Nargis Still Taking a Toll on Children in the Delta.

By AUNG THET WINE



Many children in the Irrawaddy delta are still suffering from the psychological effects of Cyclone Nargis nearly six months after the disaster struck, according to local and international aid workers.

The failure to restore a sense of normalcy to the region has severely impacted on children’s ability to recover from the trauma of living through Burma’s worst recorded natural disaster, said relief workers, who observed disturbing signs that continuing neglect was causing lasting damage to children’s emotional and educational development, as well as endangering their physical health.

In some of the hardest-hit areas of the delta, children still have difficulty sleeping at night, and many react to strong wind and overcast skies with evident fear, said Burmese staff working with UNICEF. They said it was not unusual to see children crying when the weather turned stormy, reminding them of the cyclone that struck on the night of May 2-3.

“Children in cyclone-affected areas are not like normal kids,” said a volunteer relief worker involved in an education project for children in Laputta Township. “They are not so playful. They seem to be living in constant fear.”

The relief worker said that many children showed a lack of interest in their education, and some simply stared into space, completely withdrawn from their surroundings.

“The psychological trauma and fear caused by the cyclone is having a significant impact on their ability to learn,” said an official from the Bogalay Township Red Cross Association. “They feel insecure, and for that reason they can’t enjoy learning. Moreover, many are physically weak, and this is causing health problems.”

Most observers said that the key reason children haven’t been able to return to their normal lives is that they are still living in an environment that bears the scars of the disaster. They note that the military authorities have done little or nothing to improve living conditions, leaving the work of rebuilding to local or international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

“UN agencies and local and international NGOs are doing as much as they can, but the government isn’t moving at all,” said a schoolteacher from a village primary school in Laputta. “They stopped doing anything three months after the cyclone.”

Volunteers from a Rangoon-based NGO working for childcare and development said more projects were needed to help children recover from their psychological problems, and that these projects would require cooperation between the government and NGOs.

At least at the ground level, some officials appeared to appreciate the need to do more to get children back on track.

“To help the children recover, we need more gardens and places for them to play. Above all, we should create more enjoyable spaces for them. And we need more trained teachers who understand their psychological problems,” said an official from the central government’s Basic Education Department.

But it looks like the task of actually creating such spaces will be met primarily by international NGOs such as Save the Children, which plans to construct 20 child-friendly centers in villages around Laputta Township. These centers will be stocked with games, storybooks and drawing materials, and staffed with teachers specially trained to help children overcome their lingering insecurity.

Save the Children has also officially announced that it will give monthly funding to the centers so that they can provide nutritious food to the children.

But local residents say that boosting children’s morale is not enough—that more needs to be done to meet their basic need for secure places to live and study.

“The primary schools in Laputta Township can’t give children a sense of security,” said one resident. “Their temporary learning centers are just tarpaulin walls covered with sheets of zinc. There are no chairs, so they just sit on the floors.”

According to official figures, there are now 365 primary schools in 500 villages in Laputta Township, operated jointly by the government and local communities. Most, however, are flimsy constructions built by private companies close to the ruling military regime.


“The private companies assigned for reconstruction of schools repaired some schools, but they did it superficially and minimally,” said one official from the Laputta Education Department, adding that there was also a shortage of books, stationery, teaching aids and qualified teachers.

The official said that children in cyclone-hit areas should receive free education, and that their families should receive additional assistance to help them meet their daily living expenses—a view that others working in the area shared.

“Now that the UN agencies and international NGOs are gradually stopping their food assistance programs, it will surely have a negative effect on their kids’ education,” said a 27-year-old volunteer relief worker from Rangoon. “For that reason, the assistance programs should continue until households strong bases for their livelihood.”

Emergency Aid from Project Enlighten Arrives by Boat to Stranded Delta Victims

Emergency Aid Arrives by Boat to Stranded Delta Victims
May 28, 2008

Three convoys of emergency relief supplies reached stranded delta regions thanks to the generosity of those who are donating to Project Enlighten’s: ‘Burma Cyclone Emergency Relief Immediate Action Plan’, www.projectenlighten.org .

