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Report for relief Trip No. 8 conducted on Friday, May 23rd to Letkokkon area

It has been more than 20 days after the cyclone hit the city of Rangoon, and on the surface everything looks like it is going back to normal. However, in areas outside the city, such as Irrawaddy Division and Southern Rangoon division, people are still suffering greatly.  On Friday, May 23, Project Beyond Rangoon, with the help of many volunteers and donors, brought another relief convoy to villages along the road to the town of Letkokkon, in Southern Rangoon Division.  We left Rangoon at 0730 with two trucks and two SUV’s, along with 18 volunteers.  We passed through towns such as Kawhmu and Kungyangon, which have been receiving more relief supplies and assistance than the rural areas.  There are now no longer children and women on the streets begging for donations, but they may have been told them to go back to their homes and villages.  We fear that this will cut off their access to food and supplies that they were receiving from a lot of the private donors who would drive out from Rangoon.

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Message from an Aid Worker

Thanks so much for your support. On Saturday, May 17 we conducted our 7th Relief Trip so far. This one was to the area around Letkokkon. Although we still weren’t quite able to make it to Letkokkon itself, because of washed out bridges, we got farther than last time and reached some villages that still had not received any aid TWO WEEKS after the storm.

We distributed 90 sacks of rice, dried fish and many other supplies. The trip was not easy – even though Letkokkon is normally only 2 hours away from Yangon under normal conditions. Because of heavy mud and damaged bridges, it took about 9 hours and 40 minutes to reach Hmaw Bi Villlage. This was possible only because of the help of some government construction workers who provided us with their trucks, as our convoy couldn’t go any farther.

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From a resident of Northern Myanmar — May 18, 2008

Although we are not allowed to go to the areas most severely hit by the storm, friends returning are bringing back images of its aftermath that haunt my waking hours. Buildings in piles of rubble with body parts visible underneath, bodies caught in trees and bridges and on the bank of the river as the water recedes, parts of trashed homes rigged as temporary shelters with the few remaining clothes and blankets and mats hanging out to dry as the people sit stunned amidst the debris, massive wounds all over people’s bodies caused by abrading against trees, the hail that rained on their backs, or dangerous objects like boat propellers, pieces of metal roofing or machine parts.

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Gitameit has created an official form for groups within Myanmar to formally request funds and/or supplies from Gitameit and Foundation for the People of Burma.

Click here to download this form (.doc format).

Here follows a list of the items and questions on the form:

• Group Name _____________
• Number of people in group _____________
• Where will you go?
• Have you visited this site before?
• If so, what did you provide?
• Have you visited other sites before?
• If so, what did you provide?
• Have you done an assessment of this site’s needs?
• Food _____________
• Water _____________
• Shelter _____________
• Medical _____________
• Other _____________
• Expected Number of Beneficiaries _____________
• Amount of money requested _____________
• To purchase what supplies (item, amount) _____________
• Supplies requested (item, amount) _____________
• Will medical personnel go along?
• What is your plan for distribution (contacts, networks, etc.)?
• How are you making sure the aid gets to victims?
• Contact Information (name, phone, address, email) _____________

** Don’t forget to fill out a needs assessment form and site report form for each site and return it to Gitameit after your trip. Please bring receipts back if possible.

More families reached:

We are in regular contact with approximately 25,000 survivors, around Rangoon and in the Delta. We are accessing the delta via privately rented boats; and we are centralizing distribution in target areas outside Rangoon and in the Delta. Daily, our organization grows in effectiveness and our reach expands.

More supplies provided:

We bring rice, water purification tablets, tarps and ropes for shelter, medicine, and sanitary supplies.

Medical Teams in Place:

A network of Burmese medical personnel is working with from bases we’ve established in the Delta. From these bases, volunteers radiate out to remote villages with medical supplies.

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May 15, 2008

You just never know when that 7th grade home sciences course is going to come in handy. Today my 32-year-old Sears Kenmore sewing machine and I embarked on a rainwater-collector prototype sewing project. We’re trying out different designs that are simple to set up once they get to the field. Yesterday, we had a group of church people, a senior monk, several HOPE staff and some miscellaneous friends of HOPE staff, all crammed into office area, gathered around a pile of tarp, brainstorming how to design water collection equipment for the situations they are currently aware of in the Delta. With a prototype in hand, we will quickly get someone else with more appropriate equipment to produce more of these rain collectors.

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May 14, 2008

If you listen to "Message for the Queen," from the "300" soundtrack, you will understand what my mood was for the past couple days. It started on Monday, with an early morning text message that Save the Children’s cargo plane of relief supplies was being impounded at the airport by the government, because the waybill said the recipient was "Save the Children" instead of "UN." Suddenly, some dam inside me broke, and I was at the mercy of a huge, roiling tide of despair and frustration. Then more and more bad news and scary rumors started piling up and all got the better of me. Fortunately, some of the worst rumors have turned out to be untrue, and good news has also been coming in.

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These are messages from May 11th & 12th from an Aid worker in Yangon:

May 11th

There’s a lot to write and I don’t know where to begin. Whatever I write, it isn’t enough to express this situation. Perhaps I should start by letting you know that supplies are slowly beginning to come into the country. Several countries and agencies have received clearance for their cargo planes of supplies to come into the country in the next few days. The only restriction being placed on distribution of some of those supplies is that someone from the government must accompany those doing the distribution. Depending on the availability of government staff to accompany distribution teams, there may be more supplies flowing to more people soon.

I’m sure many people here share my sense that we are in the right place at the right time, but find ourselves bound and gagged. Hopefully, this is about to change. We are also hearing that the most successful way to distribute supplies to the neediest areas is to go by boat. While the overall picture is not at all what we would wish in terms of ability to have access and distribute supplies, no one is giving up.

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