And the agony of not being able to help
28 February 2010, 09:00While in Thailand, I didn’t have access to my own computer, so I generally wasn’t connected to what was happening around the world. One day in May it started raining. It started raining hard. The rain was nothing special, because we were in the rainy season. It was the torrential aspect of the rain that was strange.
My mom was frantic at home, not being able to get in touch with me and seeing the news of a cyclone whose outer bands reached the northern regions of Thailand. She thought I was in serious trouble. Frankly, I love the rain. I was actually enjoying watching it. I had no idea what she was going through. I had no idea what the people were going through.
It was a week later that I found out it was a cyclone. I heard the news from my mother, whom I was able to email after borrowing a friend’s computer. Cyclone Nargis was the worst natural disaster to hit Burma. Some estimates say that as many as one million souls died because of that storm. But the region is still suffering even today, because of the tidal surge of salt water into the Irrawaddy Delta region, which killed that year’s rice harvest and sterilized the land for years to come.
I tried to get in; I tried to go help. But the Burmese government would have nothing of it. They let no one in. I even considered for a time joining the UN or some other government-based humanitarian aid organization. But I just didn’t feel like I had enough time. By the time I thought about joining the UN, I had only a few weeks left on my visa—and my tickets. If I missed my flight, I’d have to buy a new ticket home. I couldn’t go. I just sat there, helpless to help. It was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever endured.
~Jonathan