Posted now on the blog site you’ll see photos of aid distributed by boat to the delta.

Supplies include items such as plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, food, water, water purification tablets, plus various medical supplies and medicine including ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) which treats dehydration and guards against cholera. Most days here now see temperatures hover in the mid-thirties, so ORS is vital to those exposed to harsh conditions in the delta. You will see a photo on this site of a baby holding a packet of this.

You can obtain a copy of the Excel spreadsheet detailing all the items sent and their cost by emailing me at mccoy@vianet.ca .

Aid items are purchased here on the border and in Rangoon, where prices are much lower than outside of these countries, resulting in MUCH MORE aid going directly to the victims. Your donations go a long way here.

In the photos you’ll see Burmese volunteers wearing white t-shirts with a Burmese word on the front which translates into ‘Sympathizer’. These eager volunteers were recruited by ABITSU (All Burma Student IT Union), one of the Burmese organizations here on the border that are gathering donations funded through various western and European organizations such as ours.

The UN has estimated that of the 2.4 million people affected by the storm, about 42% had received some kind of emergency assistance. But of the 2 million people living in the 15 worst affected townships, only 23% had been reached. On May 26, the International Red Cross reported that at least 1.5 million people, many of them hungry and ailing remain homeless in the rain-swept delta. The UN also reports that 85% of school buildings were destroyed or severely damaged in the country’s cyclone-ravaged region. It will take decades for this already impoverished region to rebuild and replace all that has been lost.

Foreign aid workers are starting to trickle in, and I mean ‘trickle’! Paul Risley of the UN’s World Food Programme stated “Yesterday was a record, red-letter day with 7 visas applied for and 7 issued. But every step has required agreement with the government, clearance from the government, approved by the government of virtually all our actions.” Much more needs to be done to facilitate the swift processing of visas for foreign aid workers to get into Burma and through the military roadblocks in the delta region.

Sadly, the US and British ships loaded with relief aid and equipment stationed off the coast of the delta region, have still not been granted permission to unload their supplies in Rangoon, or to fly their on-board helicopters into the delta.

Burma’s PM Lt General Thein Sein said only civilian vessels could take part in the aid operation, and that they would have to go through Rangoon.

‘Project Enlighten’s’ funding of emergency supplies going into Burma via boats manned with Burmese volunteers is a working solution that is accepted by the Myanmar regime, and with your continued support we can send much more in!

Dear Project Enlighten Supporters, Family and Friends,

In recent days the Project Enlighten Team has asked you to respond
along side us in support of the Burma Relief Fund. On May 3, 2008 a
monumental event occurred along the coast of Burma: Cyclone Nargis
struck and has decimated communities within the delta regions. You
have responded in helping us raise $4,000!!! The money was wired over
on May 13th and supplies are being purchased and shipped to those in
need. You are helping provide clean water, medicine, food, and other
relief supplies to the survivors of the cyclone.We are nearly half way
to our goal of raising $10,000 in one week! We implore you to pass on
this message and encourage others to help us raise more for the
survivors.

As of 5/12/08, the UN reported that 150,000 are feared dead, 2,000,000
are in serious need of aid, and 1,500,000 are in serious danger of
disease (diarrhea, malaria, cholera, water borne illnesses, measles,
etc) . Some victims have been drinking whatever water is available,
with many freshwater sources contaminated by saltwater or littered
with decaying human bodies and animal carcasses. 24,000,000 people
live in the cyclone affected areas. There are 220,000 people reported
missing. The catastrophe that occurred in Burma, one of the poorest
countries in the world, is now designated as the world's most
devastating natural disaster in 50 years. BKK Post reports that over
40% of the victims are children, because they were not strong enough
to hold on to trees, etc.

