MBEAN

The Power of Community-based Organizations

Why your support matters..

Nargis death toll stood at 84,537 with 53,836 people still missing, presumed dead. Office For the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reported that mortality rate of women between the ages of 18-60 years was twice that of men. Out of 7.3 million affected, 2.4 are severely affected. Since more women than men died, social and economic dynamics in affected areas has been seriously affected. As many as 800,000 people have been displaced. Cyclone also destroyed 75-85% of seed stocks, and it is estimated that up to 550,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice could be lost in this plantation season.

Yet the victims of cyclone have received US$213 per head compared to US$1,249 received by tsunami victims. Even before the cyclone, Myanmar/Burma receives about US$3 per person per year in overseas development assistance compared to Laos and Cambodia, who receive US$45 and US$43 respectively.

Your contribution will make a lasting impact for the survivors of Cyclone, and with minimal operating costs, MBEAN can guarantee that your money will go directly to cyclone affected communities.

Seeing is believing

(This report is a personal account of an independent author who does not represent MBEAN.)

As a donor and a fund-raiser, I am always curious to see the outcomes of my humble effort and contributions with my own eyes. This desire pushed me to arrange a visit to one of the project areas assisted by the MBEAN, during my busy holiday in Myanmar. With kind help from the staff local and abroad, I managed to visit remote villages in Day-da-ye Township, which is part of the Ayarwadi Delta.

It was an early start on a Saturday morning from the ferry port at Pan-so-dan, Yangon. A coordinator from Yangon office accompanied me. There were about 300 passengers onboard; some got seats and the others hired small chairs across the deck. I noticed some life jackets packed in carrier bags hung on the front wall of the ferry. A quick observation informed me that the ratio of life jackets, at least within the visible range, and passengers was far less than 0.1. But who cared? The weather was nice and the sky was clear. After about 10 minutes, we got to the other side of Yangon River and took a shared taxi with 6 others in an old hatch-back towards Kun-gyan-gone. It is a small town between Yangon and Ayarwadi Divisions. There we stopped for breakfast and decided whether we would take a relatively bigger and stable boat or a small motorized one. The difference is that the bigger one has to rely more on the tide as it would not be able to get into small creeks when the water level is low whereas the smaller one can reach the inner areas making the itinerary and schedule more flexible. We chose the latter for its time efficiency.

The river was narrow at the beginning till we got to its mouth where we could see water across the horizon. It was so vast and the breeze was so fresh. The loud noise from the small motor interrupted our conversation at times. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to the first stop, Htan Taw village. This is where the MBEAN successfully built a new school which was opened and handed over to the local Education Department only 5 weeks ago. Its bamboo gate was locked and we informed the Headmaster who lives locally. It was rather unfortunate that a trip during the week was not possible due to my personal circumstances. We deliberately chose not to inform the villagers in advance as we did not want to burden them with out-of-routine special arrangements for our visit.

Htan Taw Primary School construction is in its final phase. Inauguration ceremony is planned to be held on January 3, 2009.