ISM Community Service 2006-2009

Adopting a Village

A Child's View of the Cyclone

Children Drawing the Storm

On Friday, May 23rd, YIEC teachers, assistants, and friends of Gitameit Music School made our 4th visit to help a community living in Khunyangon in the Delta Region. We have decided to "adopt" this community which is centered around a monastery, and do what we can to help them. Every visit we bring them what we can in a large, 14 foot, 6-wheel truck. Each time we've increased the load of food and needed items such as roofing materials, clothes, family packs with basins, kitchen supplies, medicines, etc. Before we leave, we do an extensive inventory of their needs and adjust our deliveries accordingly for the next time we come.

We also try to bring some activities for the kids to do (see photos of Ms. Cathy helping the children in an activity). One time we had the children draw what they saw during the storm. The pictures they drew told a terrifying story from their eyes. These pictures are being sent to kids in the U.S. who will then draw pictures back. We hope to have them back soon to share with the children in the village.

Loading the Truck

Khunyangon visit 4 8may23-40

On our May 23rd visit, as we looked around and talked with the Sayadaw (head of the monastery) it became clear that not nearly enough aid is reaching them, and they are not too far from a main road... I note that because if they are not receiving enough aid, then clearly the surrounding villages that can only be reached by boat are not receiving enough either. When we arrived, they had hardly any rice left and were suffering from a food shortage. They were very grateful for the 41 bags of rice plus potatoes, beans, onions, noodles,...etc. we brought them that day. This village has 750 families which require at least 32 BAGS of rice to feed them EVERYDAY. This news just in, someone (we're not sure who) has just donated 750 bags of rice to this village (one per family) which will keep them going for the next 24 days! This will allow us to give more to the surrounding villages which is wonderful!

We are very thankful for the many donations we have received from YIEC teachers, staff and their families and friends. These donations have given us over $30,000 to work with and with this money we have been able to truly make a difference! We are currently trying to sustain regular $2,000 to $3,000 truck loads of food and needed items every two to four days. We've bought enough tin to replace the monastery roof that was destroyed in the Cyclone. We have committed to buying all housing materials for 16 houses that will hopefully be rebuilt very soon. We are buying the bamboo needed for these houses in Khunyangon. We are also trying to buy rice and whatever we can in the Delta Region. We're learning that buying things in the Delta Region helps to support the local economy, which we hope will get them back on their feet sooner than if we buy everything in Yangon. Whatever we aren't able to find down there, we continue to deliver by truck from Yangon. We are also looking into buying two plowing tractors for the 10 farming families in the village. Most of the families are fishing families and so we're trying to replace their lost nets as well.

Survivors of the Storm

Our relief effort is being praised by many, including "The Foundation for the People of Burma" FPB which has decided do an in depth case study on the village we are supporting. As we look to the future, we are finding that the donations we've received will be running out probably in the next couple of weeks. The building materials along with the food will continue to be of great need over the next few months, so much more will be needed to help our adopted village recover.

If anyone would like to continue supporting our relief efforts it would be greatly appreciated!! There are a few ways you can do this, and if you would like to donate to us directly we still have money in Myanmar that can be covered by donations. Just send me (Todd) an email if you'd like to do that. If you don't have my email, you can post a message on this blog by signing up with Vox. Another way to help is by making a donation to FPB at www.foundationburma.org  attn. Gitameit. They have been doing great things to help not only us but many others in their relief efforts. And if you're still in Myanmar, you can contact Mike Shirk at  211-789  ext. 115

Heading home from the Delta Region

Please keep checking this blog for updated info on the YIEC / Gitameit / FPB Cyclone Relief efforts.

Thank you again for all your support!!!

YIEC Goes to the Delta

Memebers of our Team with Sayadaw

Truck Two Heading to Khun Chan Gone in the Delta Region

Aftermath Photo

As most

3rd trip to Khun Yangon

of you know, Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta were hit by a cyclone, with huge devastation across the country and city. Due to the chall enging circumstances, YIEC had to close early, however we have still mobilized to help.

We have had an amazing response from teachers, parents, students, and the overseas family and friends of teachers. There is such difficulty in getting money into the country, that many fr

Homeless People Living in Khun Yangon

iends and family overseas have pledged money, and teachers have covered this pledge out of their own money, so that we can get the money and help to the affected people as quickly as possible. So far, our fundraising efforts have put us at over $25,000, and we are looking at possibly $30,000 by the end of the week!

So what are we doing with all of this money? In a nutshell, we’ve been transforming money into food, water, and shelter, and finding ways to transport these goods to those who need them.