With a heavy heart, we ask you to please view this photo album sent to
us by our Burmese partners. They have recorded, acquired and passed on
the photographic history of the destruction of Cyclone Nargis. We
continue to ask for your help! Please view and pass on to others, we
ask this with respect to those who are represented in this album. We
must not let their deaths end the plight of survival for those who
were left behind:


!!! WARNING AND DISCLAIMER!!!! PHOTOS FROM THIS ALBUM WERE TAKEN IN
BURMA, ARE TRUE, REFLECTIVE, RAW IN NATURE AND CONTAIN MORTALITY!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbthang/Nargis/photo?authkey=kJZckA4Vzq0#s5198948871534776674



As our relief efforts continue, with the help of Project Enlighten
Team Member, Lisa, we will keep you appraised of the ongoing
situation! Please see and read Lisa's May 13th report attached for
further updates on how your donations have already gone to work to
help the cyclone survivors!

We encourage you to share this message with as many people as
possible!!! We desperately seek your assistance for these survivors!
Donations are greatly appreciated! To designate funds specifically to
the P.E. Burma Relief Fund, please include this on the memo line on
your check or advise us through a note or email.

Please make checks payable to 'Project Enlighten' and mail to:
USA:
Project Enlighten
Burma Relief Fund
1299 C South Main Street #168
Yreka, California 96097
U.S.A.

CANADA:
Project Enlighten
Burma Relief Fund
Box 53,Gravenhurst, ONP1P 1T5
CANADA


Again, your urgent donation is desperately needed.
With Respect,

Asad Rahman & Olivia Lorge

www.projectenlighten.org
http://projectenlighten.blogspot.com/
http://schoolsforcambodia.blogspot.com/

http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org

"All human kind shall have the right to a life of respect and dignity."

Project Enlighten Report: May 13, 2008

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Cyclone Emergency Relief for Burmese

The Devastation in Burma




PROJECT ENLIGHTEN has donated $4000US towards Emergency Relief supplies destined for the Cyclone Devastated Region tomorrow. Please donate so we can send more! (This was done through YOUR DONATIONS)!




May 13, 2008

I arrived in Mae Sot Thailand, 6km, from the Thai-Burma border two nights ago. There was heightened security at highway checkpoints and at town perimeters. The catastrophe that occurred in Burma, one of the poorest countries in the world, is now designated as the world’s most devastating natural disaster in 50 years.




As of yesterday, the UN reports that 150,000 are feared dead, 2,000,000 are in serious need of aid, and 1,500,000 are in serious danger of disease. 24,000,000 people live in the cyclone affected areas. There are 220,000 people reported missing.




The United Nations has also dire concerns over the environmental damage, and has warned of violence and mass immigration due the present military government’s neglect to allow only a minute amount of relief supplies into the country. These supplies are not reaching the affected areas. Tons of supplies that have made it into Burma are sitting impounded at Rangoon airport, including a plane-load sent by the Red Cross. Yesterday, a ship-load of supplies sent by the Red Cross sank off the delta coast. Regional commanders inside Burma have put their names on the sides of boxes of supplies sent in, saying it was a

gift from them, and then distributing it to the people in their region, not the regions of the most dire need.




The BBC has now reported that the city of Rangoon has run out of rice.




Foreign aid workers and emergency supplies have sat for days 6km away from me, ready to go into Burma.

I am here representing, and reporting, to our TEAM and Board at Project Enlighten: http://www.projectenlighten.com




As you know, this past winter I worked closely in a volunteer capacity with several Burmese organizations on the Thai-Burma border. They have networks that constantly are sending supplies from Thailand into areas of need in Burma. These organizations are now successfully taking emergency supplies from Thailand into Burma. Right now they are struggling for funding to keep those truckloads going in. They have transports that leave Mae Sot and go to four relief stations set up inside Burma. From those relief stations, smaller trucks are taking the supplies into the affected areas. They are the ones who can bypass the military and get that aid to the affected areas, because they are registered Burmese citizens.




Yesterday, I spent much of the day in meetings with ABITSU http://www.abitsu.org . Their ‘Cyclone Nargis Relief Response’ is a workable solution. They need western organizations that are willing to take on individual donations and foundation grants. ‘Project Enlighten’ is willing to channel donations from our Cyclone Emergency Relief Fund towards their relief efforts into Burma. Donations made to this fund will be issued a receipt for income tax purposes in the States. 100% of these donations go towards relief supplies going into Burma. Neither Project Enlighten, nor ABITSU, utilizes any of this money towards administrative costs.




