue,'' she said.

After Thailand, the delegation will visit Addis Ababa, Juba in South Sudan
and conclude their trip in Chadian refugee camps bordering Darfur.