Myanmar Youth Sustainability Training Centre

Dear Friends and Family,

Here in the mountains of Shan State, in the small town of Kalaw, the seasons are shifting as cold winter winds set in. December brings national elections, and like many across the country, we are uncertain how the results may affect Myanmar and our work. This sense of unpredictability mirrors the challenges felt around the globe.

The rains lasted longer than usual this year—well into late November—but the skies have finally cleared, and the winter chill has arrived. At our village training centre, Whispering Earth, we are preparing an important next step. As some of you may remember, the earthquake and aftershocks earlier this year caused significant damage, including the loss of our kitchen in May. Now that the rains have stopped, we are ready to rebuild.

New Earthen and Bamboo Construction at the Farm

We have nearly completed the design for a new earthen-and-bamboo kitchen, along with a two-story dining hall that will also serve as a meeting space and temporary accommodation. These buildings will support our programs while we continue to seek funding for the construction of a larger training centre and more permanent accommodation.

Construction is set to begin in early January, and we are excited that these new spaces will allow us to host larger groups for longer stays. Alongside the kitchen and dining hall, we will also complete our vermicompost (worm compost) toilet, a larger storage room, a tool shed, and a workshop space.

As part of the construction process, we will offer a 10-day Natural Building Training for our community partners, as well as a longer internship for youth who want to learn skills in earthen building, lime plaster, and bamboo construction. These skills will empower participants to bring sustainable building practices back to their own communities.We are grateful that previous participants and partner organizations have requested another natural building workshop and internship, and we are thrilled to launch this in January. Participants will come from grassroots, community-based organizations across Myanmar.

With our Director Jim recently completing his Master’s Degree and continuing his PhD research, we are expanding our curriculum to include more holistic training. Alongside natural building, participants will be introduced to regenerative design, systems theory, and holistic approaches to education and community development.

Local Youth Empowerment Trainings

We also have restarted our Youth Empowerment Trainings and Camps for local youth at the farm. Over the past few months, we have had the pleasure of bringing several youth groups from around the farm for a variety of trainings. We are looking forward to continue these trainings throughout the coming dry season.  

As we welcome the New Year at Whispering Earth, we do so with renewed hope, energy, and commitment. We look forward to sharing more stories of growth and progress with you in the coming months.

Wishing you a safe and healthy holiday season,

The Whispering Earth Family

Dear Friends and Family,

Warm greetings from Myanmar. We are deep in the monsoon season, and with it come both the nourishing rains and ongoing challenges.

As many of you may know, a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck at the end of March, causing widespread destruction across the Mandalay and Sagaing regions, as well as the Inle Lake area. Entire communities were severely affected, and the scale of loss has been unimaginable.

With the support of partner organizations both locally and abroad, we were able to respond quickly and provide essential food supplies to several hundred families during their most difficult moments. These distributions were made possible through generous financial support and through the strength of our teacher training networks across the country. The road to recovery will be long, as communities already burdened by ongoing civil conflict now face the monumental task of rebuilding yet again. Please see Sprouting Seeds report for further details. 

Here at Whispering Earth Training Centre, both in our village and in Kalaw, we’ve felt the persistent aftershocks — some as strong as 5.0. One particularly powerful aftershock, two months after the main quake, brought down our farm kitchen just days before a scheduled training. As the rains begin to ease in the coming months, we will begin rebuilding.

Amidst these challenges, we’re grateful to have hosted several trainings at the farm in Ecovillage Design Education and holistic teacher training. Looking ahead, we’re planning even more trainings in partnership with local and regional organizations.

The rebuilding of our kitchen will also serve as a learning opportunity — a hands-on training in natural building using earth and bamboo. We aim to empower teachers and community leaders from across the country with regenerative building skills that they can bring back to support their own communities. In the face of so much loss, we find hope and purpose in building not just structures, but resilience and connection.

If funding permits, we will also have the pleasure of building a larger 2 story dormitory to house our participants for the trainings. This building project too will serve as a training, as we teach participants from across the country in natural building techniques as they help us to build our next new building. We are very excited about these upcoming trainings and building projects!

With deep gratitude for your continued support and encouragement,

The Whispering Earth Team