How to help in Burma

Large barrels of water and sacks of rice were being stockpiled onto a large barge on the bank of the Yangon River in Myanmar on May 9.

"It doesn't look like enough, does it?" a man commented to me as we passed by.

On that morning, soldiers from the junta government in Myanmar (also known as Burma) were preparing to ship supplies to the Delta region.

I memorized the layout of the water barrels and continued onto the ferry across the river.

That day I walked around the town of Dalah, just across from Yangon. I saw people starving. Their homes were destroyed. No relief seemed to be in sight.

I passed out what little medicine I had smuggled into the country. I tried to give away some food discretely as the junta had prohibited foreigners from passing out aid.

Nine hours later I crossed the Yangon River back to Yangon.

The barge had not moved.

The supplies were in the same position as when I crossed earlier that morning.

Most of the soldiers were sleeping on the dock.

I wanted to scream. I had just seen thousands of people in desperate need of food and water. Relief was sitting on the other side of the river out of reach.

I have been out of Burma for nearly ten days now. I can not help but conclude that the junta government has little interest in actually helping the Burmese people.

The Myanmar government is currently requesting billions for reconstruction at a donor conference.

In my conversations with the Burmese people I found that giving monetary contributions to help the cyclone victims in Myanmar comes with a price -- the junta government has taken large cuts from aid in the past.

While in Burma after the cyclone I made several contacts who have recommended aid organizations that are able to place aid into directly into victims hands.

Based in Yangon, Gitameit Music Center has been working to distribute rice and other supplies to people in the delta region.

While the organization is a non-profit music center, Gitameit has been effective in reaching some of the hard hit areas as it is run by local volunteers.

The Web site has reports of the damage. Volunteers just conducted their seventh aid trip to areas that had not received aid two weeks after the storm.

Visit www.gitameit.com to see more about what the organization has been doing after the cyclone.