Sprouting Seeds Learning Centre

Dear Friends and Family, We trust this finds you all doing well and staying healthy. Here in Myanmar, we are rapidly jumping into the long, wet months of the monsoon season. As many of you might be aware, as we move half way through this 4th year of the military coup, the fighting continues to worsen. The overall situation of the countries continues to deteriorate as the political and economic situations too continue to worsen. Several factors make our work even more challenging during the last few months. Firstly, the rising costs of all products as the borders are for the most part closed has made business near impossible to open. A simple bag of bread flour for the bakery now has risen almost 7 times! Secondly, the new conscription law that was passed a few months ago and is now being enforced keeps most families concerned for their children. This law states that young men and women roughly between the ages of 18-30 years old will be forced to join the military. They already have started to take names and enforce this law around the country to varying degrees. Also, another level of blocks and bans on all forms of communication, and continued major cuts to internet and power make communications even more challenging than before. Finally, more active fighting has broken out in even more parts of the country which impact and influence all of the above-mentioned factors. We have a few youths that are ready to join us for our next round of internships, but parents are extremely concerned for the safety of their children and are not willing to send them away from the home these last few months. As well we have our concerns taking full responsibility for young people during such uncertain and precarious times. As you may also be aware, our cafe and training centre building here in Kalaw is now on the market to be sold. We are looking for another location, however, limited rental options and rapidly rising rental costs make finding another space to live and house the training centre and cafe project is extremely limited and challenging. Facing this extremely challenging situation, we are taking the next few months of heavy monsoon season, to focus on fundraising, program and training design and attempting to locate another building to move into. We are hoping for a brighter future here in Myanmar in the coming months. As we hold our breath and watch the situation, we quietly continue planning and preparing for new programs in the coming months. As always, your support is greatly needed and much appreciated. We look forward to sharing new from our work over the next few months in our next outreach!! Please mark your calendars for July 10th! GlobalGiving will be hosting a 1 day 2024 July Bonus Day, where your donations can be matched from 20-40%. This will be a wonderful time to make a unique contribution to continue to support our work here in Myanmar! Warmly, Sprouting Seeds Team