04-04-2025
Minnesota sisters from Myanmar raise money for earthquake relief in homeland
The death toll of
the Southeast Asia earthquake
has climbed to more than 3,100 people. In Myanmar, rescue teams are searching the rubble for any signs of the more than 200 people still missing.
As recovery efforts continue, a group here in the Twin Cities is doing all it can to help those overseas.
The moment a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar was when these St. Paul sisters had enough.
"I couldn't even believe it, what was going on. The more I look at it, the more overwhelming it is," said Mirian Seng Bu, who lives in St. Paul. Mirian and her sisters Ruth, Margaret and Mary are all 'Kachin,' a Tibeto-Burman group in northern Myanmar, also known as Burma. The family chose Minnesota as home after the coup d'état.
So, while consuming headlines showing a death toll of 3,000-plus in and around their homeland...
"Me and my sisters here just said, 'We cannot sit still like this,' and we just started coming up with the fundraising idea" said Mirian.
An idea now showing over $6,000 raised on GoFundMe and a chunk raised outside of the platform.
"What we are really making sure is that all of the donations will go straight to the victims out there," Mirian told WCCO.
They're partnering with an Anglican archbishop whom the family is close with and a leader of a youth philanthropist organization who's already helped in situations just like the following:
"They just rescued a girl who was trapped over 120 hours in a hotel in Mandalay," Mirian added.
And since the sisters can't be there to rescue...
"Let's just speak up on behalf of my country," Mirian said. "We people never give up easily, I believe in my people. They'll do their best to rebuild our future again."
The sisters have all studied at St. Paul College and hope their fundraising efforts will go a long way.