So far we’ve bought and distributed:
135 bags of rice
400 five liter bottles of water
Several sacks of beans, onions, potatoes
28 boxes of instant noodles (Yum Yum variety)
2 large bags of dried fish, several cases of canned fish
145 blankets
Many tarps for temporary roofs, and other building supplies
Liquid Waterguard and iodine for purifying water
Medical supplies such as re-hydration salts, vitamins, antibiotics, plasters (Band-Aids), etc.
Shoes and other clothing items, and we’ve also given several bags of donated clothing
Pots, plates, cups for cooking
Candles, lighters
and the list goes on…

We’ve worked with a variety of people to help make this happen. In the beginning we coordinated with a dynamic woman who rented boats and took trucks and just drove down the road to find people who needed supplies. We also worked with the Myanmar Compassion Project, completing a long-planned orphanage visit, with an updated wish list for their needs after the cyclone. In some cases, people we know came to us asking if we can help them with certain items to add to their truck loads, and we gladly try to help them in any way we can.

Then we joined up with Gitameit, a music school in Yangon that is under the umbrella of the Foundation for the People of Burma. Gitameit has transformed from teaching vocal and piano to coordinating a relief effort for cyclone victims. They formed teams of students and other volunteers (including medical) to go out to specific areas, find out what the people need, and then bring them what they need. Then they return to the areas, always adjusting the supply list to their current needs, and trying to help people to return or rebuild their homes and livelihoods. So we’ve formed a YIEC team, with YIEC staff and students, and we have adopted a community in Kunyangone as our focus (see Map).

This community is about two and a half hours south of Yangon. There, we were able to locate a monastery that is off the main road and found them to be in great need of our help. About 2-3 hundred people are taking refuge there and they are depending on the donations from people like us for their survival. Even worse off, living upstairs in the same monastery, which currently has no roof (so it rains inside the building), are a group of about 50 men, women, and children who have lost basically everything. The cyclone swept them away from their village and nothing remains where they once lived. Most have lost some or all of their family and they are now left as a group of orphaned children, widowed husbands and wives, with nothing more than the clothes on their back. They are a high priority and we are working closely with them to provide the materials and the means to rebuild their homes, their livelihood, so they can gradually begin their lives again.

Our hope is, using the monastery as our focal point, to help put all these farmers and fisher-people back on their feet so they can become self-reliant again. All of our donations are going toward this effort, and we are in it for the long-term. Hopefully as we help these people, we can then circle outward from the monastery and help more and more people in the villages surrounding. We have already begun this process by supporting the Sayadaw (Head Monk) of the monastery in delivering several bags of rice, noodles, blankets, etc. to three of the villages that are located between 20 min. and 1 and a half hour boat ride from the monastery.

We plan to write more in the coming days on this blog, but first we would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support we have received from everyone who has donated their time, money, clothes, material objects, and support. All the YIEC teachers, assistants, families and friends have really pulled together to help and we're proud to be a part of this extended community. Thank you for all your efforts and support!!

Where we're helping

Three times is a charm!

Orphanage visit 8ma15-32

Orphanage visit 8ma15-29

Orphanage visit 8ma15-35

Orphanage visit 8ma15-37

Our third visit to Thatanar Rakita Orphanage in Yangon on Saturday, March 15th, was especially successful due to the generosity of Ms. Hla (Emily's Auntie - one of the community service students) who organized for a doctor to come with us. The doctor gave all of the 80 plus children a much needed check-up, which was likely the first time most if not all of the kids had ever been seen by a doctor. As could be seen, most of the children had some kind of fungus disease on their heads. This was diagnosed by the doctor as small mites that bore into the skin and lay eggs causing an infection. The cause of the spreading of the disease was likely to be sharing razor blades when shaving their heads which needed to be done regularly due to lice. As recommended by the doctor, kids will be having their heads shaved less often now and with new blades for each shaving which will be provided by Ms. Hla. This along with medicines will hopefully cure them over time. The doctor felt that the disease was advanced and may take up to a year for everyone to be cured. He plans to return at the end of April to follow-up with the medical treatments.

While the doctor was checking some of the children, the community service students had organized several activities for the children who were waiting their turn or had just come from the doctor's room. Some of the activities included arts & crafts, teaching them English, playing Snakes & Ladders, Games, Snacks and more. This greatly helped the morning go smoothly. More and more I am impressed with how the community service students are working so well with the children, giving them the love and attention that is so needed.

Notice also the photo of the drinking water. This is a new donation from Mr. Johnstone. Many of the donations for the drinking water and the new buildings are coming from some of his good friends from England. We're grateful for all they are doing to help us in our efforts to make this orphanage a happier, healthier and safer place to live.

