The First Donation Trip 17th-19th May (Myaungmya, Laputta and Thekathaung)

Family and Friends

What an unbelievable 48 hrs. Life changing? Id say so.

We set off from Yangon at 3am on Saturday morning within 6 trucks and 2 cars with the following plan in place.

First Stop Laputta

2nd Stop Thekathaung

3rd and Final Stop Myaungmya

We underestimated the travelling time. Coming back from Laputta last week took 5.5 hours but with our goods with us took 12 hours to get there. We had heard there was the risk of various security checks on the way so we made sure we travelled with our goods. They consisted of the following

Longyi/Sarong 4000 (for male and female)

Slippers 4000 Pairs

T Shirts (Children) 350

Shorts (Children) 350

Rice 250 x 50 kg bags(enough to feed 17500 people)

Cooking Oil 60 gallons

Blanket 2000 No's

Medicine (antibiotics, spirit, paracetamol, first aid to specialized)

We travelled with another fund representing many donors called the Say Ta Nar. They were magnificent and brilliant to travel with.

Laputta

When we got to Laputta we headed straight to the home/clinic of a Dr who is based there and is also a family friend. We got to hear first hand stories from this doctor. I have already wrote about a few last week but wanted to add this one.

A family of 3 (father, mother and son (approx 8 yrs old) who lived on the bank of the delta were sucked into the delta when nargis hit. They were all swimming for their lives trying to get to safety when a structure on the edge of delta collapsed into the water with a large part hitting the young boy from behind. The boy then starts calling out to his father "daddy, daddy, I cant swim or move anymore as something has happend to my back (spine) and the boy started to sink. The father then went after his son and brought him back to the surface of the water. He carried him till they could get to shore but his son had lost his life by then. He had broken his neck and cracked his spine.

The Dr also told us that many people had lost their clothes in the cyclone and were having to take the clothes from the dead floating in the water for clothing.

We heard many of these stories all night as we slept at the dr's residence that night. Cramming into someones living room under a mosquito net was like old days when I lived in yangon in the 80's but I must say it's the first time I'v slept 10 hrs straight in a long time!

During our last visit to Laputta, it was late and dark and even though we saw in the dark that Laputta was hit hard, only in the day did you see this was a disaster site. This town had been hit hard and was standing on 1 leg trying to survive and rebuild peoples lives. This visit we saw a larger presence of NGO's, UN and WFP which was good.

Instead of trying to describe in words, I've taken the pictures for you to see for yourself and also put some descriptions in the photo captions in the photo album.

For Laputta, seeing this was the most hard hit disaster area we had been to, we changed our strategy for our medicine donation. Instead of leaving our medicine with the monastery's, we tied up with the local hospital who was treating a lot of the victims. We met the Doctor running the entire operation who gave us 1 room to stock our medicine. Say Ta Nar fund has left one of their team members (Ma Myat Su) at the hospital indefinitely to handle theirs and our inventory of medicine. By her being there we will also be able to administer our medicine and respond more efficiently when our stocks run out and more specific medicine not available in laputta is needed urgently.

There were various whispers from people saying that we would not be able to donate our goods directly into the hands of the victims and they would have to be handed in to a central distribution department. This was completely false and un founded and we were given any support we needed. The only issue with Laputta was that the rehab centers were overcrowded, and there was no structure or the same level of discipline as in Myaungmya, so it was impossible to put each good into the hand of the victims as things were haywire. Instead, we got details of the list of victims in each center from the head monk and put our goods into the hands of the monastery team donation coordination department by the bags. The head monk would then sign an acknowledgment of receipt of our goods. This reassured us as we talked with the victims who said that the monks distributed fairly to who needed the goods the most. If there were not enough items, then the victims would have to collect by a ballot system. We visited 5 monastery's in total and donated.

On the way out of Laputta, we saw some blue tents from afar and went to have a closer look (pics included). These were emergency shelter tents set up on a large soccer field for victims and there was even sign of some of the aid received from abroad. There were 15 people per tent consisting of 2-5 families on average. There were 3 well equipped medical centers for victims. It was a breath of fresh air to see this. Here families cooked together, children played together and people seemed very much at ease compared to the victims who were crammed into monastery's in the town center. There was even a barber here!

