25 Years of Suffering

Image by obbino via Flickr

On December 3rd, 1984 just after midnight, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal. Some 8000 people died in the first few days after the disaster, and at least 25,000 have died as a result of the leak since then. The site has never been cleaned up and it continues to poison the residents of Bhopal.

The Sambhvana clinic, in the worst affected area of Bhopal, is the only clinic offering free, rational treatment to those affected by the gas and water poisoning. They need your help!

2009 is the 25th anniversary year of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. With more than 100,000 people in the city still seriously ill, with thousands more falling sick from the poisoning of their water supply by the factory, and still no sign of proper compensation or any kind of justice, there is a huge need for the free medical care that we provide. 2009 is our biggest ever opportunity as the world remembers a quarter of a century of suffering.

Click here to donate to the Sambhvana clinic. And while you're at it, contact Dow Chemicals (who brought Union Carbide) to remind them to do the right thing too. Its about time they fronted up to their responsibilities for the suffering in Bhopal!

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• India wants arrest of American in Bhopal disaster (cbc.ca)
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• Company Defends Chief in Bhopal Disaster (nytimes.com)
• Just Add Water (osocio.org)

Twestival raises over $250K

Image by .imelda via Flickr

On Feb 12th, 2009 Twestivals were hosted in 202 cities around the world. As at Feb 18th the total amount raised stood at $250,000 USD. What a superb effort!

This $250,000 USD translates to 55 Clean Water projects in Ethiopia, Uganda and India . . . which means clean water for over 17,000 people.

You can still take part in Twestival by:

• Uploading or buying music at Twestival.fm.
• Buying an official Twestival t-shirt.
• Taking part in the eBay auction.
• Watching Twestival live and pre-recorded video.
• Donating to charity: water.

At the beginning of April the first of the wells funded by Twestival donations will be dug in Ethiopia. Twestival organisers will be documenting this and posting updates online.