by Colin Hinshelwood

Concierge.com‘s Insider Guide

Last Spring, while Myanmar’s government was refusing foreign aid for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, local travel companies were among the first to provide relief. When little Ma Pandaw grows up, she can tell her pals she was born on a luxurious cruise ship. She first saw the light of day in its bar, which served as a temporary delivery room after the ship was converted into a mobile hospital to treat victims of the cyclone that swept through Myanmar s Irrawaddy Delta in May.

Ma Pandaw s mother, 17-year-old Khin Mar Oo, named her baby in honor of the ship in which she was born. The Pandaw IV was lent to the cyclone relief effort by Pandaw Cruises, one of dozens of tour companies, hotels, and resorts in Myanmar that responded to the Cyclone Nargis disaster by collecting donations and offering their staff, transportation, expertise, and, in this case, a replica of a nineteenth-century steamboat. We have collected $600,000, mostly from former passengers, said Pandaw Cruises founder Paul Strachan, adding that another $150,000 had been pledged.

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The Kitchen Soup project is going great and delighted to help.
Sorry for late Reply because I was seriously ill for 3 days and I could not go anywhere. I went to clinic and now I feel better but I am coughing non-stop. I also take medicine for cough but it is not better.

I go to help every Friday to cook and deliver the food with my new friend Merlyn. We together feed the children rice and curry and also check what the monk needs for coming week to feed the children. There are 138 primary students, who can not afford to attend school so instead they come and study school lessons in this Monastery. There are 3 teachers, 5 cooks and about 15 monks at this Monastery. Last month, we made a meeting with teachers and monks to donate weekly to feed the children.

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It’s very sad to hear so many within Yangon are living in harsh conditions in damages homes without any help. We’ve seen the same problem in area we are volunteering in. Our team came back on Saturday and said that they had visited the villages that were rated 2nd on the scale of disaster but they are very desperate and have not received any aid. They need basic things like food and tarpaulin and clothes as they are busy planting right now but have no food or money to sustain them. The worst hit villages are now been well cared for. We are therefore concentrating still on getting food and clothing to those villages that are hardest to reach and have not received aid yet.

Yes, everyone is busy focusing on the Delta. However, I will see if there is anyone with the organization and infrastructure to help. Everyone’s funding is for the Delta regions. I think any work in Yangon would be dependent on if you were able to raise the funds for this. Hope you can!

Wow Nina!
You are doing a lot of stuff! You work so hard! That’s really amazing that you were able to raise that much money, though I knew you aimed for more. My trip to Inle Lake was very good! Golden Island Cottages Resort Hotel was the nicest hotel I stayed at during all of my travels by far! The manager and all the hotel staff were super nice to me. And Joe took me everywhere! We saw the library you set up and the children were so adorable. Then I met up with one of the staff to Mandalay and she took me and another traveller on a really great tour of all the sights. I was even taken to the fresh market and our guide bought me a bouquet of roses for 50 cents! Then I went to Bagan with a traveller friend I made. I think this was my favorite part of Burma!

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I walked out of my apartment today to go & buy something at the pharmacy & a lady selling Myanmar homemade snacks, whom I had talked to before, was coming down our little lane. When she saw me, she broke into a smile and said, ‘Auntie, you’re still here. I haven’t seen you for so long so I thought that you had left.’ When I asked her how she was, she said, ‘Oh, I’m not very well. I’m losing my voice so I can’t call out what I’m selling very well.’ She looked very thin. I asked her if she had sold much that day. She then took down the big pot on her head & showed me the banana-leaf wrapped snacks in the pot. There were probably around 40 left. I asked her how much they were & she said, ‘The usual. 200 kyats each (about 15c.). I said that I would like to buy some, but she said, ‘No. I’m going to give you some.’ I didn’t feel good about that, but I could tell that she would not feel good if I paid for it, so I said, ‘Why don’t you come into my apartment for a little while so we can visit.’ She agreed to that, but she was still insisting on just giving me some of her snacks, so I said, ‘Why don’t we trade our snacks? I’ll eat yours & you can eat mine & we can have a cup of green tea together.’ So, that’s what we did. I had forgotten that last year I had asked her how many children she had (5) and that I had given her clothes for her children, until she reminded me.

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Greetings from Yangon.

Day I
Yesterday we went to visit several villages on the opposite side of river with a new guide because foreigners can’t go with us. We talked also with several locals along the way. Oh a very poor area with the houses submerged in water. Sending you some pictures I took. We will be going there on Sunday to buy some food and give it to some families, so I will be using some of the money from our own meal fund. There is a big school nearby but it seems impossible to give to everyone from our own meal fund because there’s a lot of students to feed, maybe when we go there next time I will try to learn more of some possibilities. Next trip we will give some money to a few mother’s to start little businesses of selling fruits in town. I don’t know really know whom to help since all the people are so poor and a lot of them, maybe a thousand families or more. We talked with the village chief and he said there is no problem with the government interfering.

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In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the Myanmar Tourism Cyclone Relief Team had been initiating its relief effort for the Cyclone Nargis Victims by sending aid directly to those who are desperately in need at Phya Pone District and nearby Townships at lower Ayeyarwady Delta.

As of June 2008, the Myanmar Tourism Cyclone Relief Team had been able to reach out to 5,000 families reside at 70 villages with aid items worth US$ 80,000 approximately both in cash and in kind. The Myanmar Tourism Cyclone Relief Team is now involving in rehabilitation processes as the 2nd phase of ongoing relief effort, especially in the educational field by rebuilding and repairing schools in the Phya Pone District, Ayeyarwady Division.

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Dear Nina,

Just to let you know that I have the 2 receipts for $20,000 and will mail them to you. Will also enclose a report.

I just want to add, that, from what I have heard here on the ground, XYZ is doing a very good job of responding quickly to the needs in the Delta. It is very providential that XYZ already had a presence in that area because of the Tsunami. These local organizations are much more able to respond quickly than either the INGOs or the UN as they don’t have all of the bureaucracy to deal with, so I would encourage you, in your fund raising, Nina, to continue to donate to local NGOs rather than to the INGOs.

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Is it possible if we can spend about Ks.25 lakhs ($2500CAN) for next trip? Please we want to give more. Not enough food to give.
Last trip, we delivered Rice 20 bags. And added 20 more bags of rice once we realized how much needed. Then we had enough to deliver to 4 villages.

The neediest things are;
FOOD: Rice, Water, Salt and Oil.
Even for meat/protein, they can make fishing as their custom!
Our estimation for about 400 families/I hope at least 800 peoples will be able to eat the rice for 5 days!

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In brief we (efforts of a private individual) aim to organize 1 to 2 trips per week spending approximately USD $2500 per trip, of which approximately USD $250 – $300 is spent on transport, packing, accommodation and daily allowance for our staff. Transport, of course, is the single largest factor.

Township: Number of Families (est.) = 64
Village Group: Number of People (est.) = 221

Delivery Details