A friend of mine sent me a link to a music school in Myanmar where students and teachers, many of whom lost their own homes, are now coordinating and carrying out cyclone relief projects. Gitameit Music Center (gita=music, meit=friendship) is both a school for local musicians and a focus for international music exchange, and their connections to Western musicians have helped them get the word out about what they're doing and how important it is since many international efforts are being blocked at the border.
Listening to the stories of their students and teachers got me to donate when general reporting on the overall devastation had not. That's not so surprising. Personal stories are generally more powerful than broad description. More surprising, at least to me, was how credible and impactful I found the fact that they aren't experts, just people who were trying to learn a part, lost in some difficult passage, when they were reoriented by the weather.
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