One transport load of medicine, food, water, and supplies costs $12,000, and can get into Burma in a day, bringing aid to 50 families, or more, approximately 250 people. A smaller truck of supplies can be sent in for $4,000US. A breakdown of all the items and costs pertaining to one transport load are provided. ABITSU will provide written reports, receipts and photo documentation to ‘Project Enlighten’, which will be made available to our donors.




Any donation given to Project Enlighten at this time will go towards immediate aid that can reach the cyclone afflicted Burmese within days through Burmese run organizations such as ABITSU. I am working closely with my friends at ABITSU, who themselves have lost many family members in the cyclone disaster.




I ask that you would please consider any donation at this time of urgency, and that you please pass along this information and to your friends and family. Donations can be made online through Project Enlighten using Credit Card or PayPal. Project Enlighten is a registered 501 (c) (3), Non Government, Non-Profit Organization, in the United States of America. The latest photos on the blog show donations received today at ABITSU by Rescue Task Force in California and World Emergency Relief. All emergency supplies are presently being itemized, and receipt provided by ABITSU. These supplies will be heading into Burma tomorrow. Your donation will also be used to provide much needed supplies that can reach affected areas quickly.




I also include some photos of the devastation inside Burma.




I am stationed in Mae Sot and can be reached by cell phone anytime at 66 087-5736-189

Please make checks payable to 'Project Enlighten' and mail to:

USA:

Project Enlighten

Burma Relief Fund

1299 C South Main Street #168

Yreka, California 96097

U.S.A.




CANADA:

Project Enlighten

Burma Relief Fund

Box 53,Gravenhurst, ONP1P 1T5

CANADA







To designate funds specifically to the P.E. Burma Relief Fund, please include this on the memo line on your check or advise us through a note or email.

Your urgent donation is desperately

With deepest respect,




Lisa McCoy

URGENT!!! Project Enlighten Raising Donations To Aid Cyclone Victims!

Dear friends and family-

Project Enlighten has sent PE Team member & Burma Education Coordinator Lisa McCoy to Mae Sot on the Thai/Burma border this morning! Our focus is to raise $10,000 this week to help aid in the massive relief effort. We desperately need your valued donations!! We are coordinating with organizations on the Thai-Burma border that are assisting in the delivery of desperately needed supplies, food and medicine. The groups are comprised of and run by local Burmese, whom are effectively providing aid. Our partners in the region are offering their assistance without administrative costs; therefore 100% of the money given goes towards direct and immediate aid to the cyclone survivors!
Lisa will be on the ground in Mae Sot assuring accountability of all funds raised!

You know how desperate the situation is, children and families are dying hourly due to lack of basic supplies, WE have an opportunity to save lives and help those in an otherwise hopeless situation. Again our goal is to raise $10,000 this week! Will you forgo a basic pleasure like a dinner at your favorite restaurant this week to save a life?

Help us raise money, Help us raise HOPE!

Utmost respect.

--
Asad Rahman & Olivia Lorge & PE TEAM

www.projectenlighten.org

http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org

http://projectenlighten.blogspot.com/

"All human kind shall have the right to a life of respect and dignity."

Local photographer seeks to help victims of land mines.

March 15, 2008
Local photographer seeks to help victims of land mines

By Julie French
Ashland Daily Tidings








Christopher Briscoe photo
Before Christopher Briscoe left for Thailand last month, he took his son, Quincy, to see the latest Rambo movie about a mission to rescue Americans kidnapped by violent rebels in Myanmar, the very area Briscoe was headed. When Quincy told him not to go, Briscoe brushed off his son's concerns, saying it was just a movie.

But when he arrived at the border between Thailand and Myanmar, he learned the film hit so close to home that the Myanmar government had banned it.

"Unfortunately, most of us in America just see it as another silly Rambo movie," Briscoe said. "It's a dark place."

