Knightsbridge International Relief Mission # 1 to Myanmar

We have just wrapped up our FIRST Mission in to Myanmar during which we have accomplished the following:

Located the local MaMa's Hope Haven Orphanage / Group Home in North Dagon Township a suburb of Yangon, which was established by our very good friend Ms. Rachel Trovi, with whom we have worked for years in the Philippines, and provided them with a large truckload of urgently needed items such as food, bedding etc. as well as some financial support for their continued operation. We currently have our local volunteer staff, Ms Hto and Ms Ada looking for a NEW property where these 25 Children and 4 Adults can move.

The website listed below will give you some information on Mama Rachel's very substantial operations in the Philippines.

Ma' Ma Children's Center of Norway
http://www.mama-children.org/english/organization.htm

We established a partnership with Zawgyi Care, a very well run local NGO that has been providing a series of very effective Medical Services and Feeding Programs since three days after Cyclone Nagis devastated the delta region of Myanmar. Each week they have managed to feed between 3,000 and 5,000 people and they are now looking into the possible purchase of small Rotor Tillers at a cost of approximately $ 900.00 each for use by the farmers. If they decide that this is an appropriate program, we will join them in that as well. http://www.zawgyicare.org/

We met and agreed to partner with another very small, newly formed group of Australian Expats currently working and living in Yangon who have started a program where they are buying Water Buffalos that will be provided to farmers in the devastated area. We will provide funding as requested when this program has been finalized. Local Water Buffalo, Bullocks and Cattle that can be used for farming are available and can be purchased for anywhere from $ 400.00 - $ 500.00 each with the equipment necessary for working in the rice paddies. They have also started building houses in some of areas where they have been granted access. We will assist them in those efforts as well, IF asked.

We have also agreed to work with a very large local construction company who is about to build a NEW 100 bed civilian hospital in Bogale, one of the hardest hit areas in the path of the Cyclone. They will build the facility and we will assist as much as possible in providing certain items of medical equipment needed to outfit that facility. They have also started to build houses which cost approximately $ 1,000.00 each. We will try to support the construction of as many of these as possible.

We did meet "informally and unofficially" with some Government Representatives and started a dialogue wherein we have been assured that we will be granted permission to return to Myanmar to continue our humanitarian efforts.

In closing, I ask that you not forget the people of Myanmar simply because it is no longer front page news. If you can remember the images that you may have seen of the Tsunami in 2004 you have a very good idea of what it was like for these very simple, gentle people in the Delta when that Cyclone hit. People lost everything...their families, their property, their hope...you can give them some of those things back by continuing to support efforts like ours or those of the other countless Local and International NGOs who continue to do their best to help those in need.

Thank you,

Ed Artis-Bangkok, Thailand
Thursday July 10. 2008

NEW PHOTOS WILL SOON BE POSTED

UPDATE... Yangon, Myanmar June 25, 2008

Hello...I thought I'd post a brief update on what we are up to here in Myanmar....and what we have been able to accomplish during the past 13 days...

We now have dependable Internet service in our room...NOT always available here...three local SIM cards for our hand phones ...and while they do not allow us to make outgoing International Calls...they do allow us to communicate with other team members and our local NGO partners......Our Biz Cards are now in English / Myanmar / Burmese...We have car with reasonable air conditioning and a very good driver who understands English and actually knows where he is going....We also have some VERY good local contacts thanks to our good friends Chris C and Steve R...and three vetted, well organized local NGO partners and some cash which has been converted in to the local currency ready for our swoop thru the area.

Today we bought a truck load of food, medicines, clothing and other urgently needed items that we will deliver tomorrow to very dedicated young local couple who run a small orphanage with 19 children just outside Yangon...we met them through some good friends in the Philippines.

This coming Saturday we will be buying the first 6 Water Buffalo for a local version of The Buffalo Bank that we assisted setting up in the Philippines in 2002.

Next Saturday, July 5 th we have been invited to join another local NGO we have partnered with as they go into the devastated area to provide food to approx 2,500 people.

All in all I feel that we have done pretty well considering the real time situation that exists here.

Once again we have accomplished more with less.

Thank you for your interest in what we are trying to do here in Myanmar and elsewhere around the world...IF you are interested in supporting these efforts financially you can make a donation online thru Pay Pal on our website located at www.kbi.org or by sending a check made out to:

Knightsbridge International,
PO Box 4394
West Hills, CA 91308-4394

Ed Artis-Yangon, Myanmar
Wednesday June 25, 2008

PS....The Photos that I have posted were taken in the small office that we have set up in our hotel in Yangon.

KI Humanitarian Mission to Myanmar

We currently have a small advance team working in Myanmar going through the process by which the required approvals are granted for any organization to be allowed to work in this country.

It is not a complicated process if you know someone who has been working here before and we have been lucky enough to meet a couple people here who have agreed to open some doors for us whereby we have been able to get our application before the decision makers within the first five days after our arrival. We should have a decision within the next five to seven days.

Unfortunatey there are a great many NGOs here, both large and small going through this process now and many of them are of the opinion that these approvals should simply be given with zero review or application process. This is like no other place in the world where we have worked...it is their way or no way...and trying to force the issue only sends you into a slot where you will be stuck waiting in your Hotel for...in some cases a month or more.

Great people here and I am optimistic that we will know very soon what future, IF ANY we may have here.

Sir Edward Artis
Yangon, Myanmar

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