Dear Friends,

We would be delighted if you would join us for a performance of Ben Stiller and Edie Falco in the much-anticipated revival of The House of Blue Leaves to benefit the Foundation for the People of Burma.

As some of you know, Suki Sandler and I took part in a truly awe inspiring trip to Myanmar (Burma) in January. The trip was organized by the Foundation for the People of Burma, a nonprofit that does humanitarian work in health, education and community development with people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions.

Burma is a magnificent country with lovely and peaceful people ruled by a repressive dictatorship. What causes me to use the expression “awe inspiring” was the privilege of seeing the work that the founder, Hal Nathan, and FPB’s local community partners, are doing. We saw schools, orphanages and entire villages vastly affected by the help they receive through this organization.

· We saw the sweetest smiles on the faces of the children in an orphanage for HIV-positive children.

· A few of us sang the ABCs with the most precious 4-year-old children in a monastery school that could not operate without FPB’s support.

· We went by boat to meet with people in a village that had been devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Through local partners, FPB had been amongst the first to get aid to them. Sadly, the junta had blocked large-scale international aid.

A few dollars goes a long way in Burma and makes a tremendous difference. In order to help FPB continue its important work, we are eager to have you join us at this theater party. After the performance, available cast members will join us for an informal visit and Hal will answer questions about FPB’s exciting work in Burma.

The House of Blue Leaves starring Edie Falco and Ben Stiller:

Walter Kerr Theater
219 West 48th Street, NYC
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
8 P.M.

Ticket Price: $300 ($190 is tax deductible because FPB is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.)

Checks to:
Foundation for the People of Burma
225 Bush Street #590
San Francisco, CA 94104
Please write “NYC-Burma TICKETS” in the memo line and enclose your email and phone number so we can contact you with information about ticket pick-up-and our post-performance get-together with available cast members and Hal.

Please RSVP and send check by March 31, 2011 to reserve your seat(s)!
For questions about tickets, please email paula@foundationburma.org.

We are eager to have you join us but if you can’t attend the Benefit and would like to make a donation that would be greatly appreciated. Please write NYC-Burma on the memo line of your check so we can properly thank you! Or, donate online at https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=24039

For more information about Foundation for the People of Burma and its health associate, Global Health Access Program, please visit:
www.foundationburma.org and www.ghap.org

Hoping to see you on June 21st!

Warmly,
Susan

Susan Gallin Productions, Inc.
180 West 58th Street 4B
New York, New York 10019
212 840 1725

The House of Representatives passed a budget last month to cut $1.7 billion in life saving humanitarian aid to refugees and people in crisis around the world. The Senate rejected those cuts and introduced a version of the budget with NO cuts to life saving aid. They’re expected to vote on the bill THIS WEEK!

We must make sure the Senate protects $1.7 billion in life saving humanitarian aid. You can help. Stand up for the refugees from Burma now!

Email your senators and ask them to protect lifesaving humanitarian aid.

To access a U.S. Senate website with email links to each senator’s office, click here, then scroll down to find your senators and click on “web form.”

Here’s a sample letter. You are invited to cut, paste and personalize as appropriate–or write your own letter!

THANK YOU for supporting life-saving humanitarian aid for people displaced by war in Burma.
___________________
Dear Senator,

As a constituent, I urge you to support life-saving humanitarian aid as put forward in the Senate funding bill for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year.

I am particularly concerned about aid related to IDPs and refugees from Burma. Cuts to specific amounts – like $431 million (50%) from International Disaster Assistance, $687 million (41%) from Food for Peace, and $582 million (36%) from Migration and Refugee Assistance – will significantly impact lives on the ground in Burma and its refugees in neighboring countries. IDP and refugee service providers would be forced to make cuts to the amount of food they provide refugees, to a level below international nutritional standards. Furthermore, they would not be able to provide life-saving food, shelter, and medical aid to the thousands of new refugees that continue to flee Burma every month. These severe cuts run counter to the United States’ commitment to peace and democracy building. These cuts put U.S. interests at risk during a critical time when violence in Burma is on the rise and millions of Burmese people remain most vulnerable to state-perpetrated atrocities.

