News from Myanmar

This is from a former classmate of mine from boarding school whose name, for security purposes, will not be mentioned. He/she is currently in Myanmar right now and will be giving us first hand updates on the situation there. He/she will be trying to go to the hard-hit region, however that may be difficult right now.

"Arriving in Yangon over a month after Nargis' fury, I was surprised to find the former capital city still in state of disarray, as the airplane circled over Yangon International's two shaky airstrips, I could easily see that huge trees had been blown over and uprooted throughout the city. The new lack of greenery laid an aerial view to parts of the city previously concealed. Many ramshackle houses and smaller buildings had clearly sustained damage from the storm with large sheets of corrugated iron roofing lying about. Upon landing, the airstrips were the busiest I've yet seen- with one other airplane arriving from Bangkok and a few UN helicopters furiously heading south, there are five or six in total I'm told. Once on the ground the randomness of the destruction became more evident, large mansions were obviously quite damaged with repair crews hanging from bamboo scaffolding, while scantily constructed teashops ten feet way are untouched. Small wooden Buddhist stupas stand tall next to massive ancient trees uprooted with branches broken and stripped entirely away.

You wouldn't believe it ...By some stroke of randomness I unintentionally arrived on Aung San Su Kyi's birthday, and from the taxi window i could see the streets were well guarded to prevent any dissent. As a result the traffic was nearly standstill being that some of the main roads were blockaded with barbed wire barriers. (The next day, I heard that indeed there were some happenings- but were dealt with quickly.) The peoples general attitude seems to be pretty glum as almost everyone in the city sustained some damage, and many have relatives further south- which is well known to have to taken the brunt of Nargis. Many have donated much to monasteries and local efforts, but now don't have adequate funds to fully repair their homes, so the reconstruction is a slow process. In the nicer areas of the city electricity and water have been restored, but in many areas that hasn't happened.

There are the odd crews of soldiers and groups cutting away at some of the larger trees and clearing rubble from the streets, so its nice to see the two working on the same cause for once...OK well thats all I have to say for now, as you may gathered all is safe here, and I am enjoying the fresh air after the grey bangkok smog and the hellish heat of Islamabad."

Burmese Blogging About the Cyclone

I remember meeting some remarkable Iraqi leaders a few years ago. They were all women. There was the only female judge, who had also survived an assassination attempt, women who promoted arts and culture, and women who blogged, among others.

Blogging has become an important part of news reporting and communicating - I just read this article on the BBC website about victims in Myanmar blogging about the dire situation there. Check it out

BuildBurma shout out

Check out istheresomethingicando.com. Thank you to Kanani Yates for the BuildBurma mention.

We still have a long way to go folks.

Meeting of minds

Last evening I went to the Global Fund for Women's 20th anniversary gala at Cipriani. It truly was quite something. Not just the decor, attention to detail, fabulous meal and program, but the energy in the room.

Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan and Africa's first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Libera were being honored. The remarkable women from the head of the Global Fund Kavita Ramdas to the Abigail Disney to former Irish President Mary Robinson were truly inspiring in their speeches and efforts.

I went with my friend Suphala who performed (fabulously) at the dinner. Afterwards she and I spoke about non-profit events, galas, moneys spent and in this sea of charities, how does one select certain causes? Is there a satiation point?

What was actually refreshing about the event was the lack of "society" which is quite typical of many New York-based galas.

Instead, at the dinner last night, messages were clear, personal agendas were contained, and the looming issue of women's rights advocacy in repressive countries was discussed at length.

In the same way, peoples' rights have been horribly violated in Myanmar. And now even foreign aid workers, agencies and news services are being accused of mis-representing the actual situation in Myanmar - stating that they are exaggerating. You can get the latest update here