Survey of Post-Nargis Self-reliant Organizations. From Yangon weeklies, by Dr. Than Than Win
1)Mobile Library Lending Books Free of Charge -Weekly Eleven
- , 1 July 2009, p. 30
Kambawza Youth Self-Reliance Library on East Myopat Road has been sending 200 books every two months to twenty one small libraries in townships, wards, villages, monasteries, and charity libraries in southern Shan State and Kayah State. The program is called Sharing mobile book boxes. It started in 2007. and the Library now has fifteen thousand English books and over five thousand Burmese books for circulation. Transport is by bus, taxi, motor cycle, bicycle, and boat at no charge. Books are loaned for two months, then returned at which time they receive two hundred more books they chose from our collection.
2) Thayet Town Citizens Contribute Money, Pave Their Roads – Weekly Eleven
, 8 July 2009, p. 31
Thabbathudammayon No. (3) road, Aung Thiri, in the southern ward in the west side of Thayet, is 1,200 feet long and 12 feet wide. Mud and puddles accumulate in the rainy season, making it difficult for monks, students, and local residents to use that road. The Abbot of the Paydabin Monastery and donors from the ward contributed 396,000 kyats and needed rocks, earth and labor to repair the road.
3) Roads Paved with Hair - News Watch Weekl
- y, 19th July 2009, p. 14
Fifty women have cut their hair and sold it to raise funds to build a road from the west side of Monywa to Alaungdaw Katthapa, which would cost 10 million kyats. Traditional Burmese women consider their long hair as most valuable, therefore this action is highly respected.
Also in Lower Chindwin Division, the women from a village near Mandalay cut their hair and sold it to Chinese wig makers, to raise over 8 million kyats to repair local roads and bridges.
4) Taunggyi Citizens Dig Deep Wells Where Water Is Scarce – Weekly Eleven
, 8 July 2009, p. 31
Taunggyi citizens [Shan States] are digging deep wells in neighborhoods where water is scare. The cost of each well varies from 600,000 kyats to six million kyats, depending on their depth, which can be as deep as 200 – 300 feet.
5) Myaing Village, Ywa-Ngan Township: 400 Houses electrified with Own Hydro Project – Weekly Eleven
- 8 July 2009, p. 32
Myaing Village, Southern Shan States, has only four hundred houses but developed its own hydro-power station. Their power is drawn from a small stream about two miles north of the village. The villagers worked five years to complete the project & electrify the entire village. Cash for the project was paid by users with a tax of 1000 kyats for a two-foot florescent bulb and 2000 kyats for one television, and 1000 kyats for a VCD player. [1000 kyats = $1 US] The tax sustains the project and pays for street lights. To complete the project, each household contributed an average of 10 weeks labor.
6) Ninety Percent of Old Trees Affected by Cyclone Nargis are Green Again – Weekly Eleven
, 8 July 2009, p. 9
Nine hundred and sixty one trees older than fifty years that were blown down during Cyclone Nargis but not chopped up and carted away, were propped up by local villagers near Yangon. Ninety percent of those older trees are green again, only ten percent remain weak.
7) Funeral Assistance Association Helps Families Dispose of 80,000 Bodies Free of Charge – The Voice
- - Monday, August 10 – 16, 2009, supplement p. iv
Our domestic Funeral Assistance Association, a famous NGO, has helped dispose of over 80,000 corpses since Cyclone Nargis. Increasing numbers of families are seeking their help. Currently, at No. 13/A Bohmu Ba Htoo Road, North Dagon Township, they have opened a clinic called “Thukha”, built in a temporary tent to help families with funeral matters. They plan to build a hall for patients to rest, with a park for funeral buses, and a canteen for families. As funeral costs escalate, more people are asking for help from this association.
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