I was idly going through the articles on Truthout this evening, and a NYT piece about the cyclone relief efforts in Burma caught my eye. Apparently, it is the monks who have been able to help the most.
Kun Wan, Myanmar - They paddle for hours on the stormy river, or carry their sick parents on their backs through the mud and rain, traveling for miles to reach the one source of help they can rely on: Buddhist monks.
It seems that the international relief workers have encountered many impediments in the efforts to reach those who need the help most, while the monks, who are already there, can do the most if they have supplies and donations. Luckily, Avaaz.org has set up a way to donate directly to the International Burmese Monks Organization.
Recent 'acts of God' have gone unclaimed by US televangelists
If you have watched any news programming or read a newspaper over the past two weeks, you would know that a recent spate of natural disasters so far this month have plagued residents in separate areas of the planet. On May 2nd, Cyclone Nargis assailed the nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma). This storm had sustained winds of 135 miles per hour (comparable to a weak Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale) and swept just south of the capital of Yangon (Rangoon). It is estimated that over 100,000 people may have lost their lives due to this cyclone.
My sister Daphne studied Burmese music in Yangon. She is in touch with teachers and students at the music school Gitameit. They are organizing relief aid. Daphne wrote this:
Small and local aid agencies are best equipped to help the victims of cyclone Nargis because they are already operating on the ground. Donations to these agencies are more effective since big aid organizations are still struggling to access the affected areas. Local relief groups such as the Music School Gitameit, are providing the most urgently needed first-aid supplies.
For two years I lived in Yangon, studying Burmese traditional music and teaching classical flute at the Gitameit Music Center, a private school founded by the American pianist Kit Young in 2003. I returned to Berlin in December 2007 to finish my masters in Musicology and Southeast Asian Studies.
My friends, former colleagues, and students all tell me that Yangon, the old capital, is widely devastated and that the fertile delta of the Irrawaddy River is still flooded.
Britain's Guardian is carrying an interesting piece this evening which shows how angry Chinese are turning on their government after the devastation caused by the recent earthquake. It reported a women, hoping that she will be able to again see her daughter, asking;
"Why isn't there money to build a good school for our kids? Chinese officials are too corrupt and bad."
She went onto say;
"These buildings outside have been here for 20 years and didn't collapse - the school was only 10 years old. They took the money from investment, so they took the lives of hundreds of kids. They have money for prostitutes and second wives but they don't have money for our children. This is not a natural disaster - this is done by humans."
Since the disaster struck, I have been so disgusted and appalled at what is happening in Burma, especially after reading this article that the generals are not just hampering relief, but they are starting to hoard it for themselves. Yes, they are. The little they give to the people they take the precious time to re-label the containers to it looks like it's coming from them. Huh?
One sliver of good news is the EU is threatening that if they do not accept the aid, they could be held accountable for crimes against humanity, of which they are already complicit.
Please, if you are able to help them, here is a link through avaaz.org to send help DIRECTLY to the monks who are doing everything they can, and NOTHING goes throught the government. They are risking their lives to do this.
My stepson Jeremy Paster was a co-founder of Burma Humanitarian Mission. He was among a team of activists that trek across the Thai border to bring medical supplies to the camps holding the Karen people, an oppressed minority within Myanmar. His trip there in 2006 was the last action he participated in before being diagnosed with the cancer that killed him the day after Thanksgiving last year.
I have kept our connection to the world of activists that was Jeremy's second family. I just got an email from Dang Ngo, an activist and photographer who has documented the beauty and tragedy of Burmese life and who accompanied Jeremy's team. He was forwarding important information for those who want help through local NGO's already on the ground.
Yesterday after posting a comment on another diary about Burma ......
Can't we concentrate on Myanmar and forget about superdelegates for one day?
by proud2Bliberal
I posted a link to a Rotary supported program that puts together shelterboxes for disaster relief.
http://www.shelterboxusa.org/ As a frequent commenter but not a writer of diaries, I thought, "well hell I'll just thow one up and see if I can get a few dollars."
My diary written in hast was lame with some broken links and some peole thought it was a scam. But of course my fellow Kossacks checked it out and recomended it! I don't know how to post pictures and stuff but the members of the Daily Kos pictched in and raised 595 dolars towards a 1,000 box!......
Hey! keep me alive till the morning!!! When people get back to work and log on at work! While people are complaining about the name of the place and wondering how to get around the Junta. RotaryInternational is on the ground and running with shelter and help for the displaces thousands of the Burmese people.
Please consider donating to the Shelter box program what ever you can and see if we can''t put together enough money toward one box.
