Desperation

This video has such a big impact on me...these scenes of desperation, of villages in the Irrawaddy delta area that have been flattened by the cyclone, make me want to drop everything and get on a plan to Burma. It makes me wish I worked in humanitarian and disaster relief, or that I had medical skills. For the time being, the best thing I can do is help maintain people's concern here in Japan, and amongst my own networks. We're planning 3 fundraising events in the next 3 weeks...and hopefully we'll raise lots of funds to buy emergency supplies and support grassroots aid workers.

I remember taking the long, bumpy bus ride with Mum in May 2003 to visit our relatives who live in Kyailatt, one of the small Irrawaddy delta villages. We haven't heard how they are because noone can make contact with them...we can only hope and pray that they managed to survive, and will now survive the next stretch of horrible deprivation until supplies reach them.

The irony now is that even though I feel so ANGRY with the military junta's intransigence and utter mismanagement ...I'm trying to write a thesis which adopts an objective and analytical approach to political dialogue in Burma...and that means giving the SPDC the benefit of the doubt. hah - Impossible!