Pryor minister Derek Melton met Sylvester Stallone on the set of the next Rambo movie.
Rambo on a mission
By Sommer Woodward
PRYOR DAILY TIMES (PRYOR, Okla.)
PRYOR, Okla. — Derek Melton never imagined his first trip to Burma would be inspiration for a movie, especially a Sylvester Stallone film.
John Rambo, the fourth Rambo movie, is expected to be released in 2008. According to imdb.com, the movie is about a group of Christian human rights missionaries who, during a humanitarian mission to help the Karen people of Burma, are captured by Burmese soldiers. Rambo is recruited to assemble a team of mercenaries to rescue the surviving relief workers.
Melton explained how the whole thing came about.
After his first trip to Burma, Melton wrote an article for Soldier of Fortune magazine.
While looking for subject matter for the newest Rambo, Stallone contacted Soldier of Fortune and asked where there were native people at war with a communist regime.
Soldier of Fortune magazine informed Stallone about the Karen people in Burma and got Stallone in contact with Melton.
Approximately four months ago, Melton received a call from Stallone.
The two talked for over an hour about the Karen people, their struggle in Burma and Melton’s trip to Burma to mission to the people and deliver aid.
Before Melton left for his most recent trip, he sent an e-mail to one of Stallone’s personnel to see if he could meet Stallone while in Thailand.
While Melton was in the country, he received a return e-mail that Stallone, who was in Thailand filming the movie, agreed to meet him.
A couple days later, Melton visited the movie set along with other members of his group.
“He’s a very nice guy,” said Melton, who said Stallone was very interested in learning everything he could about Melton’s trip, so the film would be as accurate as possible without being a documentary.
Melton and Dr. Timothy Laklem were interviewed on camera by the movie crew about their experiences. Melton said their interviews may be incorporated into the DVD once released, but nothing is for sure.
Melton’s wife, Stacey, and daughter, Lindley, were both able to meet Stallone as well.
“She (Lindley) was in hog heaven,” said Melton, who was glad the struggle of the Karen will be publicized.
“It’s just weird the way the whole thing worked,” he said.
Some of Stallone’s movie crew will later traveled with Dr. Laklem into the jungles of Burma to get video and interview some of the key players in the struggle for peace.
Melton said the new Rambo movie will give a lot of national exposure to the Karen cause, which is unknown to most of the world.
History of the struggle
The Karen people are an ethnic group in Burma and Thailand.
The Karen people have been at war with the communist government of Burma since 1949.
Melton explained the problem today is political factions within the Karen National Union.
Since the beginning of the war, the Karen people have wanted four things: Surrender is out of the question, Karen arms must be in the hands of the Karen people, Karen must decide their own political destiny and a Karen state must be recognized by the International community.
Melton said the Burmese government has agreed to all four elements, but the old KNU doesn’t want peace and is fighting both the Burmese and the Karen people.
Melton explained aid organizations send money to help the people displaced from the war.
The money is funneled through the KNU and the KNU keeps most of the money for itself.
If peace is achieved, the aid money stops coming to the KNU.
Therefore, the KNU doesn’t want peace and is launching attacks on its own people, including the new KNU and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
Melton and other missions with him help the displaced Karen people as well as the leaders of the DKBA and new KNU who want peace.
The Burmese will no longer negotiate with the KNU. Therefore, three men, Col. Thera Lermoo, Dr. Laklem and Brig. Gen. Hain Maung, are leading the negotiations for the Karen.
The Burmese government gave the Karen people a huge area of land where the people can live, but the old KNU is blocking supplies to the refugees. Without the supplies, the refugees cannot survive the trip through the jungle to the new land.
Melton explained the old KNU doesn’t want the refugees to leave the refugee camps because the aid money would stop.
While in Burma, Melton visited a local pastor who was injured while attempting to travel to the new land.
Po Aye, the local pastor, was traveling in a group of trucks to celebrate the giving of the land and the peace.
The caravan asked the 201st Battalion of the old KNU for permission to pass.
The caravan was given permission to pass and was ambushed. A DKBA officer was killed and the pastor was mortally wounded. The soldiers stole 2.5 million Kyats, which is worth approximately $1,000, along with a couple vehicles, stereos and jewelry.
Melton and Stacey went to visit the pastor in the hospital to pray with him, but the couple received word of his death on their way back to Oklahoma.
During the ambush, a couple of soldiers from the 201st Battalion were captured and Melton was asked to interrogate the 16-year-old.
Melton was told by the 16-year-old that he was given orders to kill any DKBA or Burmese military who passed. The goal of the mission trip is to minister and encourage the refugees and Internally Displaced People, as well as stand alongside the Asian Tribal Ministries, a group which Melton’s church supports.
The missionaries go out to the war zone and ministers to the soldiers on the front line. Melton said he tries to encourage them and pray for them.
While Melton traveled to the front line, his team traveled to the refugee camps.
The group also visited an orphanage filled with children who have the AIDS virus.
One child sat on Stacey’s lap for two hours and didn’t want to go anywhere else, Melton said.
The orphanage affected Stacey tremendously.
“It was overwhelming,” said Melton. “My wife cried for two hours after we left there.”
Melton also delivered approximately $5,000 worth of military supplies to Largo. The supplies were provided by Soldier of Fortune magazine.
Another group Melton and his team visited was the IDPs. These people have fled the war, but never made it to any refugee camps. The people have no supplies and some fled with only the clothes on their back. Some children have no clothes because the families only had enough time to flee the bullets.
The team had to travel five hours one way into the jungle to find the IDPs.
The group delivered food, water, clothing and supplies for the children, like bubbles and Christian jewelry.
Although the Karen people have suffered tremendously, Melton is impressed with their attitudes. He plans to make yearly trips to encourage and support them.
“They’re such a happy people even though they are going through so much,” he said.
Sommer Woodward writes for Pryor (Okla.) Daily Times.
