For the People of Mandalay

I have deep ties to Myanmar, and my adopted family live in a village very close to the epicentre of the recent devastating earthquake

As if military oppression and economic instability weren't bad enough, any hope that my adopted son could support his family using the car we just scraped together to buy, is now dashed.

But by some miracle, the car is OK and my son has already begun helping to distribute food.

⛔ The political situation in Myanmar means that limited aid will reach the worst-hit areas, so direct support is critical in the short term. All money raised by this campaign will be sent to our friends in Myanmar to assist them in any way they need.

I can't vouch for exactly how the money will be used, only that it will be sent directly to people trying to survive in devastating circumstances, for as long as we can keep doing that. The military junta could restrict banking or seize accounts without notice, in which case, we will channel monies collected here to aid agencies we know are on the ground in Central Myanmar.

Please help, small donations from strong currencies convert to very tangible sums in weak economies like Myanmar.

Please only make small-value donations to this campaign, ie less than $1000. If you can give more than that, or if you need a tax-deductible receipt, we recommend giving to aid-agencies that can show they are already working in Central Myanmar.

‍‍♀️ If you want to know more about me, I did my Phd in Myanmar. In the early years of the brief decade of democracy, when the shining light of political freedom was bringing rapid economic growth and a booming tourist industry. Visitors were flocking in to see ancient Buddhist monuments that had been hidden away by military oppression for half a century, and research collaborations like ours were (relatively) easy to negotiate. If you search Jan Douglass and Lymphatic Filariasis you'll see that I continued to work among neglected populations prior to COVID, and after travel shut down I co-founded an Australian charity to continue this work*.

I have deliberately not named my Myanmar family and friends, as we have learned it is frequently not safe for people there to carry out international collaborations in the current circumstances.

My Myanmar son left his poor rural village as a teenager to be a trishaw driver in the city of Mandalay, teaching himself English, and working his way up to driving tourists around (and me) in a modern air-conditioned car. He became my interpreter and site manager during the study, eventually marrying one of our research assistants. They are very dear friends, and it has been heartbreaking not to be able to visit them for so long

First the pandemic, and then the military coup meant that tourism died, and my son had to sell the cars. Overnight, he became dependent on the small monthly amount I can afford to send. It's just incredibly fortunate that AUD converts into a lot of MMK as I can't send a lot. But it's enough to let them rent a concrete house (bullets can go through the walls of a cheaper reed-wall house) and to feed their small children.

Digging deep to make the final payment for the car last week was supposed to give them back some independence and ensure they weren't left in the lurch if something happened to me.

⛽ It seems the universe had other plans for the car, but fuel will be scarce and expensive, so please send a few dollars to help fill the tank.

Thank you

* It is not within the remit or capacity of the LKN Foundation Ltd to provide emergency relief aid, so please do not donate to LKN for Myanmar relief. However, we welcome all support for people affected by LF and podoconiosis-related lymphoedema.