On 11th of this month, there was a severe earthquake of 6.8 on the Richter scale at Thabeik Kyin which is situated on the eastern river bank of Ayeyarwaddy river. The earthquake was very severe but it was little known in international media reports. Nearly at the same time, media was flooded with President Obama visit to Myanmar.
Thabeik Kyin is quite a small town and fortunately it is not a very populated area of Myanmar. The quake hit at 7.30 am which was fortunate in as much schools were closed, monks were out on their alms rounds. Also, it is the time all mine workers are changing their shifts and so they were not caught down mines. About eleven(11) people lost their lives and many more suffered injuries.
At the time of the quake hit it was difficult to get reliable information. Although Snow was traveling with eight UK visitors, she managed to get in contact with a monk from Phat Shay monastic education school which is situated at Tha beik Kyin township. Seven hundred children attend the school. The monk who is actively supporting earthquake victims offered to assist Snow to travel to the epicenter of the quake.
The monk advised that food donations were needed and not so much clothes and cooking-items. Additional food donations would help those effected to enable them to spend time clearing away debris and damage.
So with the help of Sayardaw, Snow managed to buy 46 big rice sacks and make small bags of 4 Pyi in Myanmar measurement, which would be enough for four(4) days for a family of four(4).
Snow visited the Kywe pagan village to check the well that had been donated while the UK tourists were taking a cruise for two days. The next day she flew to Mandalay
Phat Shay Sayardaw welcomed Snow at Mandalay airport and together drove the four(4) hours to Tha Beik Kyin. Rice bags consisting of 198 small bags of rice of 4 Pyi(33 rice sacks) can donated to directly to earthquake victims with the help of local people. Snow met a 92 year old lady who said she could not stand on the earth and that it was the most severe experience in her life.
After donating rice and looking around the city Snow headed towards Samparnago. An hours drive away this village was at the epicenter of the earth quake. The village school had been destroyed. Earthquake cracks could be seen along the river bank. Much of the village was in ruins.
Thirteen sacks of rice were donated to the village committee for distribution to villagers. Medical issues were helped with the assistance of a local nurse and 120,000 kyats of medicines. These will be given free and a CH medical clinic will be set up. Additional needs will be sent from Mandalay.
Snow visited Phat Shay monastic education school and saw their school building and met with monastic education teachers. The volunteer group arrived back in Mandalay at 1 am in the morning which made it a very long day for therm.
CH donated over 10.5 lakhs (1,300US$) worth of necessary assistance toward earthquake victims. The current tourists donated 350 US$ and the balance came from the CH emergency fund.
Myanmar Compassionate Hands (CH) and For All Mankind Charity Group (FAMCG).
These two groups worked together to assist in flood areas of the Ayeyarwady Division that were not receiving aid as advised by Ko Bala. Five volunteers including 4 doctors and another volunteer made the trip.
On 22 Sept 2012 the volunteers left from Yangon to Yae Kyi by express and then Yae Kyi to A Thout by cycle taxi which was
quite risky as the volunteers had no helmets to where during the trip.
The group were met by the villagers and then taken by small boat on a trip for two and a half hours to reach Thingyun Saik Village.
When they reached the village, it was dark but many people warmly welcomed them with torch lights as there is no electricity.
To get to the guest house from the jetty they walked through mud in the dark for ten minutes.
It kept the trek interesting as the group have had previous adventures walking through mud in the dark.
There were many patients waiting at the guest house when the team arrived.
They quickly cleaned off the mud from all over and then treated 90 patients between 7 pm and 11 pm.
Next morning, the villagers prepare for health care at their primary school. The village school is old and was destroyed by bad weather. Now it has been repaired by many donors from everywhere and villagers.
The villagers organised 9 villages from around TharBaung Township.
During the day between 8 am and 4 pm the team treated patients from
9 villages. These were Thingyun Saik Village, Thaung Village,Ma Yan Chaung Village,Laik Kon Village,Kone Tan Village,Payar Kone Village,Thone Eain Tan Villlage,Shan Kone Village and Nyaung Village in Tharbaung township.
The organiser from the Thingyun Saik village made announcements and invited patients from the other villages to attend the clinic. This was appreciated as it was not possible for the team to travel to all 9 villages.
At the end of the day the team thought they had finished until the organiser requested another evening health care clinic for all those people that had been working all day. The team had some refreshments and then commenced another clinic from 6 pm to 11 pm.
