Thank you so much for the update, as I have really been concerned for the people there. We have been to Burma twice and met so many wonderful people and hope they and their families are OK. Friends in Thailand have told us it is really bad and many people are getting sick due to no clean water, and the dead bodies, etc. I was going to write a blog here but felt others had much better information than I. We do have several Burmese members on iFood.TV and hopefully their loved opnes back home are all OK. There have been some fund raising here by local Burmese in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are able to get money in to help via a monks network. There also have been numerous events to also raise money for the victims of the China Earthquake. There are many Chinese and Burmese living in the San Francisco Bay Area, so many families here have been touched. Mary-Anne Shanti/Mary-Anne

Suu Kyi's party rejects Myanmar polls result Saturday, May 17, 2008 (Yangon, Myanmar) Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party on Saturday rejected the Myanmar junta's claim that more than 92 per cent of voters approved a military-backed constitution in the first round of a referendum last week. ''This result is completely incorrect,'' said Nyan Win, spokesman for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). ''They forced the people to vote Yes -- and did not allow ballots to be cast in secret,'' he said. Myanmar held the referendum across most of the country on May 10, even though huge swathes of land were still underwater from a cyclone that has left 133,000 people dead or missing. The junta, which says the new constitution will pave the way to democratic elections in two years, announced on Thursday that 92.4 per cent of voters had approved the charter, with a 99 per cent turnout. Nyan Win also said that the government should not have announced the results until the second round of voting on May 24, when the regime plans to hold the balloting in areas devastated by the cyclone. ''This referendum result is not in accordance with the law. They should only announce the results after everyone finishes voting,'' he said. The NLD has denounced the regime for holding the referendum while 2.5 million people still need food, shelter and medicine. The last time there was a national ballot, in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi won in a landslide. She was never allowed to rule, and instead has been under house arrest for much of the time since. to read more on her: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1950505.stm Among its provisions, the constitution would make it illegal for her to ever hold office. Shanti/Mary-Anne

Thanks so much for posting that information about the referendum. I have just gotten an update from an aid worker in Yangon and will post some of what was said: "A few days ago I told you that eight members of the health teams were heading out to try to reach villages directly south of Bogalay which haven’t yet been reached by any assistance. Actually, it was the team members’ fourth attempt to reach that group of villages, and they were once again unsuccessful. Previously, they tried to reach those villages by land, but couldn’t get through because of flooding. Then, they were trying by boat, but when waves began breaking over the front of the boat, the group had to turn back. It is discouraging for them to know that people are in need but are not within reach. I imagine they are not the only ones experiencing these types of setbacks. However, they aren’t giving up. The group is already out trying again, this time by going via smaller rivers and streams from the east, instead of going down the main river by a more direct route. It will be a longer trip, but with more chance of eventually arriving in the neediest areas. The reason the area isn’t being reached isn’t only that the weather and travel are so difficult. It is also because the government is not allowing any international organizations access to those areas. The local authorities have stated the area is off limits because of “security concerns” though it is unclear what the current security concerns may be. The area is between Bogalay and the coast, and includes some of the most devastated Karen and Burman villages in the Delta, according to the helicopter fly-over report that was accomplished a week after the cyclone hit. We are so grateful that the local partners HOPE is supporting are not being denied access to these areas. They just have to persevere and find a way through." Please watch this video if you get a chance: http://dvb.cachefly.net/nargis/comments_sinpon_1305.wmv www.helladelicious.com