My friend 0* is a Burmese artist and humanitarian residing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Every year he returns to his village for a month's duration using the proceeds of the art work he's sold to bring in medicine, books, and educational materials (there is neither a school, or library there). When he arrives he also buys food and distributes food and hosts many "stone soup" community meals (he's also an incredible cook and badminton player too).
He's been doing this sort of person-to-person groundwork for many, many years and his dream is to actually be able to live nearly full-time in Burma, and come to the USA for brief visits (to sell artwork to fund Burmese projects), rather than vice-versa. (However, his family and village of about a thousand folks depend on his resources to survive, thrive, so he mainly resides in USA now.)
Because of immediate needs in the aftermath of the cyclone, 0 would like to return as soon as possible, and has already arranged a flight, visa, etc.
As a Burmese expat it's easy for 0 to get into his own country and navigate it as he has done so every year.
We are also selling art very soon (the site's not ready) to raise funds at
Art4Burma.etsy.com - and your contribution here may be used towards the balance of any piece of art. If you would like to donate a piece of art, please contact Evelyn Rodriguez, crossroadsdispatches /at/ gmail \dot\ com.
If you live in the Bay Area, and would like to have 0 host a Burmese-style dinner party at your space to help raise funds, please also contact me.
If you would rather fund an organization, than an individual bringing in supplies, I heard good things about
The Foundation for People in Burma.
If you would like to learn more about the situation of the Burmese generally, I recommend the book,
In Search of George Orwell, by Emma Larkin. Any donations over $30 shall receive a copy of
In Search of George Orwell book as a gift of expanding knowledge and global citizenship.
Thank you!
* 0 (that's a null, zero, ground zero, zero point, no-thing and everything, emptiness) is not his real name. Due to nature of the current government, it is best to use pen names just like
George Orwell did (that's not his real name either!).
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