Displaced Christians in Burma celebrate Easter in war zone
On Good Friday, Catholics in a camp for internally displaced people in Burma's Karenni State gather for their first services since a January airstrike damaged the church. (Photo by Antonio Graceffo)
On a hill within an internally displaced people’s camp in Burma’s Karenni State, a solitary cross, scarred by a recent Burmese army airstrike, stands adjacent to a damaged Catholic church.
On Good Friday, Catholic residents of the IDP camp gathered in the church for the first time since it was bombed in January. Among the 3,200 camp residents, roughly 700 are Catholic, but only about 25 attended the service.
“The people are afraid to attend mass since the bombing,” said Robert, a Catholic member of the Kayan ethnic minority residing among the Karenni. (For security purposes, Christians in the IDP camp are identified only by their baptismal names.)
