Blog Action Day 08: Poverty

Today, October 15, is Blog Action Day. Bloggers around the world unite on this day for their various contributions to a central theme. This year round, the spotlight is on Poverty.

My thoughts are that if being poor is not bad enough, imagine being hit by a natural disaster! Located around Singapore (where I come from) are less developed countries that are continually hit by strong winds, rains or earthquake.

As such, for my part today, I want to bring attention to the humanitarian efforts of the Buddhist Fellowship of Singapore. I would like to lend support to their continued and tireless efforts in recent months at reaching out to neighboring countries, devastated by natural disasters.

Specifically, in July this year, a team by Buddhist Fellowship headed by Angie Monksfield managed to gain access into Cyclone-hit Myanmar. Prior to the trip, the team had been warned of the possibility of being stopped by military junta in delivering direct aid. In the end, the team by the Buddhist Fellowship made it after passing three military checkpoints where their papers and permits for humanitarian work were closely scrutinized, and delivered food, money, blankets, and necessities. Permission to republish photos on this post today have been graciously granted by Angie.

If you have been following about events in Myanmar, you would understand that the effort by the Buddhist Fellowship is highly commendable. It was reported that relief teams from other world organizations had great difficulty getting through aid to the villagers, the innocent people who needed assistance most.

Your Actions Please

If you are a Singaporean, do make a contribution. The Buddhist Fellowship of Singapore welcomes contributions of all sorts; in time, donations, and in kind.

Its next mission to Myanmar is scheduled for 26 – 28 December 2008. If you would like to donate cash to assist with the reconstruction efforts, please write a cheque payable to “Buddhist Fellowship Myanmar Nargis Fund”. The address to send it to is:

Buddhist Fellowship
Poh Ern Shih Temple
9 Chwee Chian Road
Singapore 117488

It is also sending teams to India, Thailand (to Khao Lak, the place I went in June) and China. If you would like to contribute to the other funds organized by the Buddhist Fellowship, please feel free to do so. More details are also available at their site.

On the other hand, if you would like to micro finance loans to specific individuals in poverty from developing countries directly, here is the organization to do so (click on the banner below).

I sincerely thank you for your donations.

Namaste
Evelyn

P.S. Comments are closed today. Please consider making a contribution directly on the respective sites and help alleviate Poverty.

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