Although tired after so many hours work the team were pleased and forgot their tiredness having assisted 485 patients.
The medical issues attended to included hypertension, nutritional deficiency. Stroke and occupational injuries are common.
On 24 September 2012 the team travelled back to Tharbaung by boat.
The villagers were pleased and very happy to have had medical clinics. One man had never seen
a doctor before. When hearing this it gave Dr.Thu Kywe Khant Soe inspiration to continue volunteer work.
At Ayeyarwaddy delta there is a severe flood and many villagers need to stay at temporary refugee camps which are situated at schools and monasteries. There are 24 townships out of 26 flooded. Over 565,000 acres of farm land are flooded due to heavy monsoon rain and river flooding . More than 20% of this amount, about 130,000 acres will need to be replanted. I am trying to help as much as we can and looking forward to more generous help as usual.
On 25 August, I went to Kyaung Kone Township with the help of Kyaung Kone Association and donated 6 sacs of rice, 100 bottles of water guard water purification liquids and 770 Aqua water purification tablets and 500 sets of (2 Oral rehydration salts(ORS) +Zinc tablets).
Right now I have used Emergency funding donated by one donor . If you would like to participate, you can contact my email or Ko Kyaw Moe Wai on kyawmoewai at gmail dot com.
In July, Compassionate Hands contributed 800,000 kyats (about 1000 US$) to
monastery where 1,000+ refugees from Rakhine community lived. When I get contacted Shwe Zedi Sayardaw, whom we have known for many years, he told me over 500+ refugees are staying at his monastery. Now the government is planning to build temporary refugee camps but they still need food and shelter to stay in the interim. I sent 300,000 kyats = 350 US$ for 15 bags of gram beans which can give them protein and make soup.
In Rakhine State, there’s severe outbreak of riots between Muslim and Buddhist Rakhine community and many of them have run away from their original villages. Their houses has been burnt down and they are have severe problems. Government and NGOs are trying to help them but situation is still very difficult to handle. The victims need to stay at safe places like big city’s refugee camps with security. I don’t want to condemn either side but I feel we should help those in need of our compassion and help.
The well we donated at Kywe Bagan village was finished and I am happy to share photos with you all.
Again thank you very much for all of your kind contribution and help toward the Myanmar People together with Compassionate Hands.
Be happy, healthy and peaceful
Snow Aye
On 26 July 2012, it was an auspicious day for Compassionate Hands and Escolaridad Solidaria Spain.
This is because together we inaugurated a new
school built at Man Pyay Monastic Education School in Twante. Most of our
donors are likely familiar having heard this name over the course of the
last 3-4 years.
From the very first time I visited this school, I had the
volition to build a proper building to replace the poor bamboo structure
they were using at the time. However, I didn’t believe it would be possible to undertake such a major project given the huge expenditure it would require and our limited resources.
Also, I am not an expert carpenter and would not look good in a construction hat.
Fortunately, my friends in England just got married and donated a large sum for use on
this project. Additionally, Carlos from Escolaridad Solidaria also had a very
large volition to help us.
During this time, the CEO of Compassionate Hands, Mr. Ko Naing Naing Tun, had a friend named Ko Aye Lwin who, despite being a heart patient and contractor in his lay life, agreed to supervise the construction of this school, and do to
so ‘pro bono’.
Please permit me a moment to describe to you a little more about this school. It houses 208 students and is 60 by 30 feet. But this is not enough space, so there will have to be some classes that remain at the old bamboo school.
I am attaching some photos for you to see. At the start, we treated the students with bamboo shoot soup and rice, plus wafers and balloons. We also gave them toys and bags with the ES logo, delivered to those students who successfully passed last year’s exam. Then, we handed over the keys to the school building to the Sayadaw (Head Monk or Abbot), and posed for photos with the children.
This new building is really a nice structure, made of wood, bricks, and iron. It is good for ventilation, which is important for the Myanmar climate, and it has three toilets and a smallwater tank. Plus there is an old well with a pumping machine.
I understand there are still many things that will need to be done to further make a sound learning environment for the students. But at this time, I am very happy with what we’ve accomplished.
I wish that all of you are happy and gain more happiness by seeing these photos. I hope to hear back from you about your thoughts on hearing this information. I share all my good merits from this work with you.
Snow Aye
Images