We then got into the car, and on the way out saw one more rehab center which looked very run down. We got down to look closer. It was food distributing time and we saw each family being given 2 packets of noodle and biscuits. This was on top of their normal food allowance of rice and a certain dish twice a day. I then spotted a group of young monks and children playing football which I joined in. I scored a hat trick then afterwards got criticized by my team members for taking it too seriously! Off we went.

Thekathaung

Thekathaung was where my grandfather was born. Thekathaung is situated at the mouth of the Ayeyawaddy delta and the Bay of Bengal and therefore was hit very hard when Nargis came and most of the buildings had been wiped out. Throughout last week, we had contact with a monk who survived because his junior monks and staff put him on a small sailing boat when they heard Nargis was coming in to keep him above the sea. He was very anxious for us to visit as Thekathaung had not received much attention to date due to the accessibility difficulties. We had a boat ready to go at 7am on Sunday which could carry all our rice and goods. All the rice was for Thekathaung and not for Laputta or Myaungmya as they already had a healthy stock. Unfortunately on Saturday night, there was another cyclone warning in the delta and the team voted unanimously against me that it would not be safe or wise to travel as we may get stranded in Thekathaung. We made sure that even if we did not travel, the supplies did and I sent a letter to the monk apologizing for not travelling but promising to visit during our next visit. We never the less went to the pier and watched our boat get loaded with our goods which would be taken by the boat owner (Who knew my grandfather and the monk who would receive the goods). Not being able to travel was my personal low of the trip.

Myaungmya

I was excited about this leg of the trip and nervous at the same time. Would the same people be there, would they remember us, would that little boy who crawled from the other side of the room to touch my shoe be there? The roads had deteriorated in a week so badly, that the journey which took 2 hours last week was over 4 this week. This shows how heavy the rain fall has been in the last week.

Upon arriving in Myaungmya at the school which had been built by my grandmother, we were told the no's had risen from 321 last week to 480 this week. Luckily we had enough supplies. Myaungmya was more structured and disciplined as victims were in schools and not in monastery's. The person in charge then offered us the opportunity to hand over our goods to each victim one by one. This was done by each individual sitting in their space in their room and we would go around and place our goods into the hands of each victim. We then unloaded the goods, planned what we would hand out first then got going.

Being able to do this gave the entire Cyclone Nargis Donation Fund team the most fulfillment and was a great team bonding experience. We got to talk to victims as we went around, look into their eyes, and see the appreciation in all of them. It was a feeling which has never been matched. Another great thing was that you saw the victims starting using their goods immediately. Mothers would cover their sleeping child with the blanket, young boys would put on their mothers shoes and start running around! After each room was given their goods, the entire room would shout out " to the donors, may you live in good health, wealth and good spirits" then would all clap again to show the appreciation and again we would all clap back at them and tell them to stay strong and that will be here to support them and that we would get out of this together. We did this at each of the 3 schools we visited.

At the last school, although we were all shattered from a long 2 days and some members of the team getting sick due the constant rainfall we were in and out of, after giving out all our goods, we played with the children and interacted with the adults more because we were no longer on a deadline to get to next place. I was in one room and one mother started tapping my shoulder with her baby in her arms and said " you kept your promise and came back in 7 days (DSC 4390)"

The highlight for me this trip was seeing the smiles on the victims faces. Those were the moments which were priceless and will never leave me…we will create more.

Summary and Plan

On the trip back to Yangon last night I looked behind to the 2nd row of the car and my team members were all out for the count (sleeping and snoring). They had worked so hard. I left with a sense of happiness but also a feeling that we have not done enough. With the support of all our donors this week was made possible, but as I said last week, this is not and can not be a one time thing. We have more to do. There are potentially millions affected and one thing I've had to drum into myself is we cant help them all, but we must do our best for the people we can.

The team and myself will sit down this week in and plan our next stop. We have been collecting donations online and through friends. It is important that this does not stop. Once media, news, internet sites attention diverts to another world tragedy, it is crucial we don't. These people as you see still have nowhere to live and our monsoon is starting.

We also welcome ideas from anyone reading this on:

- How to take fund raising to another level

- What next for the victimsAny other ideas Lets keep all ideas completely humanitarian and not mix with matters which we have no control over.

This way we will be able to continue to operation more efficiently.

I want to take this opportunity to thank our donors, without your kind hearted generosity the victims would not have benefited, the entire Cyclone Nargis Donation Fund Team members in Myanmar and Abroad you have all been magnificent. Without our members abroad (Wonky and Spanish) this week would not have been possible either.

