In April 2007, my husband, friend, and I traveled to Myanmar. The experience was life-changing, as prior to that trip we had only been to normal tourist destinations. What we experienced was a beautiful country with many natural wonders, but more importantly, amazing people. We had never traveled to a place where the people have so little materialistically, yet are so kind, generous and rich in life. During our brief time in Myanmar, we visited the capital, Yangon. In suburban Yangon, we visited a school run by a Swedish national who was teaching local preschool students English, in hopes that they would have a chance at a better life. With help from friends and family, we were able to collect materials and goods to donate to the school.

Due to that life-changing trip and our other travels, we recently formed Sense the World to expand our impact in this and other impoverished regions. We are an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing goods dealing with the human senses to some of the poorest regions. In light of Cyclone Nargis, we have again partnered with the school, located in Thanlyin, a small township southeast of Yangon. While some of the large NGO organizations (e.g. UNICEF) can provide the most immediate and widespread response, we have a connection with this town and are trying to collect funds to help our friends rebuild their lives. With our partners, we are confident that money donated to our organization will be quickly distributed and used to help rebuild this town.

As you may know, receiving information from Myanmar is difficult under the best of circumstances, and incredibly difficult now. On Friday, we heard from our contact in Thanlyin and the situation sounds very grim. He said "Nobody here was prepared since information on the caliber of the approaching winds hadn't been available. The destruction has been massive. In the villages around Thanlyin about 80% of the houses have been damaged and 50% severely broken or completely demolished." The school itself has taken a big hit with two out of three of the school's buildings destroyed. In their remaining building they are providing food, shelter and daycare to as many families as possible.

Unlike its neighbor Bangladesh, Myanmar, is not frequently hit by cyclones and their infrastructure is ill-equipped politically and economically to deal with the aftermath of such a devastating storm. The people of Myanmar would never expect a hand out; they typically haven't gotten one from their government or the international community. They've always had to rely on themselves for survival and that's what they're currently doing. All they're worried about is survival for the following day. We'd like to give them a hand up. To contribute to our cause and read more of our partner's first-hand account, please visit www.sensetheworld.org.