Fund raising concert for famine vicitims in Chin State

Fund raising concert for famine vicitims in Chin State
by -
Than Htike Oo
A fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State will be held this evening in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Chin singers Sone Thin Parr, San Pii, Zam Nu from Burma and Mee Mee and Mar Som from Mizoram State, India will perform at the show from 6 to 11 p.m. under the banner 'Fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State'.

A fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State will be held this evening in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Chin singers Sone Thin Parr, San Pii, Zam Nu from Burma and Mee Mee and Mar Som from Mizoram State, India will perform at the show from 6 to 11 p.m. under the banner 'Fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State'.

Chaing Mai – A fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State will be held this evening in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

Chin singers Sone Thin Parr, San Pii, Zam Nu from Burma and Mee Mee and Mar Som from Mizoram State, India will perform at the show from 6 to 11 p.m. under the banner 'Fund raising concert for famine victims in Chin State'.

"This is a fund raising show for the people in Chin State who are facing hardships. The singers are performing voluntarily. All the proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to the famine relief fund," Freddy, the organizer of the concert, told Mizzima.

This concert is being organized by the Mizoram India based 'Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee' (CFERC) and Chiang Mai based 'Chin Community-Chiang Mai'.

The price of the ticket is Thai Baht 150 and similar fund raising concerts will be held in Kuala Lumpur, capital city of Malaysia, and Singapore.

"It is very difficult for Chin people in Burma to help the needy as they themselves are starving. The international community of churches and Chin churches are doing their utmost to help famine victims. So the Chin community in exile has come together to join fellow Chins from Burma to help Chin people," Chin community elder in Chiang Mai, Ko Victor, said.

Joseph Win Hlaing Oo, Director, Country Agency for Rural Development (CAD), said yesterday that Chin State is facing food scarcity as  rats have destroyed crops in farmlands in many places and due to severe drought in other areas of Chinland.

The famine is a result of the rare incidence of once in 50 years where bamboo flowers bloom, attracting rats which eat the flowers and multiply then destroy crops in Chin State, local sources said. Agriculture and farming is the mainstay in this remote state.

The Chin Community (Chiang Mai) said on August 19 that this rare incidence started since last year and now about 100,000 people from seven townships of a total of nine  townships in Chin State are facing acute food shortage and famine.