I strongly oppose the budget cuts to funding that supports humanitarian assistance. As the appropriations process continues in Congress, I urge you to do everything in your power to restore humanitarian aid for millions of refugees from Burma. Their lives depend on it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

“…Hidden out of sight of the road and the authorities on both sides of the river, hundreds of displaced Karen villagers have set up small shelters on the Thai side of the border in dried-out channels cut by the floods of the wet season. The shelters are scattered and basic _ small built-up wooden platforms, torn coloured picnic mats spread under trees or split bamboo poles to form ground covering, roofed by dried leaves, faded strips of material or blue plastic sheeting…

Villagers flee violence, hide in the forest

The Back Pack Health Worker Team is an independent, non-profit organisation that has been delivering primary health care for over 13 years to people in conflict zones and rural areas deep inside Burma _ where access to health care is otherwise unavailable.

The organisation’s secretary, Mahn Mahn, explained that villagers close to the border fled their homes after the Burmese army moved into the area to wage waragainst factions of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

”There are at least 14 new battle sites and 21 hiding sites along both sides of the border and we have seven emergency Back Pack teams working with local community organisations to help 10,575 displaced people,” said Mahn Mahn, adding that 80 Back Pack teams of three to five medics offer medical services to 187,000 internally displaced people in eastern Burma . . . to read the full story in the Bangkok Post, please go to http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/health/225065/when-the-people-are-enemies-of-the-state

Ohio Teens raise funds to "solve problems at the source" in Burma

The situation in Burma has always been a major concern for us, so when we had the idea to do one of this year’s projects on Burma, it had unanimous support. We are publishing a cookbook filled with all kinds of delicious recipes, and the best part is all proceeds go to The Foundation for the People of Burma, helping solve problems at the source!

You can learn more information about the project as it becomes available, as well as ways of ordering the cookbook, by going to bakingforburma.org.

Thanks for your support!

Very exciting news! We are in the final stages of combining resources with another U.S.-based nonprofit that has been working on behalf of the people of Burma for more than 10 years. Planet Care/Global Health Access Program supports public health and clinical care for people in Burma and on its borders through innovative training and partnership with local health clinics, backpack medics and village-based health workers. Last year, GHAP partnered with more than 60 local organizations, supporting programs that reached over one million people in Burma.

GHAP shares our community-based philosophy, and we’ve long admired their work with local partners in the field. GHAP’s malaria program builds the capacity of local health organizations to provide comprehensive screening, treatment and prevention—including insecticide-treated bed nets—to stop the spread of drug-resistant malaria. Its pioneering programs in tuberculosis and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) support partners providing unprecedented screening, education and treatment for people beyond the reach of government and international aid.

GHAP provides technical assistance for the training and support of traditional birth attendants and reproductive health workers in prenatal care, family planning and reproductive health. GHAP partners provide Vitamin A, deworming treatment and childhood immunizations to tens of thousands of children who’d otherwise go without such care. GHAP’s Child Nutrition Program offers family education and intensive feeding in a country where one in three children are malnourished.

We’re excited about sharing our complementary skills, knowledge and dedication. Together, we’ll be able to provide holistic assistance—health care, education, water and sanitation, economic development and leadership training—to the many communities in which we currently work in parallel. Combining staff and finance and accounting systems will allow us to operate more efficiently. As a larger organization with a proven track record, we’ll attract funding not accessible to smaller organizations. And those benefits are just a start.

The real core of our excitement is the people. The people in both of our organizations have years of experience and intimate knowledge about how to work effectively in the region. Together, we’ll be able to provide more resources, more efficiently and more effectively to the people of Burma. We’ll keep you posted and relay the good news when it’s official. And we hope you will share any questions or concerns.