The violence was so bad that Briscoe spent only one day in Myanmar, and he had to leave his passport at the border and be out by 5 p.m. He split the rest of his month-long journey between Thailand and Cambodia, visiting overflowing refugee camps and meeting children maimed by land mines left over from Pol Pot's 1970s regime. He returned with a cache of pictures he hopes to turn into a book that will ultimately help the people he met along the way.

Despite the bleak environment, the only grumpy people Briscoe met seemed to be foreigners, he said. When he pulled out his camera and battery-operated printer, crowds flocked around him, eager to be photographed, many for the first time in their lives.

"It was one of the many times in my life that I didn't take my craft for granted," he said. "For me to preserve their families' lives on a piece of paper made me as grateful as they were."

As he snapped photos, Briscoe began to notice the people he met had much more in common with his typical, wealthy clients than he once thought.

"There's a universality I saw a lot there," he said, pointing out a picture of a young refugee boy dancing around in a superhero's cape.

"Just like any other boy around the world who wants a cape, he wants to have special powers and be able to fly," Briscoe said.

Later, he noticed a woman who lived at a dump site sitting in a pile of ash with her children, removing labels from cans so they could be recycled.

"I couldn't understand what she was saying," he said, "but they were laughing and playing and working together, and it was the same feeling I had seen working at the Congressional Country Club in Washington D.C. It was the same kind of love."

In the week he has been back, Briscoe said he has questioned everything he does, down to the amount of electricity his house consumes even when he is not there. He is planning to create a coffee table book of the images he captured to spread awareness and raise funds for the children he met. All proceeds of the book will go to Project Enlighten, a small Yreka, Calif. nonprofit that operates a school in Cambodia and funds scholarships for land mine victims.

"Christopher ... his idea and his willingness to help, I'm just humbled," said Asad Rahman, a firefighter who founded Project Enlighten after his own eye-opening trip to Cambodia five years ago. Although Briscoe and Rahman were in contact before Briscoe's trip, they met face-to-face only after Briscoe's return.

"I'm amazed at his kindness and generosity, and excited about where it's going to go," Rahman said.

Briscoe said he hopes to have the book finished in 30 days, and he is already planning a return trip with his son in July, so he can see for himself what Briscoe says woke him up after so many years.

"I love my country. I love my town. But after going there, I feel like I've been asleep for 20 years, asleep to the struggles of other people around the world," he said.

"This whole story is about struggle; it's about hope and the universal idea that people just want to take care of their families and are trying to have a better future."

"Hands-on" helping halfway around the world.

This was a wonderful and kind article written in our local paper here in Yreka.
Thank you Brad for believing in us!


