Tuesday, May 6, 2008

(JessFinds) Disaster in Burma

I hate the holier-than-thou implications of saying "Hey - I donated and now you should" but I would like to make a case for throwing some spare change at Burma (aka: Myanmar).

As of this morning, over 22,000 people are dead in the Yangoon area due to cyclone Nargis. Over 41,000 are missing and could be dead. It is mass chaos with over a million people displaced and homeless.

As many of you know, Preacher spent over a month in Burma. It is a military dictatorship. It is currently under US sanctions (with good reason). It is a messed up area of the world. Their government has been slow to let aid agencies in to assist.

That said, the people are amazing and took very good care of my husband while he was overseas. While Preacher was there, he met with the folks from World Vision and was completely impressed with the level of work they were doing. World Vision has an established presence in Myanmar and is able to get aid to the areas in need. If you can make a donation, any amount ($10? $15? $50?) I urge you to do so. A little bit goes a long way. You can reach the donation site from the main World Vision page: www.worldvision.org.

In lieu of a "mother's day present" I asked Preacher to commit to donating instead. We made a donation from our family with another in his mother's name. We could have easily spent that money on dinner / flowers / whatever.

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