While working on this partnership the past several months, we’ve also been busy with our ongoing programs, which are running well and producing excellent results. You can read the latest about our programs in our NEWS section.

As always, this only works with your support. You are the people who provide the backbone of whatever we are able to do for the people of Burma and we are always deeply appreciative of your caring.

With thanks and warm wishes for a joyous holiday season,

Hal Nathan
President

Happy schoolchildren in northern Burma.

Education goes far beyond the classroom for millions from Burma who are vulnerable because they’re illiterate, uprooted, marginalized and poor. With solid skills, people have a chance to find jobs, feed families, avoid abuse and rebuild communities. That’s why we invest in education, supporting classrooms for more than 100,000 children and skills training for thousands more adults—including many who’ve never had formal schooling.

Our community-based programs take children off the streets; counsel and retrain trafficked women; train ethnic-minority villagers to farm organically and leverage group savings; teach migrant workers to advocate for rights; train leaders to assess community needs.

In our NEWS section, you can meet a star student from a mountain village; teachers using teak leaves for hands-on math; traditional birth attendants trained to save women from dying during childbirth; and young American students sharing heartfelt thoughts about Burma.

We believe in the education equation: Education = Opportunity + Hope!

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

Student Star + Boarding School = Future Village Doctor

Twigs + Teacher Creativity = Kids Who Love Math

A paddy field and rice farmers in Shan State.
Photo: Jane Dudley

“My village is in the mountains, one-hour walk from the main road,” writes a bright 14-year-old student in northern Shan State chosen by her primary-school teacher to continue studies in a special boarding school 14 miles away. The ninth-grader’s village has 150 people and 32 homes, but no secondary school.

“My village plants paddy (rice), chili, beans, vegetables, maize and peanuts,” the teenager says. “We have pigs, fowl, dogs, cats and buffalo. It smells like dung and sounds like animals shouting.
“My family’s biggest challenge is that it’s difficult to find money,” so there are fights, “family disunity,” she says. “I like living as the boarder because I stay safe and feel happy; I enjoy disciplined living. My favorite is cool season because on shining moon nights, all my friends sing and play and talk.

“If I didn’t come to the boarding school, I’d stay in the village, planting the paddy field. Education changed my life. I know more language, people behavior and knowledge. My dream is to become a doctor and help my village.”

With your help, we’re proud to support this promising student, her nine classmates, and their boarding school. We salute their dreams of returning as village health workers and mechanical engineers.

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

The Education Equation

Twigs + Teacher Creativity = Kids Who Love Math

Young math students engrossed in their math game.

In a dusty mountain village in northern Burma, the barefoot children were so engrossed in an outdoor math lesson using twigs and leaves they didn’t notice when visitors arrived—proof that child-centered teacher training is already making a difference. The foundation supports a nationwide train-the-trainer program to improve the quality of teaching in even the most remote villages.

In traditional schools, teachers stand in front of the class writing sentences on the board for rows of children to memorize. Using the new Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking (RWCT) method, teachers engage children with interactive hands-on activities, organize them to work together in small groups and encourage them to ask questions and figure out their own answers.

Initially, it’s challenging. Students aren’t used to thinking for themselves. Classrooms with more than 80 students can turn chaotic when kids aren’t confined to rows. Teachers worry students won’t have time to memorize the information needed to pass year-end exams.

Yet some communities are so excited by interactive learning that students and teachers come to school during holidays—even though the teachers don’t get paid.

“I love teaching like this,” said a teacher in Rakhine state who invented a game using hand-made alphabet cards—a sort of mini-Scrabble. “It is so much more fun for me . . . and the children really get the idea much more quickly.”

Overheard in Kyaikhto, a conversation between two teachers: “Yes, I know it is more work at first, and harder, but isn’t it good not having to hit the children to keep them interested?”

Read more about our education programs in Burma!

The Education Equation

Student Star + Boarding School = Future Village Doctor