Just when the day is winding down at Ballard's Gardner Boat Repair, office manager Stephen Dun sets to work on his second job: fielding phone calls from displaced Burmese citizens and directing funds from his non-profit group to aid emergency situations in his homeland.

Formerly known as Myanmar, Burma has been under military rule for decades, and until 1994, Dun lived out the daily challenge of surviving there. Now, he reaches out halfway across the world to his people in a familiar situation.

After fleeing Burma in 1994, he came here and began work with World Aid, an organization that focuses support to oppressed people in countries like Burma, which borders China, Thailand and India.

More than one million people are on the run in Burma's jungles, seeking to avoid capture and imprisonment, or even death by the country's military rulers, the State Peace and Development Council.

Most hide from the government and seek refuge in border camps in Thailand, and there they attempt to build lives, but the sub-villages are constantly on the move for fear of government attacks.

For that reason, it's difficult to deliver humanitarian aid and World Aid is one of just a few groups able to do so. The non-profit raises anywhere from $200,000 and $700,000 a year, and has just five regular volunteers to handle the funds and determine where help is needed most.

Staying in touch with people "on the ground" is also extremely vital to calculating where efforts should be focused, said Dun. World Aid gets help with that by working directly with the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian aid organization working in the conflict zones of eastern Burma.

"It's quite a complicated situation and it changes day-to-day," Dun said.

According to a Free Burma Rangers report, Dun's Karen people are mostly displaced from their villages. Several thousand are in hiding, and many have fled to the Thai-Burmese border, as Dun and his parents did in the mid-1990s.

Founder of the Seattle Burma Roundtable, Larry Dohrs, said World Aid, and Dun in particular, are a chief source of information when it comes to emergency efforts in Burma. The Roundtable, a local group committed to supplying help to Burmese peoples, has coordinated relief to the country with World Aid for 15 years.

"(World Aid) are heroes of mine," said Dohrs a member of the U.S. Campaign for Burma and a Ballard resident. (Dun is) the information point. He knows better than anyone in the Pacific Northwest, and maybe in the U.S., where the urgency is."

The U.S. Campaign for Burma lobbies the federal government to facilitate a resolution in the Southeast Asian country. The U.S Senate recently passed legislation that imposes economic and financial sanctions on Burma's military rule, banning the import of gems and timber from Burma.

At a recent sparsely attended meeting of the Roundtable, Dohrs discussed the still dire situation in Burma.

Newspapers reported that at least 100 persons were killed when the military attacked thousands of protestors demanding human rights and democracy this past fall. Buddhist monks led the demonstration.

"It's really hard to be optimistic about Burma right now but at the same time it's an untenable situation and something is going to happen," said Dohrs.

When last interviewed by the News-Tribune in 2005, Dun had been trying for several years to bring his parents from Thailand to the U.S. Since then, they have resettled in Texas.

Thousands of Burmese are resettling in the U.S., typically about 70,000 a year. Dohrs estimates a few hundred have already made homes in Seattle.

"And with more coming," he said. "No question about it."

The surge of people fleeing here has slowed recently, but nearly 20 percent of all refugees the U.S. has taken since October have been from Burma.

The newly released Sylvester Stallone movie "Rambo" has brought the situation in Burma, often referred to as a "civil war," to a more mainstream level.

The Burmese government has banned the newest addition to the action film series, though black market copies are being sold on the streets and in small towns along the Thai border.

Directed by and starring Sylvestor Stallone as John Rambo, the movie tells the story of Rambo's quest to rescue a group of Christian aid workers who have been kidnapped by the Burmese military. Stallone's movie focuses on the Karen people near the Thai border.

Dohrs, who said he recently saw the movie, isn't optimistic the flick will do much to help bring awareness to the plight of repressed Burmese.

"Is (the movie) going to make any difference? Probably not," said Dohrs. "But I still think what it means inside Burma is more important than what it means outside of Burma."

To help the resettlement effort in Seattle by donating funds or household items, contact the Roundtable at burma@u.washington.edu or call 784-5742. Limited pickup is available.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com