Footsteps for Good...

In May 2008 Cyclone Nargis swept through the country of Myanmar (Burma) leaving a trail of destruction. With 146,000 fatalities and thousands still missing the cyclone was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. 6 months on and the recovery has been slow particularly in the inaccessible Delta region. It is expected that over time the death toll will rise to at least 1 million with such little relief efforts getting through to the victims.

In the last few months I have been lucky enough to take part in 2 successful aid missions in to the delta region with the Buddhist Fellowship. We were the first group from Singapore to get to the delta and were able to deliver money, food and other supplies directly to victims. As always on these trips you meet kids and lots of them. Many have lost parents, brothers and sisters but the one thing they have in common is the will to carry on life as it was before Nargis struck.
Outside of aid there is also a need for education. A classroom structure binds a community and schooling creates opportunities for the future. On the 2 trips I made I saw a couple of basic schools where English was being taught. One had been set up by Unicef. But amongst the 1000’s of Delta villages there are plenty without these facilities.

In January myself and a group of 10 others will be trecking from Chiang Mai to Pai in North Thailand to raise money for the rebuilding effort in Burma. The treck will be through the dense jungle of North Thialand and we will cover 75kms over 4 days. The money raised will be used towards relief efforts in the villages of Chaung Gyi, and Peikone in the delta region. I visited these villages earlier this year to deliver aid and got to see first hand the the physical and emotional destruction that the cyclone caused.

By supporting Foot Steps for Good you get to take part in the rebuilding effort and provide a future for those that survived the cyclone.

Matthew Rickard
Footsteps for Good