Partners Blogcast: "Famine in Chin State"

Steve and Oddny Gumaer started Partners Relief & Development in response to the needs of refugees and displaced people from Burma. This blog is meant to be a more personal stream of conversation than newsletters allow for. The opinions expressed here may not be those of Partners Relief & Development.

By Nathan Willis - In Chin State, (an area in north-western Burma, bordering Bangladesh and India) there is a famine. Every fifty years, a certain species of bamboo flowers. This natural phenomenon causes exponential rat reproduction. These rats eat rice crops and other food sources, resulting in famine.

People are starving and the impact of the famine is exaggerated by the Burma Army's unwillingness to value the lives of the people they govern. It is reported that the food aid that was granted by the UN Food Program to help the victims of this famine was taken by the military and sold on the open market.

Within the past few days we have received confirmed reports of 44 deaths by starvation. All children. Each has a name, family and home. Starving to death, they wandered into the woods to forage for food. They found a fig tree and gorged themselves on unripe figs which produced diarrhea and led to their death.

Partners have sent in money to purchase rice and provisions for the most affected communities. In addition to food assistance, this month, Partners is deploying staff to help the Free Burma Rangers provide relief training for teams on the front-line of this crisis. As a part of this deployment, 7 Partners Staff members are participating in the training.

Your partnership is a vital ongoing thread of love and hope to the people directly impacted by disaster, disease and dictatorship. Thank you for caring and doing what you can to pour love on the people of Burma.

If you have questions or wish to contact Partners, you can send an email to info@partnersworld.org and let them know what you think.