Northumberland tea entrepreneur walking 70km from Cresswell to Bamburgh to raise funds for Myanmar earthquake victims
A Northumberland man with a Myanmar-based tea business is doing a 70km coastal walk to raise funds for earthquake victims.
A powerful earthquake struck central Myanmar on Monday, March 28, causing widespread devastation and the destruction of communities. The official death toll has risen to at least 3,471, with 4,671 individuals injured and 214 still missing.
Harry Carr-Ellison, from Powburn, and friends Ben Frederick, Ed Chichester, Jack Arkwright, and Jack Shaw, met while living and working in Myanmar between 2015 and 2020.
The group have close ties to the country through their work – and Harry's business, The Lost Tea Company uses tea leaves grown in Pindaya from small independent farms.
In a way to give back and help those affected, on April 23, they will be taking on a 70km walk from Cresswell to Bamburgh in one day with a goal to raise £15,000 for Medical Action Myanmar (MAM).
Harry explained: "The earthquake has affected a lot of the people that we work with including one of our suppliers who had a factory just outside of Mandalay and we haven't been able to get in touch with them.
“I’ve been talking with my business partner out there, and the updates are very distressing, predominantly about the level of destruction and death.
“I knew straight away I wanted to do something to help, it’s a country that have been facing incredible hardship. The earthquake is a disastrous situation in an already difficult time and if we were able to do anything at all to raise awareness and funds, that was the least we could do.
“The aim is to try and raise as much money as possible for the brilliant MAM who have been doing great work in helping the most vulnerable people.”
Harry described the inspiration behind The Lost Tea Company: “Our whole goal was working with small independent farmers and try to get exposure for their tea and for what they do out there.
"It’s been a really amazing 10 years working with them, there’s been a lot of struggles but I’m very lucky. The people we work with are just amazing and anything we can do to try and help them, we will.”
Over £6,000 has already already been raised through the appeal and donations can be made here.