Yogyakarta Relief

i don't think this blog is public, in which case this is a pointless post as all of you will have got this link from me already, but please see my friends (also ex VSO Indonesia) blog at www.patricklynn.whereareyou.net for a way to donate to the Yogyakarta earthquake relief in a slightly different way. The money will go towards people who have suffered long-term or permanent disability as a result of the earthquake - the money will go straight to the centre where Esther has been working as an occupational therapist for the last few years through VSO. It is a good place, and the money won't go 'missing'.

The NGO sector has been able to respond quite rapidly to the earthquake - partly because after the December 2004 tsunami in Aceh, almost every (if not every) International NGO and countless local ones had operations in Indonesia, and most of them are still here. It seems there are the same problems as usual though - lots of aid and money flooding in but major problems in distribution preventing the supplies getting to the people who need it. Being in Papua, readers almost anywhere else will have a far better idea of whats happening in Yogya that me. Its just so sad - Indonesia really gets one horrible blow after another.