Keep it up.

We have only just begun.

Sincerely

Nargis Donation Fund

VERY FIRST (OF MANY MANY MORE) RELIEF CONVOY DEPARTS TO REACH THE VICTIMS IN THE DELTA REGIONS

Our very first relief convoy carrying clothes, food, medicine, water purifying solution, etc left for the affected areas in the Ayeyawaddy delta region on the evening of 16 MAY 2008.

We leave you some pictures taken hours before the departure of the relief convoy and sent to us via email by Jon before the convoy of total 8 vehicles took off in the night.

For the full set of pictures and captions, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/nargisdonationfund/NARGISDONATIONFUND

Full field report shall follow shortly.

THANKS TO EVERY KIND HEARTED SOUL WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO OUR EFFORTS SO FAR. WE HOPE THAT THIS IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, AND SOON THE CONTRIBUTIONS WILL KEEP FLOWING IN IN SUPPORT OF OUR CAUSE!

Plan for 16th-18th May Distribution

Dear All

I am delighted to inform you all that donations already received have more than surpassed our initial fund raising target of US$25,000 within 24 hours of sending our message out.

We from the Cyclone Nargis Donation Fund want to take this opportunity to convey our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to each and everyone of you who have contributed. This is only the start and I hope throughout the next few days, weeks and months we will be able to portray with our work we are going to put in that this fund and team is one that will make positive differences to the lives of thousands in order for us to continue to be supported by you all.

On Wednesday we had a procurement strategy meeting for this coming weekend.

The spine of the team at this stage consists of

Ko Zaw
Ba Son
Paul
Josh

We have all collectively agreed on the following.

We are to visit 3 towns this weekend. Each town we are going to focus on donating to 1500 victims. We have averaged it out at approx 500 victims which means we will go to 3 schools/hostels in each place so overall we are targeting 4500 victims this weekend. Seeing this will be our first distribution of goods in such volume its going to be interesting to see how things pan out. I am hoping we can get all the goods ready and loaded into our van by Friday. We will start buying the following from Thursday morning.

- Longyi/Sarong (for each male and female) (pictures will also be uploaded)
- Slippers (various sizes) for each male and female and children
- Sheets (to sleep and sit on)
- Medicine (Antibiotics, Band Aid, Spirit, Rehydration Salts)
- Water Guard (this is a formula which you put into dirty water. It then kills all bacteria and makes it safe for the water accessible now to the victims to drink. The small bottle which you see in our pictures can be used to make 220 gallons of water clean, we have ordered 10 no’s of 20 litre bottles (larger) of the same formula which will cleanse upto forty thousand gallons of water per 20 litre bottle)
- Rice Bags. We will take 50kg rice bags with us. We will fix the quantity of rice bags we shall take with us on Thursday. Some places we are going we need to hire a boat and we are also calculating weight limitations for these boats.

We are also delighted to announce that a local company has contributed to the funds by providing a container truck and driver which we shall use to transport our goods. The plan at the moment is for a party of approx 15-20 people will travel this weekend. Will keep you updated with progress.

Any questions pls let us know.

Sincerely

Nargis Donation Fund

Our Trip to The Disaster Hit Areas

Nargis cyclone hit various parts of Myanmar on 2nd and 3rd of May 2008.
It has wiped out entire villages, death toll figures are growing by the day and over a million people are homeless. There are tens of thousands of corpse still lying in rivers and streams throughout the country because we don't have the infrastructure to handle a travesty of this magnitude. Disease is spreading, innocent people are dying.

There has been wide media coverage of my country's disaster and there has also been a lot of support from various external agencies and countries.

When this disaster first happened, I was in shock and not sure how I could help. I instantly came to Myanmar and saw the devastation which had been caused in the capital Yangon, Many friends and colleagues homes have been damaged, roofs have been ripped off, the city lost all communication and electricity and was at a stand still. Due to my lack of experience with such events I did not and could not see that what was happening in Yangon was really only the tip of the ice berg.

On 11th May (Sunday) I went with a a close group of friends and colleagues to a small town called War Kamei which is 3 hrs west of Yangon to go and visit some of the centers which is now taking care of a number of the homeless. Below is my account for War Kamei and other towns I visited.

