Bansuri.net - Solunamar.com / DJ Amar . Electric Vardo

New Website coming soon

events listed at www.bansuri.net or www.solunamar.com

TSUNAMI AID

The January 7th HEAL event at 111 Minna, Produced by Project Ahimsa, co-sponsored by Bansuri, nosweatshops.org and several other organizations, helped raise over $10K for Tsunami Victims, which will be matched by Project Ahimsa and Center for Global Understanding to send over $20K.
The event included DJs Cheb i Sabbah, Nihal, Laird, Amar, Riffat Sultana, and more.

All donations were originally supposed to go to Doctors Without Borders, however the organization has recently issued an announcement saying that they are fully funded for their own tsunami relief efforts. All donations that have already been made to Project Ahimsa for this effort, will now be channeled to the IFRC.

We all thank you for your incredible support.

If you have anything to donate (see below), I will have the store as a drop off/pickup point for donations of goods.

The current focus of nosweatshops.org will be to facilitate aid.
I will be donating a portion of my sales at Bansuri on New Year's Eve, and during the month of January and onward.
Please contact me if you wish to collaborate in any forms of support.
nosweatshops@bansuri.net

From my friend Nayomi:
Hi everyone- Hope you are ok and if you have friends and relatives in Asia- that they are ok too. I am going to be taking a carload of clothes and other supplies- sanitary napkins, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap etc to a temple in milpitas which will be shipping boxes to Sri Lanka in the next few days (Thursday or Friday). All these items are direly needed for the more than 1 million people who were displaced by Sunday's tsunami and will be distributed at refugee camps. If you have anything that you can spare please either drop it off at our place- or let me know when and where I can pick it up. We are also researching a credible organization to which to send money and will send that information out on a massive Dhamaal e-mailer. Thanks for the overwhelming concern that has been coming our way since this disaster began.
Love and Peace, Nayomi & Janaka
Please forward this e-mail to anyone you wish.

(note from Amar: You can bring items to the store, and I will give them to Nayomi)

From my friend Jeff:
If you are looking for an organization to which you can make a donation for the earthquake/tsunami relief effort in Asia, then OXFAM is an excellent choice. I worked for them in Vietnam. They do excellent disaster work and long-term development. They spend only about 4-5% of their monies on administration costs--quite remarkable for aid organizations.

Here's their website: http://www.oxfamamerica.org

Thanks, Jeff

From DJ Sep:
Wishing you a happy new year. I'm forwarding this from a friend of mine. If you can similarly find the time to e-mail a message to your friends, I would be grateful.

The majority of the people decimated by the catastrophe in Asia are the most systematically downtrodden and impoverished citizens in their respective countries. The month of December is a double-edged sword for the inhabitants of these sea-side regions as profitable tourism flourishes alongside its uglier counterpart--the sex trading of children and women. Their daily struggle for life has now been compounded by the loss of family members, loved ones, livelihoods, homes, and possessions.

As the death toll rises, lack of shelter, arable water, and food will doubtlessly cause further humanitarian crises. Aid organizations already predict epidemics of typhoid, malaria and cholera. The governments of some of these countries through institutionalized corruption, civil strife, incompetence and lethargy do not possess the emergency systems to recover from such a crippling calamity. There is little to counter the ensuing carnage and chaos. As of today the death toll exceeds 117,000. This number is sure to climb in the days and weeks ahead.

Below is a link to the donation page of Care International. We found it to be the most straight forward and direct way to effect a positive change. Care International has offices in the affected countries and is already working to alleviate the crisis. Even a small donation from many people will go a long way. Find out more here:
CARE International - Donation Page
www.careusa.org

You can also urge the President and Congress to contribute more in aid by signing the petition here: http://www.moveon.org/tsunamirelief/

From Janaka (Dhamaal):
Hi All, We at Dhamaal all pray that your families and loved ones were not effected by the tragedy that has engulfed Asia.
I am contacting to you to ask you to send an email out to your email lists asking for donations to the relief efforts in the Asia region. My father is a diplomat with the Sri Lankan government and I have been in touch with him about the situation there - things are not improving and there is a shortage of money that would be used to lessen the humanitarian crisis there. This problem is no doubt mirrored in the other countries affected.
I researched many ways to get money directly to the worst hit areas but this is very difficult - the fast and easier way for people on your lists to contribute is:
https://donate.care.org/05/20130000/?source=170570020000
www.careusa.org
Care is one of the largest relief organizations in the world and has offices in all the countries affected. Collectively, the people on the list have access to more than a 600,000 email addresses. If everyone contributes 10$ we will donate close to the amount the US government is donating (a lot of which is made up of loans).

Here is what we are sending out: Link to Dhamaal
Feel to use it, hack it, or send your own but please take a few moments to support the efforts in Asia - Oxfam believes that the death will surpass 100,000 before the disease issues kick in.

Thank you, Janaka
For those of you who asked - my family and Nayomi's family are ok but we have lost friends.

From my friend Amanda:
For those feeling the need to help, CNN has a listing of agencies that are accepting donations for food, shelter, medical, etc. The death toll reached 80,000 today and predictions are that at least as many will die in the aftermath. Your $10, $20, or more will go much further there than it will here. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/tsunami.aidsites/index.html

From Ik Onkar Peace Foundation:
Greetings friends of Ik Onkar Peace Foundation. On behalf of our President, Meji Singh, you are invited to donate for the relief fund of the Southeast Asian Tsunami victim’s relief fund.

Any checks dated by Dec 31, 2004 may qualify for deduction for this year. Please write the check to Ik Onkar Peace Foundation with a notation on the bottom of the check “relief fund”. You may send it to my address: John Hazen, 6085 Monte Verde Court, Castro Valley CA 94552.

At our next meeting we will tally the contributions and determine the appropriate address to send a check from the foundation to the Prime Minister of the relief fund. Thank you Meji for leading the way with a contribution of $500.00!!

Thank you for your support and intentions in response to this crisis. May you and yours enjoy a happy and healthy new year.

Sincerely,

John Hazen
Treasurer
Ik Onkar Peace Foundation

Welcome to NoSweatShops.org, a new web-portal dedicated to Supporting and Promoting FAIR TRADE. This site is undergoing development, as is the organization. SOLD OUT - a special benefit concert for Nosweatshops.org, Presented by Bansuri Music and the San francisco World Music festival, with support from: Ik Onkar Peace Foundation ~ New World Library ~ Your Daily Staple ~ Asian Art Museum ~ Cultural Integration Fellowship ~ Dhamaal ~ Gathering for Good / www.thegroovegarden.com ~ Earthdance ~ Bansuri's Spring Gallery ~ Chandi Productions ~ Culture Shock ~ AACM ~ Global Exchange ~ chebisabbah.com ~ luminmusic.org ~ Breads of India ~ Village Music ~ Siamese Dream ~ Bay Area Performing Arts ~ Cal Performances ~ and you If you are able to volunteer and/or donate to help with the startup of this cause, please e-mail me at startup@nosweatshops.org