1. Background to the disaster
2. Who we are working with
3. How we will raise funds
4. How we will decide who to help
5. Who we will help
6. What we will do to help them

Background to the disaster

We are very aware of the desperate situation of the cyclone affected people of Bangladesh. The news has recently been dominated by the fact that on 15 November Cyclone Sidr devastated parts of Bangladesh. The official death toll from Cyclone Sidr, which hit Bangladesh Nov. 15, had risen to 3,256 by Wednesday, Bangladesh Army spokesman Lt. Col. Farooq Hossain told reporters in Dhaka. The survivors, meanwhile, are suffering from diseases like diarrhoea from drinking contaminated water, and from respiratory problems and fevers from exposure, a Health Ministry disease control room said. Another 1,180 are missing and 34,500 people were injured, according to the Food and Disaster Management Ministry. The Education Ministry said Wednesday it would allocate extra funds to local authorities to buy books and rebuild schools destroyed by the cyclone.

Two weeks after Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, emergency relief is still desperately required. People have lost everything they own and many are still living out in the open. The need for clean drinking water is acute in many areas, and sanitary conditions are as good as non-existent. The water sources are mostly polluted with refuse and wreckage caused by the cyclone. People have no access to clean water, and a very large proportion of those are fearful of the spread of water-borne diseases and epidemics.

Who we are working with

We will work in partnership with Suffolk County Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk Police, Chris Mole MP, The Lady Mayor of Ipswich, ITFC, BBC Radio, SGR Radio, Town FM, Ipswich Community Radio, BBC Look East, Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Marks and Spencer, Co-operative Stores, Debenhams, Lloyds TSB, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, SIFRE, SAVO, Bangladeshi Support Centre, Citizens Advice Bureau etc. We have contacted all the above organisations and everyone has been very positive and supportive of the initiative. The above list is only an indication of the people we are working with and is not meant to be an exhaustive list. We are hoping that the list will continue to grow.

Our aim is to work with as many people as possible to raise funds to help those affected by the disaster. Therefore everyone is welcome whether they are local organisations, businesses or individuals. Anyone wanting to help please contact Shamim, Chairperson of Ipswich Mosque on 07968121656.

How we will raise funds

Our idea is to do a sustained campaign to raise funds for those affected by the Cyclone. To this end we will organise a wide variety of means. We will raise awareness of the plight of the disaster struck area through the local media. We will be asking all concerned individuals to come forward and raise sponsorship for the activities that they want to do. These activities can be sponsored walks, absailing off local monuments, bungee jumps etc. The restaurants in Ipswich have been asked to do Charity Nights to raise funds, these have been very positive. The mosques have raised money previously and will continue to do so throughout the festive period. We will encourage all local businesses and taxi drivers to take collection tins and promote the fundraising drive and to encourage their customers to donate. ITFC has agreed to do a collection on 23 November 2007, both within and outside the grounds at Portman Road. We will be doing street collections in the town centre of Ipswich to collect donations from shoppers. Our aim is to involve ALL the people of Ipswich in this fundraising event, irrespective of gender, race or any other barrier. It is a natural disaster and as humans nature affects all of us in some way or other.

How we will decide who to help

The scale of the disaster is massive, beyond the capacity of the government of Bangladesh to address. Therefore other countries and international organisations, like the Red Cross, Oxfam, Muslim Aid etc are doing their utmost to help the victims of the cyclone recover from its devastation. It would be impossible for an organisation of our local scale to do anything significant in the region generally. What ever we tried would be lost in the work that is being done by other organisations. Therefore we have decided to do some focused work in an effort to measure the effect of our contribution to the region. There are some organisations actively working in the region that we have previously worked with and are supportive of our involvement. We have asked the major organisations working in the area to identify gaps in the service provisions so that we have help towards the unmet need. As they are already working with committed resources they are in a good position to identify the areas where our help would be most effective.

Who we will help

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries of the world. The infrastructure is next to non-existent. The area that has been affected by the cyclone is amongst the poorest region of Bangladesh. The people that we want to help are the most vulnerable in the region. There are lots of elderly people with virtually nil income living by subsistence farming. They have no means of rebuilding their homes destroyed in the cyclone. There are a large number of children that have lost parents in the cyclone and have no one to take care of them. There are families who have no shelter and are at the mercy of the elements. These are the people we will be looking to help with the funds raised. The number of people we can will obviously depend on the money we can raise. Therefore we are asking everyone to come forward and support us.

What we will do to help them

The idea we have is innovative but based on sound, tried and tested, principles. The idea is to build shelter that will last for years and so break the cycle of seasonal destruction and rebuilding, freeing up the beneficiaries to do more with their lives. In previous times Ipswich has twinned with towns in foreign countries and Ipswich residents have sponsored children in foreign countries to make an improvement to their lives. We want to take the idea further and sponsor a whole village in its reconstruction. We will make recording of the village once the village is identified and we will interview residents about their problems. We will create a list of works and prioritise them. We will make recordings as the work start so that those interested can keep track of progress. In the end we will record the village again and interview residents so that a record is kept of how we have helped to change their lives. These records will be kept at County Council record office so the people of Ipswich can feel proud about what they have achieved not only in Ipswich but abroad also. This will help promote the image of Ipswich as progressive, forward thinking and very much united in the face of calamity.