Emergency Assistance for the locals of Myanmar

One year has passed since the 2021 coup in Myanmar. There is a concern that the number of malnourished and starving people will increase as a result of the soaring prices of commodities, severe cash shortages, and decrease in income due to the prolonged corona disaster, and the political turmoil.

As a result of several discussions with our local staff, who are directly working on the ground, we were able to distribute relief goods to local communities, while taking into consideration the security situation. From late September through the month of December, we distributed rice, eggs, vegetables, and cooking oils to a total of 3,433 households (with about 15,000 people) in 56 villages. We believe that by providing food assistance to those who are in need, we were able to contribute to the improvement of the nutritional status of the people.

 In one of the interviews of our local staff to local villagers, one responded that she felt life is a lot more difficult than before. However, despite all these problems, she is grateful that there are concerned individuals and organizations helping them. According to her, due to high food prices, they have no choice but to eat less frequent as compared before. With the delivered support, her family was able to eat nutritious food, which was a very great help. She is thankful to everyone who helped them make ends meet.

 At present, we are preparing to provide loans and agricultural inputs for the local villagers whose main source of income is agriculture. This action is crucial for the sustainable recovery of the local people.

On behalf of the villagers, we would like to extend our gratitude to the GlobalGiving donors for your generous support.

It is unfortunate that the current political condition of Myanmar is still unstable since last February. In the middle of the political turmoil, the disasters, and corona pandemic; local communities particularly the young and elderly are the most vulnerable.

In our first training center, annually, we have been empowering an average of 20 youth trainees through organic agriculture, food processing, livestock production, and environmental conservation since 1996. We have adopted the same training programs in our second training center which we established in 2017. Unfortunately, due to corona, it was difficult for us to accommodate and empower trainees. Therefore, while waiting for a healthier circumstance, the maintenance of our training centers and implementation of our regular training center activities, including the vegetable and rice farms, livestock production (hog raising and poultry), and food processing are done by our local staff.

Based on the report that we have received, there was a little rainfall this year before the rainy season. However, this September, there was more rainfall than usual which caused flood damages in some areas across the country. Despite all these problems, in our training centers, our local staff were able to start planting rice in July and successfully completed by the end of August. To assist the local farmers, we intend to distribute the soon to be harvested rice as an agricultural input.