Dear Donor...
We recently sent the following letter to our donors. We are sharing it here again to our wider community of followers.
Dear friend,
We are writing you this message because some time in the past two plus years, you have made at least one donation to our nonprofit, Better Burma. We just want to take a moment to thank you sincerely for this generosity, and for trusting in our mission.
As many of you know, Better Burma was founded in response to the 2021 military coup, and is dedicated to advancing a free, peaceful and prosperous Burma. We support sustainable community development programs, provide emergency relief to vulnerable communities, and host a multi-media platform that informs and engages people on what has been happening in Burma.
Your generous donation has made a significant impact in several of our humanitarian projects. For example, your contribution has brought stability, hope, and a brighter future to Chin refugee children in Mizoram. Through the provision of educational materials and by funding the construction of eight schools there, we have been able to create spaces for 800 refugee children to learn, fostering normalcy and the opportunity for positive growth despite their displacement caused by violence.
In addition, we have partnered with a dedicated local team to address urgent healthcare needs in the Sagaing region, whose population has been severely impacted by violent attacks from the military. This project implements medical training programs and establishes mobile clinics, ensuring access to vital healthcare services for the affected communities.
Moreover, your past contributions have allowed us to support monastic communities that are currently experiencing a shortage of food supplies. We also provide resources to monastic charity schools, where children from diverse backgrounds receive free instruction, accommodation, and meals, offering them the chance to continue their education, despite all the hardship around them.
In terms of our media programs, Insight Myanmar Podcast reaches more people than ever before, with an audience now over 70,000 listeners! This includes those from diplomatic missions, governments, think tanks, academia and journalism, monasteries, as well as many democratic leaders and activists within the movement. Additionally, Radio Free Asia and Mizzima regularly share our content with their audiences, furthering our impact and our reach. Our longform interviews with key leaders and thinkers are informing and engaging many of those directly involved in the conflict, providing them with important insights. At the same time, our Burmese language podcast, Myanmar Revolutionary Tales, has also been taking off; listeners have praised the program as exploring a depth within the guests rarely found in other mediums.
In sum, we wish to express our enormous gratitude to you, our donor base, for believing in our work, and for showing up in support of the Burmese people and their continued aspirations for democracy and human rights! Because their ongoing struggles have faded from the media spotlight, many Burmese have felt increasingly alone and isolated. However, the contributions that you and many others have been making are a powerful pull in the other direction, and we can’t thank you enough for that. As our mission carries on, we hope we can rely on your continued support, not only for the programs described above, but other projects that are in the works as well.
If you haven’t done so already, we would be deeply grateful if you could consider a recurring donation of any amount. Recurring donations allow us to operate from a stable monthly floor, so that we can more confidently plan a certain level of activity that we know we can fund, and that our local partners know they can depend on. Monthly pledges can be made through either PayPal or Patreon. Again, thank you so much for considering this option!
Of course, we are also extremely grateful for one-time donations of any amount. And we would also like to remind you of another way to support our mission: through a purchase at our online store, Aloka Crafts. This recent addition to Better Burma sources its handicrafts directly from diverse artisan communities throughout Burma, prioritizing collaborations with artisans from vulnerable backgrounds. We take immense pride in the fact that all of Aloka Crafts’ unique products are 100% Burmese-made; they are also 100% hand-made! Your purchase will directly support those artisan communities, with a portion also going to the wider Better Burma mission.
Once again, we want to extend our heartfelt appreciation for your support, and invite you to continue with us in our journey to make a lasting and positive impact in Burma. Together, we can bring about change and continue to show up for the Burmese people in their pursuit of democracy and human rights!
Sincerely,
Your friends at Insight Myanmar and Better Burma