On Wednesday, November 10, Norwich Grange will be holding a special meeting featuring speaker Steve Hulme from the Karen Emergency Relief Fund.  The Karen Emergency Relief Fund, Inc. works to ease the sorrow and pain of the Karen people in Burma – especially women and children – who are suffering the horrors of ethnic cleansing.  The evening will begin at 7:30 PM at Norwich Grange Hall.

The purpose of the Karen Emergency Relief Fund Inc. is to provide humanitarian assistance, including food, shelter, medical and health supplies, and to provide educational and self-help projects for the Karen people in Burma.

Created in 1997, the Relief Fund recognizes that the Karens are an indigenous, ethnic minority group of about 11 million people who have lived in the mountainous region along the border of Burma and Thailand for many centuries.

Due to the ongoing strife in Burma, it is estimated that there are more than 300,000 displaced Karens who have fled into the jungle and are living in huts and makeshift camps in the border area. Those who have escaped into Thailand have not been given official refugee status, consequently they receive no direct assistance from the United Nations or from the Red Cross.

Norwich Grange Hall is located 172 West Town Street, Norwichtown - Exit 82 off I-395.  For more information, please contact Susan Kenney via e-mail at silkspray@gmail.com.