Orphanage visit 8ma15-41

Orphanage visit 8ma15-43

 

Orphanage visit 8ma15-24

Orphanage visit 8ma15-18

Learning How to Give

Clothes Delivery

Lining Up

As we are often reminded of when we go out to do some community service work, it isn't always easy. This was our second visit to the neighboring village and as we carried our bags of clean clothes and toys (previously donated by YIEC students and parents) into the village people started coming from all sides to see what we were bringing them. This time, (having learned from our first visit) we asked them to form a line and wait their turn. And, to our surprise, they did a pretty good job of that in the beginning. So we began trying to match boys shirts to boy's, girl's pants to girls, men's clothes to men and so on... But as our attention strayed from the line, slowly the people began to close in on us. After a few attempts to reline them, we finally became overly crowded and had to leave.

Looking back we were glad that these clothes reached the people, but there was this feeling in the end that mostly the people who were pushy were the ones who received the donations. And the people who were waiting patiently in line were the ones who ended up with nothing.

So how to remedy this situation. One solution we came up with was to have a "Lucky Draw", giving everyone a number and whoever got their number called from the numbers in a hat would have their choice of what they could take with them.

Another idea was to somehow choose one of the villagers to be the one who sells the items to the villagers at a very low price. That villager would receive the profit and the villagers would receive very inexpensive clothes and ones they could choose.

We are still looking for ways, and hoping to make it sustainable for them, so if you have any other ideas, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know.

Thanks and best wishes,

The Community Service Club

Giving on Week Without Walls

Erica with our gifts

Talking with orphans

Bringing in the Gifts

Every year YIEC students head out, away from the comforts of home, to visit a place where they can learn in a much Bigger classroom that has no walls, thus the name. The 6th grade trip included a three night four day trip to the ancient city of Pyay, about 6 hours north of Yangon by bus. There were many opportunities for community service work that we found along the way. One way the 6th grade students helped was through simply giving a little money to the monasteries that we visited. We found that giving a little from 60 people makes a lot! In the Buddhist tradition, most if not all of these monasteries survive solely on the donations of the people who support them. It was clear to see that YIEC students are aware of that, as they were ready and willing to give at each place we stopped.

Near the end of our trip we also visited an orphanage to give away the many items that we brought with us on the trip. The week before, students made a collection of notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, books, clothes, shoes, stuffed animals, toys, games and more. Some of the items were also donated by the Community Service Club. The orphanage we visited was established just about two years ago, and because they were so new and had very little, they were very appreciative to receive these items. Along with the gifts, students made a collection and raised 90,000 kyat ($75 US) to give them.

We hope that next year we will have a wish list ahead of time so we can continue supporting them on our planned trip back to Pyay next year.

There was also the good news that the 7th grade trip visited an orphanage with about 700 orphans and they did much of the same as far as giving on their WWW trip.

Great to see everyone joining in the spirit of giving!

Playground Clean-up Day!

Playground Cleanup Day

Rubbish Bags

Fresh Paint

Smiling & Sanding

Elementary, middle and high school community service students joined together to clean up a local playground on February 4th. We all had a good time as we picked up trash, painted old play-structures, planted plants, and fixed some of the swings... It was truly a group effort of community service . The little playground is normally overgrown and covered in rubbish, so it really needed some of our attention. Little hands combed the surface finding every bit of rubbish they could, and at the same time we left behind newly planted plants.

We once again made a try at handing out clothes donations and were quickly reminded how difficult that can be. Within a few minutes there was a mob of people grabbing for whatever they could. So we had to put a stop to that and head back to the drawing board about how better to give our clothes donations away.  Giving isn't always easy, but we benefit each time by trying to learn from our experiences.

A good thing that came from us giving the clothes away was that many people from the local community came to the park and saw what the community service kids were doing to help improve the little playground. This will hopefully improve relations between YIEC and the surrounding community over time, especially if we make a tradition of cleaning the park every few months.

Neighborhood kids

Fixing the Swings

Community Service Has A New Blog

A Big Family

WELCOME to the new Community Service Club blog! This blog is about sharing some of the fine work the Community Service Club (CSC) at Yangon International Education Center (YIEC) in Myanmar has been doing. We began with a wish to contribute to the basic needs of people in poverty here. Through smaller projects such as supplying wished for items to orphanages, helping homeless street children, cleaning up and improving a public playground...donating clothes and school supplies to neighboring villages, and more... we are starting to fulfill our wish. As we do our projects throughout the year, we will be updating this blog regularly.

