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Homeschoolers Plan to Help Tsunami
Victims
How you can help rebuild the lives of
villagers in India
Dateline: 12/27/04
by David Albert
From: David Albert & Ellen Sawislak
Date: Sun Dec 26, 2004 3:39 pm
Subject: OT
Tsunami
Dear homeschooling friends
By now, many of you have read about the tsunami
that has just hit the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. I am
particularly sad to report that areas of the coast of southeast
India are in ruins.
This is the area in which my adopted Indian parents have been
doing land reform/development work for the past 40 years, and
also where American homeschoolers have contributed much-needed
funds to help build houses for people who were previously living
in little more than mud and grass huts that would be destroyed
during every monsoon, and to support 220 orphans. A wall of water
30-40 feet high hit and moved more than 10 miles inland (where
the orphanages are), destroying everything in its wake.
The mangroves,
which had been the only natural protection against such destruction,
had all been cut down by multinational/World Bank-backed projects
in industrial
shrimp farming. As of this writing, 1,100 people are reported
dead in this district, and upwards of a million homeless. I am
awaiting more direct word from my mother or sister, but am unlikely
to receive it anytime soon. (My sister* is head of a pediatrics
hospital in the region I expect I won't hear from her in
weeks!),
As it turns out, my daughter (former homeschooler and now
Smith College first-year Aliyah)
and I were planning to leave for the area on Tuesday evening.
We would (and may) still go, though with plans to assist in the
relief effort. But I expect the local airports will be commandeered
for relief aid, so we'll just have to see.
In the meantime, we have set up a relief fund. All proceeds
from the sale of my book "The
Color of Freedom" (which is an oral biography of my
parents, and the story of their work) were already going to their
efforts, and can be purchased through my website at www.skylarksings.com.
Tax-deductible donations cash, checks, or credit cards
can be sent to me at the
address on the site (if for more than $500, checks should
be made out to The Gandhian Foundation; if not,
simply to Skylark Sings, as the funds will get
there faster.) The quickest way is simply to call me at (360)
352-0506, and I'll do what is necessary we will wire the
combined contributions directly, and there will be no overhead
to cover.
I have now heard from my sister, and we have been told to
COME! So we leave Tuesday evening, December 28. We have no idea
what we will be doing, but we know from experience that simply
being witnesses is often enough. I did receive an e-mail from
my mother's* office, telling us that they escaped without major
damage (which is great, because one of our orphanages, the one
for girls, is there), but that 12 kilometers to the south, in
12 villages, more than 7,000 are dead. The press hasn't arrived
yet, and really have no idea of the actual death toll.
To follow our relief effort in India, visit our
blog on a regular basis. We should be starting to post there
near the end of December.
Thank you for your help and prayers.
David Albert
www.skylarksings.com
Follow David's thread about the Tsunami
in our
Yahoo Group.
The
South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog
*Note: David's "mother" and "sister"
are not his biological relatives, but special people in his life,
friends of over 30 years, whom many call "Mother" and
"Sister," such as nuns would be called "mother"
or "sister."
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- Read more about Tsunamis
-
- Tsunami Man: Learning About Killer Waves With
Walter Dudley
by Anthony D. Fredericks
- In Tsunami Man young readers are given an inside look
at the life of a working scientist who uses his knowledge for
the common good and serves as an exciting role model for future
scientists. Filled with dramatic photographs and accounts of
tsunami survivors, the book also addresses the "how"
and "why" of tsunamis, their impact on human lives,
and the ways in which information about these "killer waves"
is shared throughout the world.
-
- Global
Warning: Book Three: The Changing Earth Trilogy
by Nancy Mitchell, Edie Christensen, Darren Wiebe, Ryan T. Fong,
Nancy Mitchel
- Grade 5-8-This is not going to be a typical day for Jenny
Powers and her friends at Foothill High School in Fremont, CA.
A tidal wave is heading for the West coast of the United States
and these students need to prepare for an emergency situation.
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