Below is an article published by Kachinnews:

A group of ethnic Chin from Burma living in the US recently donated $13,013.90 to assist Kachin refugees displaced by the ongoing conflict in northern Burma.

The donation was made by the World Zomi Congress (WZC), an organization representing Chin people across America. WCZ general secretary Pu Thang Lian delivered the funds at a ceremony held at the Vickery Baptist Church in Dallas Texas on January 28 [2012].

The funds were received by the secretary of the Kachin Culture and Literature Body of Dallas, Lahtaw Zau Yin, who thanked the WZC for their support.

During the ceremony Pu Thang Lian told the audience that his group fully supports the Kachin people in their struggle against the Burmese military regime.

Good relations have existed between the Chin and Kachin communities for many years, both groups became majority Christian around the same time. Like the Karen, many Kachin and Chin served in the colonial Burmese army. All three ethnic groups tend to have a far more favorable view of the British colonial period than their Burman countryman.

Unlike the Karen, representatives of both the Chin and Kachin communities took an active role during the 1947 Panglong conference. The agreement General Aung San reached with the Chin, Kachin and Shan politicians who attended Panglong was an important precursor to Burma gaining independence.

On February 4th [2012] a Burmese Buddhist group in Singapore donated S$2,000 for humanitarian assistance for Kachin refugees. The funds were received by Tangbau Awng Di of the local Kachin Culture and Literature Body.

A monk who took part in raising the funds told the Kachin News Group, “This donation of humanitarian aid is made from one people in Burma to another”.

Most of the estimated 70,000 people displaced by fighting in Kachin and northern Shan state have taken shelter in refugee camps along the China border in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

Reached by phone Doi Pyi Sa, head of KIO’s Refugee and IDP Relief Committee told the Kachin News Group that the Kachin refugees are in dire need of clothing and food.

A statement released by the KIO on February 7 [2012], the 52nd anniversary of the start of the Kachin revolution, suggested that the refugees cannot return to their homes until political issues between Burma's government and the KIO are solved.