Charlene Riikonen, of Columbia, has spent most of her adult life supplying the Third World with products that fight dehydrating diseases such as cholera and dysentery.

So when she heard May 3 about the cyclone that had swept Myanmar, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands more, Riikonen immediately called Direct Relief International -- a nonprofit aid agency based in Santa Barbara, Calif. -- and volunteered to help.

Riikonen, who is president and chief executive officer of the Columbia-based Cera Products Inc., said she wanted to send some of her company's product, CeraLyte, to Myanmar.

Riikonen has donated 28,600 pounds of CeraLyte -- which comes in powder and liquid form and hydrates the body -- to Direct Relief International, which will in turn ship it to Myanmar, she said May 13.

Her donation is worth about $66,500, she said.

"We're a small company, and we can't afford to do much; but we do what we can," she added.

The donation is welcome, said Jim Prosser, a Direct Relief International spokesman, adding that the product will be used to treat cholera, which is spreading in Myanmar, according to reports the agency has received.

"This stuff is fantastic," he said. "The junta won't hinder aid."

Prosser and Riikonen said they were confident the product would reach victims of the cyclone who most need it, despite the fact that the military junta that rules Myanmar is blocking delivery of most large scale relief supplies.

Immediately after the cyclone hit, the junta barred foreigners, including U.S. disaster response teams, from entering the country, according to published reports.

The junta has eased restrictions on foreign aid in the past week, Prosser said, adding that Direct Relief International has contacts with hospitals and clinics in Myanmar that will allow the aid to be distributed.

"As long as you aren't sending in personnel along with material aid, you will be able to send things into the country without it being confiscated," he said.

Disaster stirs memories

Riikonen worked in Bangladesh, which borders Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- in 1985, helping to design a hydration program in response to a cyclone that hit Bangladesh that year, she said.

In 1996, she formed her company, which manufactures hydration products for the sick, the elderly and athletes. The news of the cyclone in Myanmar took her back to her days working in Bangladesh, she said.

"Myanmar reminds me of how it was there -- everyone was doing everything they could, but it's so hard if you don't have the relief," she said.

Riikonen said she also was inspired to act by the fact that Cera Products employs a Myanmar native, Dr. Nyunt Nyunt Wai, who oversees quality control for the company. Wai said May 13 that she had been in contact with family members in Myanmar shortly after the cyclone hit but because of media suppression by the junta her relatives did not know the extent of the cyclone's damage or that the government was accepting little international aid.

Wai added that cyclones were relatively rare in most of Myanmar.

"Cyclones have never hit our area before," she said. "Usually it goes to the area bordering Bangladesh."

E-mail Mike Santa Rita at msantarita@patuxent.com.

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