View from the Tundra

About the same time I wrote my previous blog entry on Cyclone Nargis in Burma (Myanmar), I emailed Jim and Debbie Taylor at IDE.  It’s been several days, but they just got their internet back and replied to me (things in the capital city may be improving, but I’m sure the Irrawaddy Delta is in seriously bad shape, and may be worse after this upcoming new storm passes).  I thought I’d post this email from them in Burma. Note that I asked them for the best way to provide financial assistance, and I’ve highlighted their response to that question below:

[Side note: the picture that appears with this posting is one I took at Inle Lake in 2005. This was part of one of the longest and emptiest stretches of market I have ever seen. There must have been 50 vendors for every shopper in this market on the way to a crumbling temple. This man paints with his one appendage, and yet manages to produce works of art I couldn't touch. Amazing the spirit of the Burmese people.]
Dear Greg,

Thanks so much for writing to ask about us. That’s very thoughtful of you. And thanks for mentioning the people of Myanmar in your blog.

Here’s our latest update:

What a horrendous and surreal week it’s been. We’re finally getting our bearings and finding some time to respond to emails. (We also finally got internet service back a few days ago .)

It all started last Friday when we saw reports on the internet that a cyclone was brewing in the Bay of Bengal and might hit Yangon around midnight. At the office we told our staff about it and sent everyone home early that afternoon. Our power and phone went out about 11pm. Having never been in the direct path of a cyclone, we didn’t quite know what to expect. About midnight, the rains and winds started to pick up. With each passing hour, the winds became more violent; we started getting worried when our big front metal gate swung open, breaking the lock and coming off its hinges. Then the big, tall trees in our yard started to lean to the side. It was especially unnerving to see the heavy ceramic tiles start flying off our roof. By 4am, the howling winds were so strong, they pushed rainwater sideways, causing a river of water through every porch door, flooding both our upstairs and downstairs. The windows started to blow open by themselves, so we scurried around shutting them and latching them down. As we were madly trying to close one window downstairs, we watched a 60-foot tall, durian tree in our back yard become uprooted, keel over and crash to the ground.

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My favorite of the series…

The name on this one is so obvious, I might actually remember it…

On another note, I’m constantly amazed at the global audience this blog has reached.   I recently got a note from Alex Mazilu in Romania.  Check out his blog at: http://alexmazilu.blogspot.com/

I’ve had emails from Minnesota (of course), Germany, northern Siberia, France, etc…  Where else are you reading from?  Leave a comment or drop me an email (tundrapics@gmail.com).  -Greg

I recently shot some flowers for a local business, so I thought I’d share…  This one is apparently called “Cymbidium”.

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My favorite city, Chicago, from the top of the John Hancock building. This town is awesome. Sure there’s winter (I grew up in the midwest, so what do I care), but the bars / restaurants / Lake Michigan / people / etc make this place unbeatable. The 18 mile beach path down Lake Michigan is unreal. Whenever I think of Chicago, I always think of the mass (must be hundreds) of simultaneous volleyball games on the beach during the summer.

I’ve been up to the “Signature Room on the 95th Floor” many times to grab a drink at sunset or night. Not the cheapest drink in town, but it’s definitely worth it. One time, a guy at the table next to me proposed to his girlfriend right there (Sounds like a romantic idea, but the whole place was watching these guys, and they left within 5 minutes). I actually took this shot from the Observatory on the floor above.

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If you haven’t seen the news lately, there was an extremely powerful cyclone Nargis (cyclone = hurricane) which hit Burma (also known as Myanmar) a few days ago. The latest reports say that 100,000 people may have died, so I can only imagine the amount of suffering for those who survived the storm.

I was fortunate enough to visit Burma nearly 3 years ago after spending time volunteering with an NGO (non-profit organization) in Cambodia called IDE. I visited the related IDE office in Burma’s capital city Rangoon (Yangon), and I can tell you that this country is extremely poor and could really use assistance in a crisis. There are a very limited number of NGO’s in Burma (no where near the number that exist in Cambodia), and that means that external assistance to this country is difficult to obtain and organize. International relations with Burma/Myanmar are very poor due to human rights concerns about the government, but the citizens of Myanmar are some of the most wonderful people you’ll ever meet.

To give you an idea of life in Burma… I went to a market in a tourist area where one could expect life is better than in the rural areas (where tourists are not legally allowed to visit without a government guide from the MTT) and found bottle openers are made from wooden planks with a screw (and they work pretty well), damaged umbrellas are repaired, empty disposable cigarette lighters are refilled, lilly pads were used as grocery bags, medicines from the “pharmacist” were years beyond expiration, … This is perhaps the greenest country in the world because everything is recycled and reused, and nothing is wasted because there is no alternative.

There are many good ways you can contribute to help those in need in Burma / Myanmar. If you’d like to help farmers in Burma, you might want to consider donating to IDE. IDE’s mission is to aid farmers in 3rd world countries by giving them long term solutions that help to raise themselves out of poverty.  IDE Burma is extremely well run: Jim and Debbie Taylor are both Harvard educated and street smart, hard working, and two of the nicest people you could ever meet.   Debbie is a native of Burma, and they have a very good local staff. This is one of the few non-profits operating in country, and they are very effective. A donation to this organization is money well spent.

If you’d like to see some past postings I’ve made on Burma: http://viewfromthetundra.com/?s=burma

I’ve always liked fine art portraits of families with a new born. To me, it captures the essence of parenthood in a way I can understand. So I was happy to see this one come out (had to shoot about 30 frames to get one where the little guys feet were in position; although the thought to duct tape them into position did cross my mind briefly). Read more »