|PIC1|As Burma's military junta continues to shut the door on large-scale foreign aid, local Christians are doing their part to help foreign aid agencies bring vital relief to the millions who have been left destitute in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

The official death toll soured over the weekend to 134,000, whilst 2.4 million remain in need of emergency assistance. Yet the Burmese Government has refused to admit large-scale foreign aid for fear that its stranglehold on power will be compromised.

Christian children's charity Global Care has managed to bypass the Burmese Government's restrictions on foreign aid workers by sending funds to its partners on the ground in Burma. They are working with local Christian volunteers to bring relief items to their own hard hit communities.

The military junta has given local Burmese Christians permission to distribute aid within the ravaged Irawaddy Delta. The Global Care funds have enabled them to purchase vital food, water and shelter materials, and distribute them to those in greatest need, including orphanages, children's day centres and schools in the Rangoon area.

Global Care is urging churches in the UK to support its emergency £50,000 Burma appeal.

Ron Newby, CEO and founder of Global Care, said: "With the help of churches throughout the UK we can now directly channel funds to help this 'consortium' of Christian believers to significantly increase their relief work in some of the worst-affected areas.

"We thank God for this way through the political complexities that have compounded this disaster, ensuring this vital aid effectively and reliably reaches those who need it the most."

Although Global Care's orphanage, day centre and Bible School in Rangoon were destroyed in the cyclone, the children and students within their care survived.

'J', the leader of Global Care's work in Rangoon, writes: "We are in great terrible need, but praise God that he kept us safe. Please pray for us. Our urgent needs are for clothing, blankets, food and fuel.

"We are now eating just one meal a day of rice soup because we do not have enough money for rice. Medicines are also needed as the disaster has caused us to suffer diseases."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is to visit Burma this week in the hope of securing aid access in a meeting with junta leader Than Shwe, who has refused calls from the UN chief since the cyclone hit two weeks ago.

Britain's Asia minister, Mark Malloch-Brown, said on Sunday that diplomats had come closer to brokering an aid deal with the junta that could go some way to appeasing their deep distrust of the West.

Aid agencies are warning that the death toll will almost certainly rise considerably unless more aid reaches survivors. The UN's World Food Programme said it had managed to bring rice and beans to just 250,000 of the 750,000 people it believes urgently need food.

Reports on Burma's state television showed 74-year-old Than Shwe meeting ministers involved in the rescue effort in Rangoon, and touring some of the affected areas.

"It is not insignificant that he has been forced out of his lair," one Rangoon diplomat said. "There are obviously some in the military who see how enormous this is, and how enormously wrong it could go without further support."