Hooked On Asia

It continues to be a dreadful time in much of South East Asia as people count the cost of the storms that have ripped through the region. As I write, the death toll, arising from Tropical Storm Ketsana, in Laos is reportedly 24: in the Philippines it is 293, in Vietnam at least 107 have died, and in Cambodia the storm has claimed 17 lives.

The biggest catastrophe has been in Sumatra, Indonesia, where earthquakes have claimed the lives of over 1000 with thousands more believed missing.

I have allowed myself to feel overwhelmed by such numbers and as a result have been gripped by inertia. From the inertia has come frustration.

Fortunately a friend reminded me of a story about a starfish. For those unfamiliar with the story, it goes like this:

A Buddhist monk was on the beach with his apprentice the day after a fierce storm. Thousands of starfish had been washed up and stranded on the shore. Stooping down, the monk carefully lifted a single creature and returned it to the sea. His young apprentice wondered aloud why his master bothered to do this when it made little difference to the mass of helpless creatures. As they walked along, the monk picked up another single starfish and replied, “It makes a difference to just this one.”

I have copied this version, aptly, from The Starfish Project in Cambodia.

It is of course relatively easy to donate to one of the disaster relief funds like UNICEF’s Asia-Pacific Disasters Children’s Appeal and thereby help at least one ‘starfish’ in the short term but I am also concerned for the future. Many survivors will have lost everything: what will be their longterm prospects? As ever, such disasters seem to affect the poor the most. Houses and crops destroyed. Fishing boats lost.

I am now looking for that one starfish that I can help over the longterm and given my travel and tourism background I believe it will need to be a project in that sector. That does not mean I am going to pass by all the other starfish until I find the ‘right’ one: I will help where I can which is why I want to tell you about the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Vietnam.

Since 2002, the Foundation has been helping ‘street kids’ into education, training and apprenticeships. A recent focus has been on children from central Vietnam who had been trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City to work on the streets or in factories. Today Blue Dragon runs a children’s home in Hoi An, Central Vietnam, providing a safe and healthy environment for these vulnerable young people.

According to a post on the foundation’s blog the recent flash floods in Central Vietnam have caused damage to the Home; although the full extent is not yet known. The crucial part of this particular story though is that, with the devastation caused to local economies, families might be more inclined to send their children off to the garment factories. A story that could easily be re-told throughout the region. I want to help prevent that happening.

For every one person already taking action I am sure there are many more who, like me, are transfixed by the scale of the problem. If we can all find a starfish to help, together, we can make a difference.

Do you know any small charities working in the region and dealing with the aftermath of these tragedies?

Images: IFRC