As a Rotarian my huband and I donate annually to Rotary International. Rotary is an old and time honored organization building good will around the world including Republican as well as Democratic businessleaders in almost every community in America.
By donating to this link you are not donating to Rotary but donating directly to the shelter box project.
I worry that Burma is not getting the attention it deserves, between the primaries and Jenna's wedding. If there ever was a case for regime change, the military junta in Burma is it. I can't believe they are not letting in aid, and are impounding(!) at the airport what little has been sent. War crimes I can understand ... war is about killing ones enemies, real or percieved, war is cruelty. But these guys are murdering their own people by not only their indifference, but even worse, by preventing others from helping them. They are turning down <free> food, water, and supplies for the cyclone-hit region merely to prevent Burmese from interacting with foreigners.
A missile-armed Predator drone hitting those generals would do a lot of good and could save lives. These guys don't have bunkers like Saddam, and aren't expecting military action against them. Hell, even the Chinese are irritated at them.
The Myanmar Junta refuse to allow foreign aid workers in, demanding money instead, those Burmese Army thugs who run that country by brute force and constant fear. All entreaties have failed. The Franco-American invasion bluff has, if anything, made matters worse by giving the regime an excuse to block entry by foreigners. The Chinese simply don't care what happens in Burma. That leaves it up to us. You and me.
[continued] .
The deadly Cyclone Nargis has devastated Rangoon and other parts of Burma (Mynemar). Reports today say that some aid is entering the country (though U.S. flights are still being refused).
A friend who is active in the region recommends these organizations where you can make donations and offer help:
Foundation for the People of Burma (The group my friend organized in the U.S., Burma Village Assistance Project sends money to the tribal regions through FPB)
Relief International (An effective, small relief organization that my friend's daughter has worked with)
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Holland (A journalist friend who lived in Burma for several years wrote: "The on-the-ground group that is getting relief to people as I write is MSF Holland - they are professional and practical.")
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday on the crisis in Myanmar, calling on the government there to allow more foreign aid workers into the country:
"This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them."
This, of course, is the same Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who refused to allow 1586 much-needed Cuban medical personnel into the United States when a hurricane ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the same Condoleezza Rice who spent her time shopping for shoes and attending Broadway plays while New Orleans was drowning. Condoleezza Rice no more cares about the fate of the people of Myanmar than she did about the people of New Orleans.
Even though I've been a regular visitor here, I've never posted my own diary. However, as I see a lot of people wanting to help and the traditional way of helping (red cross, doctors without borders etc) are being hindered by the junta's red tape, stubboness, and paranoia, I'd like to suggest an alternative way of helping.
As a Burmese being in the States for 14 years, I believe I have a better understanding of what is happening. As is the case of 2005 tsunami, the military government is extremely weary of outsiders, regardless of the purpose of the visit. It (the ruthless regime machine) is also afraid of any single reporter that would return home and plaster a couple of pictures on the front page of Newsweek or Time magazine.
Yes, we are thrilled that our long and increasingly ugly primary process is drawing to a close, and that the prospect of a unified and strong Democratic party is increasingly possible and likely. We are thrilled to be on the verge of a major electoral victory in November.
But isn't part of what defines us as Democrats and progressives, lefties of various stripes, that we exit a narrow American exceptionalist view of world, that we understand all of our strengths and weaknesses in a global context?
But, toward the end the questions strayed to issues closer to Laura's heart. MSNBC, however, took a little time to pick up the shift of subject as you can see over at Huffington Post. One side of the screen, disaster scenes from Myanmar/Burma, the other a laughing Laura chatting about Jenna's wedding.
This morning many of us are celebrating a very good night for Obama. On the other side of the world it is a very bad morning.
In Myanmar (Burma) this morning brings news of 60,000 - 80,000 people dead. The cyclone Nargis passed through the region over the weekend, leaving truly unimaginable destruction in its wake. And it is just the beginning, as soon water-borne illnesses such as cholera, typhus and dysentery will likely ravage the survivors.
LIST OF AGENCIES' AND NGOs' WEBSITES FOR ONLINE DONATIONS
Plus Links To Background On Each Organization
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK
Burma death toll 'likely to hit 80,000' "An aid official in Burma says the death toll from Cyclone Nargis may be 80,000 or more.
Kyi Minn is health adviser for World Vision in Burma and he says that on top of the 22,000 the military regime has admitted have died, there are another 60,000 missing - presumed dead.'
took questions. And, the press had their chance to ask questions. Some were quite serious, quite on target.
