I went to Yangon in Myanmar and Mae Sot in Thailand in Nov
2013 with Sunshine Action, www.sunshine-action.org/ourwork/Myanmar.html . This was my
second volunteer trip in a year. The focus
in this trip is to help the Burmese and understand what they really need in
these places. Honestly, before I went to
these places, I only knew very few things about Burma. 1) It used to be ruled by military government. 2) There were many civil wars before. 3) There
is political reform lately. 4) I know
who Aung San Suu Kyi is!
When I arrived at Yangon, I found that it is like a cleaner version of Bangkok
without many big and tall buildings and shopping malls. People are super nice. Aye Aahkin is the local person who brought us
to many different local NGOs. She is a
very young grandma who can speak simple English and she was also our translator
during our stay. Since we knew very
little about Myanmar, we tried to understand a bit more about this country from
Aahkin. We understood that the average
salary in Myanmar is 4 times less than the salary in Bangkok but the cost of
living is almost the same. Even though
life in Myanmar is not easy, it seems that they are, in general still happy of
what they are getting. I believe that
there are several reasons behind. They
used to have very little freedom and many civil wars. They are satisfied of the peace atmosphere
right now. Even though they have low
paid, most employers provide them accommodation and meals to fulfil their basic
needs. Over 95% of Burmese are Buddhists.
Religion does help them spiritually.
So what they are missing…. Let’s explore
more…
Many orphans stay in nunnery houses and monastery. We visited few in this
trip. Their parents were either passed
away in the wars or they cannot afford to bring them up anymore. In this nunnery house, these kids stay in a very
small cottage. In the rainy season, you can imagine how bad the condition in this cottage can be.
We also went to another monastery. 1180 orphans and children
stayed there. The monastery hires teachers and provides education to children. They can learn Burmese, English, Mathematics, Science and Religion.
They only eat rice and bowl of bean soup. People in Hong Kong! Don't be picky on your food anymore.
180 girls of this monastery stay in this 2-storey unit. They sleep, play and study in this crowded place.
They are classrooms in another nunnery house.
What we did in these nunnery houses and monastery? We bought them food. We sponsored some of the nunnery houses where they are short of fund to pay their teachers for months.
We also visited patients in leprosy village. They have been abandoned by their families
and stayed together. Some of them lost
their fingers, arms, legs or eye sight. Even though they are disabled, they
still have strong faith. Some patients
are staying with their families but they are just too poor and their cottage
home is simple and crude. Sunshine
Action is raising fund to build new houses for some of them.
We also spent few days in Mae Sot. A lot of Burmese moved to
this place because of wars. Probably
more than 90% of the population in this area is Burmese. Many well established NGOs are there to help
them. They provide them occupational training,
clinical services and education. However,
they are getting more difficult to raise fund now. Many overseas donors start to move their
funds to Myanmar directly as they thought the country is opening and they can
help them more directly. Unfortunately,
many Burmese want to stay in Thailand instead as they can earn much more and
can have better living. Some of these
NGOs have similar difficulties as those in Myanmar. They can’t pay their teachers and staff at school.
Sunshine Action has then immediately sponsored them part of these costs.
We also met a 70-year old man, Fred Stockwell in Mae Sot. He has real kind heart and passion to help
the very poor Burmese families in a dump site.
He built a very simple clinic at the dump site and provides basic
clinical services. He bought water tanks
to store clean water for them. He built
a small community center at the site with a very old TV so people can have very
little entertainment and know what is going on over the world. He drove people from the dump site to local
clinic or hospital when they have serious injury or sickness.
A community centre at the dump site.
This is a simple kitchen at the dump site. Those black dots are not pepper. They are flies!!!
Look at these kids… even though their homes are not in an ideal place, their
smile is always on their faces and the dump site is their playground. They run and play and work in this playground
on bare feet or slippers but it also means that they are easy to get hurt.
Why people stay in the dump site? As they are very poor, they are
refugees. They could not go back to
their country and have little chance to get educated. They pick recyclable garbage from the site
and earn very little money for living.
How can we help them to make the change? We
brought some old clothes to those kids. (Thanks to my friends and family who
donates their kids’ clothes!) We went to
town and bought them food and basic necessity.
We bought rain boots so their feet will not get hurt easily while they
work in the garbage site. We bought them headlights so they can still work when
the garbage trucks usually come to the dump site at night. We got kids polar
light so they can study at home in the evening.
In long term, Sunshine Action is working with
Fred and sees how they can provide sustainable assistance so kids can have
better education and the Burmese in the dump site can have better living
environment.
After I met all of these people, let me understand further that I am a super
lucky person. I have a good family and
am well-educated and have a stable job.
I hope I can do more to help the kids to get quality education and
hopefully, they can change their own life and have better living in future.
At last, I want to say THANK YOU to my friends and family who donate for this meaningful trip!
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