Home > Events > A Celebration of Music and Dance from South and Southeast Asia -- A Benefit to Support Tsunami Relief Efforts

Join us for an amazing evening highlighted by accomplished South and Southeast Asian musicians and dancers!

Where: Ackerman Union's Grand Ballroom    

When:  Wednesday, February 9th, 7:00 p.m.  

(Doors open at 6:30 p.m., please arrive early to make donations and to ensure you will get a seat)

Headlining this benefit event will be the talented Dr. Sinduri Jayasinghe, a world renowned classical Indian dancer and artist.  Other featured talents are the internationally acclaimed Wat Thai dancers, the Buratwangi Indonesian dance troupe led by Nancy Allard, and an ensemble of distinguished Indonesian performers such as I. Nyoman Cerita, Sri Susilowati, and R. Diyah Larasati.  The award winning UCLA Raas Team and the Hindi Film/Nashaa Dance Team will also be among the notable talents in the show.

Please click here to learn more about the featured talents of this benefit event:  http://www.isop.ucla.edu/cseas/article.asp?parentid=20238

Advance donations for tickets is recommended and will be available through February 8th, at the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Bunche 11387 if you are on the UCLA campus.

Attendees are asked to donate what they can to support relief and reconstruction efforts in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and South India. 100% of all donations raised will be sent to four Asia based non-governmental organizations working to address locally determined relief needs:  WALHI (the Indonesian Forum for Environment) in Indonesia, the Coalition Network for Andaman Coastal Community Support in Thailand, Sarvodaya Organization in Sri Lanka, and the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) in India. See below for more information about these NGO's.

Ready to donate? 

Please make your checks payable to:

               ASIAN TSUNAMI RELIEF FUND

Send to:  UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies    c/o Asiroh Cham

               Box 951487         

               Los Angeles, CA 90095-1487

Donations to this fund are not tax deductible. This is because they will go directly to organizations based in the region rather than U.S. based organizations. If tax deductibility is a priority, please consider donating to one of the U.S. based organizations listed on our tsunami disaster website. 

Parking available for $7 at UCLA, Lot 6 is is closest to Ackerman Union.  For more information:   http://www.ucla.edu/map/campusmap_sep2004.pdf

For more information contact our program coordinator for this event Asiroh Cham.  She can be reached at asiroh@international.ucla.edu or (310) 206-9163.

Publicity Materials Available Here

This event is being organized by a coalition of student groups (led by Motus Sodalis) and alumni groups while also supported by the UCLA International Institute, the Asia Institute, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Additional Information About NGO's

WALHI-The Indonesian Forum for Environment/Friends of the Earth Indonesia

 

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI - Friends of the Earth Indonesia) is the largest forum of non-government and community-based organisations in Indonesia. It is represented in 25 provinces and has over 438 member organisations (as of June 2004). It stands for social transformation, peoples’ sovereignty, and sustainability of life and livelihoods. WALHI works to defend Indonesia’s natural world and local communities from injustice carried out in the name of economic development.

 

WALHI is working on emergency relief and community empowerment in Aceh and North Sumatera. This is being done by revitalising local community organisations for the rapid recovery of civil society in the tsunami affected areas. These efforts must go hand in hand to ensure proper distribution of short term relief and also to ensure local civil society can immediately begin their advocacy roles in policy issues such as disaster management and recovery planning.

 

For more information:  http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/

 

The Coalition Network for Andaman Coastal Community Support  (Trang Province, Thailand)

 

The Federation (which is part of the Assembly of the Poor and Via Campesina) and 30 civil groups, NGOs and academicians in the south, north, west, northeast and central regions of Thailand have formed the Coalition Network for Andaman Coastal Community Support to raise immediate aid and relief for the fisherfolk communities affected. The network has surveyed 186 villages in 6 provinces and found 272 dead, 26 missing and 99 injured. The villagers lost 2,477 small fishing boats, 15,534 fishing nets (kra-chang), 2,448 crab gear, 939 shrimp gear, 3,277 fishing gear, 21,245 small fishing net for crab (sai-poo), 915 small fishing nets, 8,271 squid fishing nets and 292 floats. There are 232 villages left to be surveyed.

The immediate needs are to construct temporary houses, repair boats and buy fishing gear to help the fisherfolk recover their source of livelihood.

 

Sarvodaya (Moratuwa, Sri Lanka)

Sarvodaya which is one of  the leading voluntary, non-governmental development organization in Sri Lanka has been in the forefront of providing humanitarian assistance in the Tsunami affected areas in the country. Presently, it is actively involved in the distribution of food items and clothing to the survivors, organizing medical care for the needy and the management of several welfare camps set up for those who have lost their dwellings. Apart from continuing these activities, it now wishes to implement several medium to long term programme for the rehabilitation of the affected population as well as the restoration of economic activity in the area.

 

Sarvodaya has many years of experience responding to natural disasters like floods, droughts and landslides as well as man made disasters. Sarvodaya has the infrastructure to deal with disasters of this nature although nothing of this magnitude has been seen in Sri Lanka before. With its unique structure of district and divisional coordinators it is very well connected to the grass roots and Sarvodaya’s reputation in the community made it a trusted partner in its outreach activities. Sarvodaya Founder President and Leader Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne personally visited all affected districts in the South, North and East with a team of senior staff members to assess the situation first hand. Within hours Sarvodaya started receiving a significant amount of support from ordinary Sri Lankan citizens, the private sector and its international supporters, including the Sarvodaya branches from U.S.A., Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany and other key resource partners such as the Novartis Foundation of Switzerland and the Arigatou Foundation of Japan.

 

For more information:  http://www.sarvodaya.org

 

South Indian Federation of Fisherman Societies (SIFFS)

Karamana, Trivandrum (South India)

South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working in the marine fisheries sector. SIFFS is the apex body of organisations of small-scale artisanal fish workers. It has a three-tier organisational structure.

SIFFS is actively participating in the relief and rehabilitation activities mainly in Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. SIFFS is focusing on these two districts for two reasons: first, these are the districts that have been affected the worst. Secondly, these are the districts where SIFFS has its presence through primary fishermen societies.

While data is still coming in, preliminary estimates indicate that the loss of life in Kanyakumari is estimated to be around 1500. The loss of houses is around 7800. The losses of fishing equipment is difficult to estimate and is likely to be over 10,000 boats, 1000-1500 motors and 30,000 nets. There are close to 100,000 people in about 75 camps. The SIFFS operations subsequent to the Tsunami targedy include three stages relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The relief stage includes setting up and maintaining relief camps, and ensuring food, drinking water, sanitation, clothes, other essential items, fuel for cooking, vehicles, and medical aid.

For more information:  http://www.siffs.org/

Cost: Suggested donation: $20; $10 for students from any institution.

Special Instructions

Doors open at 6:30 PM

For more information please contact

Asiroh Cham
Tel: (310) 206-9163
asiroh@international.ucla.edu
www.international.ucla.edu/tsunami

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, UCLA International Institute, Asia Institute, Motus Sodalis