Burma update

Cheri and I were really touched last week by the compassion shown by one of our customers (we’ll call her T – she wouldn’t want to be named). It was T that alerted me to the opportunity for channelling funds directly to the people in distress in Burma via Avaaz and the International Burmese Monks Organization. I was suprised not to see her in the store on Memorial Day, since we had earmarked that day to raise funds for the Burmese people. Anyway, she contacted me last week to say that she had missed that email, and wanted to still contribute if she could. Bear in mind that this is someone that has some real hardships to deal with, and recently learned that she could lose her home. Could she still help? Of course she could. Days later she turned up at the store with an armful of treasures that she had been given over the years but had not used, most of which were Fair Trade, asking if we would sell them and give the funds to the Burmese Monks. We’re still figuring out the best way to use her kind donation (watch out for a Burma section in the store soon!) but acts like hers are a reminder to Cheri and me of the generosity that we have encountered here in the Ozarks. It’s not always easy here to get news about what is happening in other parts of the world, but it doesn’t mean that people here don’t care. They do, very much.

Latest stats for Burma

I like to catch up with the news on the BBC’s website. No news agency is without some form of agenda, or without biase, but I do think that the BBC gives as good as an account of things as any.

So here’s the latest stats:

The following are the most up-to-date statistics provided by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

Dead: 77,738; Missing: 55,917

Displaced: 150,000 people, in about 120 temporary settlements

Affected persons: 2.4 million people, of whom 1.4 million are in severely affected areas requiring priority assistance.

It’s just mind boggling. I started reading the articles because I wanted to have some up to date info for anyone supporting our fund raiser on Monday. I ended up feeling just wholly inadequate.  

And here’s a link to some of the blogs coming out from Burma.