_ May K Ng

[I’m going to change the names of these amazing people to protect them from retribution.]

There is Dr. Sing who has spent $30,000 dollars of his and his families money (borrowed much of it) to purchase supplies and put together teams that bring the supplies to the victims.  Remember fuel is being rationed and has tripled in price.  Yesterday he got permission to send in a team of medical professionals into three villages (400,000 people) to bring in medical supplies (basic first aid and basic medical stuff) and training.  The team has 24 hours to accomplish their mission.   This amazing man has teams that are also working on water, sanitation and delivering personal hygiene kits that include soap, toothpaste, aqua tabs, and a cup.

There is a business man who remembered Full Moon Day was coming up and contacted a group of senior monks and offered to transport them and a lorry (BIG truck) of supplies.  He filled it with kits (plate, cup, bowl, soap and a longyi), 100 water filter units, 100,000 aqua tabs, tarps and a ton of rice that his employees worked overtime to measure and put into 1 kilo bags. 

There is a young man who has shut down his entire business and he and his partners and employees have borrowed and begged for supplies to fill a large boat every four days.  They take medical personal and supplies as well as tarps, blankets, nets etc. and follow the canals in search of survivors.

There is another business owner that has convinced his family and staff into adopting 1 village.  They started by providing everyone with aqua tabs, and then water filters, food blankets, roofing and working their way to re-building this village.

There is an organization of retired health professionals that have also adopted several villages and are starting with providing safe water while working on their medical needs.
And did I mention women?  Their organization has also distributed 150 filter units as well as blankets, first aid kits and and and..

And the list goes on and on and on…none of these people sleep, they rarely eat, we meet on Sundays and late at night because we’re too busy procuring supplies, finding funding, finding transport, finding fuel and getting permission or not to meet in the day. 
 
And there are the neighbors, entire apartment complexes, schools and churches are conducting used clothing and blanket drives as they’re not allowed to donate anything new, but are allowed to bring used supplies to the camps.  These clever do-gooders are stashing kyet (small money) into the pockets of the trousers and shirts. 

We’re working on a plan to secretly unite the small groups but as what they’re doing is forbidden we must work quietly.   We’re trying to figure out how to give them a big enough voice so the large organizations will help them procure supplies, but it has to be quiet, it has to be subtle.  The road blocks are many, as there are so many forms to fill out that are required by the large NGO’s, so much red tape, so many doors and so many rules, so many agendas, all threatening to slow down what’s already going way to slowly, so for now we all work quietly saving a few lives at a time and knowing that at least we’re able to do that much.