War Kamei

Upon arriving in War Kamei I was expecting to see a town which had been hit similar to Yangon (the capital) but found there was minimal damage. I then came to realize that this town had been set up as a "Rehabilitation Town" for the vast number of homeless. Upon arriving in War Kamei, we went to a school which had been converted to a emergency hostel for the homeless.

We were received by an individual who was a volunteer worker who was in charge of taking care of and coordinating the entire operation. This kind kind (written twice) person told us that the hostel was currently surviving off donors like ourselves and supplies given by local authorities and that no external aid had reached them and nor where they aware that they were to receive any in the near future.

There was outside each hostel a list of the names of people who were there which would make it easy for identification if loved ones came looking. There were about 300 people (men, women and children) with about 15-20 people per room ( a room in an average class room size) and there were about 10 different centers in War Kamei. The men and women were separated and the children were mostly (not all) with their mother and there was a separate room for orphans. Already you could see that there were more male survivors than female (probably 2 male to every 1 female) One lady had also just given birth to a new born baby in this emergency hostel just 3 day ago. The orphans where just sitting in this room and waiting for someone to come and adopt them. According to the caretakers, once someone does request to adopt an orphan, a set amount of time is given to make sure that the parents are no longer alive.

I went into several rooms where the homeless where just sitting on a floor, staring at whoever comes in praying that we have brought a solution to all their problems and we are going to give them the life they had just 9 days ago back. I talked to a lot of the people I saw but will write about my discussions with them in a different section.

I then walked around the campus, and went into the dining room where the victims were eating together. Their meal was plain rice and bean soup. Outside dishes were being washed together using water from a small pond within the campus which the victims are also bathing in. We visited 2-3 more hostels and met some officials to discuss the future plans for the way to move forward. This again I shall list separately. We had a detailed discussion on what supplies were available and where they were vastly depleting and what they felt we should donate. The officials said that War Kamei was one of the smaller Rehabilitation Towns and suggested we visit Myaungmya and Latputta where the operations and task was much greater. Off we went to Myaungmya by road and crossing a couple of rivers by ferry.


Myaungmya

Upon arriving in Myaungmya we visited another school converted into an emergency hostel. Instantly you felt more intensity here. The no's were much larger, there were 500 victims per school with 50-60 all cramming into small rooms. Myaungmya is closer to but not one of the areas hit hard by Nargis. The atmosphere in these schools were less calm, there were more tears, more children, the victims here looked more….raw I came to learn that Myaungmya was the 2nd largest rehabilitation center in Myanmar with approx 30,000 homeless victims at the time of writing. These no's are growing by the hour, as survivors are found and sent to various parts of the country. Again I spent time with victims, talked about their Nargis experience, the loss of their loved ones, their immediate needs and discussed their current living conditions. In each room, before I left they beggd me to come back and not to abandon them, I also said a short prayer together with the victims of each room. As I left the building in the last hostel, all the victims came out of their rooms and crowded around the balcony overlooking me and we all said a short prayer together. At the end the victims all then started clapping very hard for 30 seconds at me. I clapped back. It was the one part of the day where I lost control of my emotions. It was so powerful. I promise ill be back.

Again there was no sign of any external aid agency presence nor receipt of goods.



Latputta

We left Myaungmya at about 1700 thinking we would reach Latputta by 1800. Unfortunately the journey was much longer and we did not reach till 1930 when they was no more light (all electricity was down). Latputta was the worst affected onland area in Myanmar (it is about 10 miles from the delta. We lost light as we got closer but you saw from the condition of the toppled trees, ruined homes that this was where the disaster took place. This was not just a rehabilitation center, this is where the cyclone attack took place and a rehabilitation center in one. It was different to the other places. I prepared myself for the worse. The last 10 miles on the road towards Latputta, there was a stream which ran parallel to the road and was where hundreds of innocent victims who never escaped cyclone nargis still are lying. As soon as we got into Latputta, the first thing you noticed was the stench in the air of approx 60,000 victims to nargis. It was overwhelming and even with all windows up in the car, you could still find trouble breathing. I could not believe I was experiencing this. This is what we read about in History when we younger, we were not meant to see this nor breathe it.

It was raining by the time we arrived and Lattputta was literally a ghost town with no electricity by the time we arrived. We found a monastery and went in. It was pitch black with a few lit candles scattered around. We found the person who was running the operations during this period (not a monk). Seeing it was not a school, all the victims were grouped in one room and others who could not fit had to sleep outside where the roof covered the rain. This monastery had 700 victims. I started trying to take pictures of people sleeping on the side, then next thing you know, I am surrounded by young children and adults asking for their picture being taken. Having their picture taken made them so happy and was a joy for me to witness the smiles on their face. You see it in the pictures. They were queuing up and I was running out of battery!