By Brad Smith
Siskiyou Daily News Staff Writter
YREKA – U.S. Forest Service firefighters Asad Rahman and Liv Lorge believe strongly in helping people.
Rahman recalls watching TV commercials by organizations asking for people to help the less fortunate in other countries.
"But, I always wanted to do something more 'hands-on' than just be an anonymous donor," he said.
Rahman and Lorge got their opportunity two years ago.
The couple is now actively involved in supporting a free school for Cambodian children establishing a college fund for those maimed by land mines and raising awareness about the conditions of life for many poor Southeast Asian residents.
The road to the couple's focus on service began when Rahman went to Cambodia in 2003.
When he and a fellow firefighter traveled to the Cambodian capitol, Phnom Penh, Rahman was struck by the number of kids on the street begging for money and food.
Seeing children begging for food wasn't necessarily a shock to Rahman, he said, but their ages and condition bothered him.
"It was the two- or three-year-old kids asking for food that got to me . . . and the fact that some had been severely injured or maimed by land mines," he said.
One young man, missing a leg and using a tree branch as a crutch, caught his attention.
Despite his handicap, the young man easily weaved his way across a crowded street, dodging vehicles, "easily outdistancing me – and I have both legs," Rahman said.
The young man and his friends slept in an alleyway not far from Rahman's hotel. Seeing them as he returned from a day touring Phnom Penh, Rahman decided he wanted to do something for them.
He told the kids he would buy them something to eat. An English-speaking taxi driver, who was acting as Rahman's tour guide, translated.
The kids cheered and shouted.
"Ice cream," Rahman said. "All they wanted to eat was ice cream."
After an ice cream feast, Rahman asked his taxi driver guide if he could do anything else for the kids. The driver told him the kids slept every night on the cold streets, and could use some warm clothes.
So Rahman and the kids walked a few blocks to an open-air market and shopped.
"The boys grabbed whatever they wanted, even flowery shirts made for women," he said.
According to Rahman, the kids were grateful for the clothes, especially the young man with the tree branch crutch, whose name was Chet.
The young man darted down the street to the alleyway where he slept and brought out drawing paper and pencils he had wrapped up in cloth and hidden away in a wall.
Sitting down on the street, Chet "furiously drew something on paper" and gave it to Rahman.
It was an "incredible drawing," Rahman said, one which Chet insisted he take, as a gift.
The next day, Rahman left for the U.S.
When he met Lorge, his future fiancee, one of the first things Rahman shared with her was the story of his Cambodian trip and his meeting with Chet.
In Dec. 2005, Rahman returned to Cambodia with Lorge. The couple planned to end up in Phnom Penh by Christmas.
Although it was "a long shot," Rahman hoped to locate Chet.
During a temple tour early in their trip, Rahman and Lorge's guide told them about a former Khmer Rouge soldier named Aki Ra, who was famous for disarming Cambodian land mines and creating a land mine museum.
The couple visited the museum, where Aki Ra, his wife Hourt and extended family of adopted children also lived.
Lorge recalled the moment when she was holding a small, de-activated land mine in her hands and Rahman called out to her.
"Asad was nearby looking at pictures of children," she said. "He called out to me, 'I found Chet.'"
Sure enough, a photo of the young man was hanging on the museum wall.
They learned from Hourt that Chet had been adopted by herself and Aki Ra, and had moved from Phnom Penh into their home. He was attending school and selling his artwork in the museum's gift shop.
When Chet came home from school that day, Rahman said, the reunion was emotional.
"It was a great Christmas – especially for Asad," Lorge said.
Lorge and Rahman learned that Aki Ra was working to establish a college fund for the children he and Hourt had taken in, and that he wanted to help other children get an early education as well.
Cambodia doesn't have a free education system, Rahman said. Parents send each child to school with thirty to fifty cents to be given to the teacher as salary.
But in a country where a family's average income is no more than $300 a year, even that amount makes sending children to school difficult.
When they learned that Aki Ra was working with two Buddhist monks to construct a free school for children, Lorge and Rahman knew they wanted to help.
Back in the States, the couple started telling their families, friends and co-workers about Aki Ra, Chet, the land mine museum and the special education project.
Fellow firefighters from California and other states expressed interest in helping.
"It was a snowball effect," Lorge said.
The Cambodian Land Mine College Fund was started last year. Aki Ra also takes donations for both the school and the college fund at his museum.
Rahman, Lorge and several others established Project Enlighten, which offers college or trade school scholarships and micro loans to Cambodian kids who finish school. The Project also helps Aki Ra and the monks with school costs.
"Our project is helping people to better themselves. It's a hand up, not a hand out," Rahman said.
He expects Project Enlighten to expand over time.
Lorge works with a firefighter whose family came from Laos, and through his stories she and Rahman have come to believe that they can use Project Enlighten to help people in that country, too.
Rahman is preparing for his trip overseas this week, on Thanksgiving.
He is going back to Aki Ra's new museum and the new school with some new equipment, including a few donated laptop computers, for the teachers.
"They're using rebuilt computers that still use the old floppy drives," Rahman said. "The new laptops will really help them."
Lorge will join Rahman and Aki Ra's family in Siem Reap for Christmas.
She said it's "interesting" celebrating Christmas in a Buddhist country.
Due to the influx of American and European tourists, Cambodians have adapted to new ceremonies and celebrations.
"You step out of the Phnom Penh Airport and hear Christmas songs and see tuk-tuk drivers wearing Santa Claus hats," Lorge said.
To learn more about Project Enlighten, visit www.projectenlighten.org.
Lorge and Rahman said that donations of everything from money to pencils are needed.
"If people want to pitch in and help, even a little bit, they can learn how at that Web site," Rahman said.