Charity worker’s Burma mission

May 20 2008 by Katie Norman, South Wales Echo

A CHARITY campaigner is today poised for emergency deployment to disaster-struck Burma.

Jessica Camburn, left, who works for Save the Children, is heading to Burma to support the team of international emergency workers who are trying to ease the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis.

The Burmese government says at least 78,000 people have died because of the cyclone on May 2 with a further million people homeless. However, the United Nations has put the death toll at 216,000, with around two million homeless and 220,000 missing.

Jess, 29, from Adamsdown, Cardiff, has been called up to travel to Burma at short notice to help develop funding proposals for projects helping children fighting for survival. She is due to fly out today.

She said: “It’s hard to find the right words or even know how to feel about this.

“The scale of this emergency is difficult to comprehend, despite the news reports that we are getting from Myanmar (Burma). I don’t think I’ll really be able to understand the situation until I’m out there.”

Jess, who is originally from Edinburgh, has worked for Save the Children for four years. She has previously worked in Uganda and spent a year training to be part of Save the Children’s General Emergency Standby Team. Her first two-month mission was to war-torn Afghanistan last year, but this is her first rapid-response call-out.

She said: “To be honest I never thought I would get the call to join the Myanmar team because it was proving to be difficult to get visas for international staff.

“However, it seems that finally visas are being granted and I was asked how quickly I could get my passport to London.”

Save the Children’s 500-strong workforce in Burma has spent the last week distributing food, clean water, shelter, blankets, cooking materials and oral-rehydration solution to treat diarrhoea.

Wales’ leading international aid charities have joined forces to launch an emergency DEC Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal, which has already raised £8m, but more cash is urgently needed.

To donate, call 0870 6060900 or visit www.dec.org.uk.

katie.norman@mediawales.co.uk
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