Posted by Lisa A. on May 8, 2008, 10:18 pm

If your children are also counting their pennies to help kids in Burma or you know anyone who feels moved to send a donation ... they might appreciate this firsthand information from a momma friend of mine who has family there. ~counting my blessings, Lisa In case anybody else's kids are also raising money to help the Burmese people recover from cyclone Nargis I thought I would forward this from my sister who has lived in Burma for the last dozen years working for MSN (Doctors Without Borders), ICRC (International Red Cross), and translating for Aung San Suu Kyi. My extended family is also sending money directly to my sister as she has a lot of contacts for getting supplies to people. ..Siobhan (bhan13 @yahoo.com) ...I am recommending four groups, which you will see in the signature of this message, with url links. Some groups are soliciting for aid, which are not really working in the country right now! Of course they need money to start projects, but I don't think this is the time for that. The ones I recommend below are already working, and have high capacity for relief. I am afraid that the govt way typically does not turn out well. Typically with all the chaos it is easy to think 'Well, my family is suffering too..." or to give money first to their favoured groups. In a study of aid for cyclone relief in Bangladesh in the late 90s, it was found that only 3% of such aid reached the disaster victims... -- For those who want to contribute to Nargis relief funds, here are the organisations which I think can use the money most: For a local NGO which you can donate to online, I recommend Gitameit, whose people are already at work in disaster relief (instead of the usual music). You can also donate to Foundation for the People of Burma at this site, who will do development and reconstruction later, as well as relief: http://www.gitameit.com/wp/page/4/ For international NGOs with the highest capacity for working in the delta, I recommend: MSF - Holland http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2656 and CARE http://www.my.care.org/05/myanmar/?qp_source=170860490000 and Merlin http://www.merlin.org.uk/Lists/News-Detail.aspx?id=687

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