And for more information about our projects or other ways you can help, just send us an email at: [email protected] 

Clothes for our Neighbors

Young villagers

Last year, the first annual YIEC clothes and school supplies drive brought in a large amount of clothes, school supplies, toys, and monetary donations which were donated by many kindhearted students and parents at YIEC. This year, after looking and smelling the clothes, the Community Service Club decided to wash them before delivery to local villages and orphanages. Thus, laundry sized black plastic bags were distributed to any student, teacher,... or principal we could find who were willing to take them home and wash them. It was wonderful to see so many walking through the halls with black laundry bags willing to chip in and wash the clothes.

Once the nice clean clothes were returned, we began giving them away. Our first stop was the village next door to YIEC. Students carried the clothes over to them and were surprised at how many people showed up in hopes of receiving a clothes donation. In fact, we were basically swarmed by the people in the village. I was staying at the school and watching from a bird’s eye view. From there I could see villagers running across to get to the clothes as quickly as they could. This helped us to understand how desperate the people are for such a basic need that most of us take for granted. Fortuntately some of the trusted YIEC guards in blue came along to help us out. This was appreciated as it did get quite intense for a short while.

Afterward, the community service club gathered to talked about the experience. We all agreed that to do this kind of giving takes a lot of patience with the people who need these things. Sometimes they got pushy and grabbed which was not the behavior we would like to encourage. We were glad that we could help them with these much needed items and decided we would like to try again, but next time we plan to be more prepared by letting them know ahead of time that we are coming, and asking them to form a line so they can one-by-one receive their gift. Hopefully it’ll work better, but either way, we’re going to continue trying to improve our skills of working with our community.

We’ll keep you posted as to how it all goes.

Best wishes,
Mr. Todd

Our First Orphanage Visit

A packed bus

Reaching hands

Shan Bags

New Bicycles

A Kids Life Orphanage

It was early morning, a van, truck, and bus were packed with many wished for items for delivery to three orphanages outside of Yangon. Four teachers and twenty community service students from YIEC, and a representative from Myanmar Compassion Project (MCP), all rode together about 30 miles to our first stop, “The Olive Garden” orphanage. Waiting on the main road were two of the orphaned children there to greet us and show us the rest of the way. Down a bumpy dirt road we pulled up and as we did, children poured out of their small bamboo home to greet us with hugs and smiles. Our arrival was much anticipated by the children of all ages ranging from 2 to 18 years old. As we got off the bus, we soon noticed how hot and dry it was outside and how the grounds were hard and cracked with little vegetation other than a small vegetable garden. The bamboo house seemed hardly large enough to house the 22 children and 5 caretakers who lived there. The conditions were difficult and that is why we came, to help relieve them, even in some small way.

The children invited us in and as we walked across their dirt floor inside the house we climbed up three steps into an elevated bamboo slat floor where we all sat together. They sang us songs with smiles, showing their solidarity as a group supporting one another, and in return the community service kids offered each child special attention and invited them up, one-by-one, to receive a “Shan Bag”1 which we had pre-packed with notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, and some candies. Each child walked away with big smiles and twinkles in their eyes. We offered more gifts to the whole group, and soon cheers began to roar through the walls of the little bamboo house with each new gift we brought in. From their cheers it was easy to see how much these items were needed and appreciated. We brought them simple things, like blankets & plastic mats for sleeping, umbrellas & raincoats (it rains heavily for about 5 months of the year), kitchen utensils, plates, bowls, cups, clocks, watches, snacks, and candies. We also brought them all the materials they would need for school uniforms and gave them enough money to have them specially made for each child. Then we invited them outside and they were so excited to see what was there. A special gift that was a dream come true for many of them. There we had lined up 5 new bicycles to give to them. Their gratitude was overflowing and by now many were giving us hugs, holding on tightly, as we took photos together. We played games and talked and shared and laughed together until finally it was time for us to head onward to our next orphanage visit. Hopefully we will be able to return and visit them again one day!

The next two orphanage visits had much of the same, but each with their own special touch. The second place we visited, “A Kid’s Life” enjoyed playing music together. The head of this orphanage was a guitarist who taught the kids lots of songs. He also spoke about the values of working hard each day and that he was trying to instill this work ethic in the children. He hoped that this would help carry them forward to be able to support themselves one day.

The third place, “Myanmar Christian Agape” also gave us songs, and hugs, and praise (much the same as above). It was such a wonderful day of giving and sharing. Altogether we gave away over $950 worth of goods which goes a very long way in Myanmar. The community service club worked hard on their fund raising and in finding the best prices and buying all the gifts we gave to these three orphanages. They are proud of what they did and hope to continue doing more in the coming school year.

If you wish to help in any way, money, clothes, material items, any and all donations will be greatly appreciated to help support the CSC’s efforts.

Our Sincere Thank You,

The Community Service Club