The Good Life Club – Free Burma Rangers Program of Love for IDP Children and Families

Antonio Graceffo

At an IDP camp hidden in the jungle, about two hundred children and many of their parents crowd into a central hut made of plastic tarps, which serves as the camp’s general meeting house and a Catholic church on Sundays. Along the road leading to the camp, heavily armed guards in body armor watch the skies for signs of airplanes or drones, as large gatherings of civilians are a favorite target of Burma’s military junta.

Inside the tent, if it were not for the camouflage uniforms of the entertainers, one would hardly know there was a war. Music plays and children laugh as they dance and take part in activities and games in a program called the Good Life Club (GLC), led by the Free Burma Rangers.

The Free Burma Rangers are best known for their work as frontline medics, evacuating and treating the wounded under fire. An image of the Rangers’ leader, David Eubank, rescuing a young girl while pinned down by ISIS in Iraq went viral, reinforcing the perception that the Rangers are hardened war veterans whose lives revolve around combat. While it is true that they routinely risk and sometimes lose their lives to save others, it is more accurate to say they exist in a world of war, but their lives revolve around faith and love. The first rule of being a Ranger is to “do this for love,” and nowhere is that more evident than in the Good Life Club.