That evening another 700 victims arrived in Lawpitta but there was nowhere to house them. There was no space in this monastery. These victims are going to keep pouring in.

We were contemplating sleeping in the car overnight so we could get a better look at Latputta in the morning but our group came to the conclusion that we will be back soon and that we need to get this account of the events out to you all. On the way out of Latputta I saw 1-2 UN vehicles parked outside a residence.

Victim's Story

19 Year Old Male

"I had a family of 18, (parents, grandparents and siblings) I watched all but my younger brother get pulled away by the cyclone. Now there is only him and I.

Mother of 2

My husband was at work, and when the cyclone came there was only me and my 2 children. The water level was about 12ft high .They both were swept away and I could not do anything. I was holding onto a tree to try and save us all but I lost grip of my children and they were gone. I heard my husband is safe but iv lost my only 2 children.

23 Year old male

There was 10 of us in my family. My father, mother, 2 elder brothers and my 5 younger sisters. I lost my 5 younger sisters all at once when nargis came.

Mother of 3 children.

My husband and I were both holding onto a tree, he was with my two sons and I was with my new born son. The wind and water became too fierce and I lost grip of my baby and he was swept away. My husband secured my two sons and went after my baby and managed to catch him and then grab onto another tree. We 5 are safe and very lucky but have no home anymore.

Young Girl

We sleep at 9 pm, wake up at 6 am. We clean our room, have breakfast and then just sit the rest of the day. We don't know whats going to happen. The people here are taking care of us as best they can but how much longer can they do this? We want to mourn for our lost ones but we don't know whether we can be fed again or whether we will survive. I don't know what the future holds. I have no home, iv lost my parents, I lost all my siblings, my husband though is safe and in a room across the hall. I am having my menstruation but I have no tampons. Pls help us.

Middle Aged Mother

I have not showered in 10 days. I only have 1 set of clothing and my baby has urinated all over what I am wearing. Pls help provide us with more clothing.

What they need immediately

Food Supplies (Instant Noodles, Rice Bags)
Drinking Water (a lot are currently having to drink from streams)
Straw Mat to sleep
Sheet
Longyi (this is the traditional clothing (sarong) for both male and female)
Shoes
Mosquito net for Children


Our Plan and Request

We need to have a 2 staged plan here. We must first give the required supplies asap to the victims to prevent another tragedy taking place off the back of a tragedy. Once this is in place, a long term plan revival plans need to be put in place. My friends and I yesterday discussed the possibility of building new basic homes (this will cost approx US$50-100 for one family) for the victims and providing them with basic infrastructure to live, ie plates, cutlery and a roof over their head which will allow them to go out and try and make a living independently. A pilot project will start soon to see how this works and Ill keep you all updated on this.

At the moment you will probably see that external aid supplies are not reaching the victims for various reasons out of all our control. I having been and seen things myself and having full access to these areas am now devoted to help. I can not do it alone though and need your financial support.

My target is to raise US$25,000 within this week as a starting point. I do not have a charity in place, nor a foundation and to set these up would be a time consuming experience which is something the victims and we don't have time for at the moment. I will set up a pay pal account which you make a donation online to or if you wish you can transfer the funds to my company account. I will furnish these details upon request. Here for people who do not know me, this may not be the correct or most transparent way, but believe me…..its the only way at the moment. I know a lot of you have donated online already, but believe me, your goodwill contribution so far has not reached where it should have by now. We can do nothing about the victims who have tragically lost their lives apart from pray for them, but we can save the millions still suffering and who's lives are still at risk.

Its crucial to get supplies on the ground asap. I have the necessary infrastructure to do this, but need your financial help as it needs to be done on a large scale. I will control and administer all funds received personally. I also invite any donor to visit Myanmar this coming Thursday which is when procurement of supplies will take place to assist. We shall then leave for Myaungmya early on Saturday morning, spend the day there distributing the supplies and then travel to Latputta on Sunday for the same.

My laptop battery is dying and I need to now go and find somewhere in Yangon where internet is working I can send this email and pictures to you all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I hope to get your support.

Yours Sincerely

Nargis Donation Fund