Burma
Students have asked that Face-Faw help the people of Burma as they suffer the effects of Cyclone Nargis, which struck on 3 May 2008. At the same time, Max Horsley (W94), who works in Rangoon, is helping with relief and is asking for help. Francesca Tonna (B) has been co-ordinating a plan with Dominic Ramsden (D). Our Exhibition fundraising will be in support of those suffering in Burma. Francesca Tonna is planning a barbecue in June 2008 to raise funds for the people there.
Max Horsley has sent a series of messages from Burma. On 19 May 2008, Max wrote of 5 villages they are helping with aid South of Bogalay - Yua Thit Village [80 dead, 120 alive], Kyig Chaung village [250 dead, 300 alive], Kwin Sa Khan [100 dead, 100 alive] and so on. He writes of moving to "stage two" of the relief programme - "starting too think about redevelopment of housing, farmland and clearing the water ways so as to be able to create an easier access to these villages. From our house we sent down one of our gardeners with a chainsaw a few days ago". He has sent photos of the women and children being taken from the delta village up too Yangon, stopping en route for a good dinner of rice and curry in a local restaurant. And there is a phoptograph of a remarkable woman: "She survived the howling gales, falling trees, the destruction of her house and the tidal surge and gave birth too a baby girl the night of the cyclone. The baby girls name is Nargis. Unfortunately, her father died"
On 12 May 2008 he had written describing the relief effort: "It is now 9 days since Cyclone Nargis ripped its way through the delta region of Myanmar with catastrophic ruthlessness. Only now is aid beginning to get down to the region where it is most needed"
Please help Face-Faw to help with this aid.
To date we have spent $37,600 in three separate trips to the delta. The first truck we sent down with goods was on Thursday 8 May. On Saturday 10 May we sent three lorries to the towns of Pathein, Myaungmya and Bogalay and one large truck containing 500 50kg sacks of rice. The situation in the latter two towns is serious. There are over 200,000 refugees in Myaungmya with very little drinking water left and the same can se said for Bogalay. Today [12 May 2008] I have managed to get my hands on just under $20,000 US. With this we are going to hire a lorry and send it down to the town of Pathein tonight with the goods that my staff are out buying as I type. From Pathein the goods will be split up and smaller pick-ups will take the essential food items to the more rural spots where people are still huddling around makeshift little camps; with a certain amount staying in Pathein for the victims who are being brought there from the outlying villages.
Today we will be sending down the following items: Clothes donated from people in Yangon, Water purification liquid from donations by PSI which will be able to purify 200,000 litres of drinking water, Potatoes, cooking oil, salt, beans, onions, garlic and most importantly for the Burmese chilli powder, Loungyis (Burmese sarong), Blankets, Mosquito nets, Cash to buy diesel for boats to collect the villagers from rural areas.
My staff are working tirelessly and their courage, resolve and good nature are something to behold. The Burmese are a resilient bunch and will hold out for as long as we can deliver our little bit of aid. But we must not forget them in their darkest hour. We can not leave those who have survived this horrific cyclone and tidal surge to die of starvation, cholera and malaria. We can truly make a difference and we are. But let us not stop now. Rains are due soon which will provide drinking water and clean the paddy fields of all the salt saturation on them but will also hamper the clean up operation and intensify the spread of disease.
We thank you all so much for your generosity, but please still keep it coming as there are close too a million refugees depending on the good nature of others.
We hope that tomorrow we will be sending yet more trucks south with much needed food, medicine, water and shelter, cash permitting. I will keep you all informed. [message dated 12 May 2008]