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Acts of selflessness during hard times

Kennedy was the chief caretaker at the Yangon campus for over 5 years.  Last year, he left the Yangon campus and moved to Nay Pyi Taw, which is the capital of Myanmar, to pursue children's ministries.

On the surface Nay Pyi Taw does have some advantages over Yangon because it is a relatively new country town with very good infrastructure.  However, there are still too many people in Nay Pyi Taw who live in poverty.

If truth be told, Kennedy does not live in the central business district.  He is currently renting a property on the outskirts of Nay Pyi Taw, which has been affected by flooding.

In the next village, Kennedy has been busy with assisting needy people who have been affected by the flood. To be more precise, Kennedy has been using a small amount of money, which he received from M2M, to feed an Indian widow.

Indian widow carrying rice and cooking oil
Indian widow carrying rice and cooking oil
The widow is cooking
The widow is cooking
Kennedy is praying for the Indian widow
Kennedy is praying for the Indian widow

To see where the widow lives, please click here to watch a short video clip.

The widow has no relatives in Myanmar, and she is really struggling to survive in a country that has no social security system.  However, the widow is not the only one who is going through hard times.

In the same village, Kennedy found a single mother with a baby.  Apparently, her husband died three months ago.  Kennedy generously gave this mother a bag of rice with a container of cooking oil.

Single mother with child, posing inside their hut
Single mother with child, posing inside their hut
Mother and child eating
Mother and child eating

M2M condones Kennedy's acts of selflessness because Kennedy shared his limited resources with those who are less fortunate than himself.

If you would like to support Kennedy's work, please visit our What's On page for more information.

Muang and his wife clothed a group of underprivileged children

In Yangon, one does not have to walk very far to find a group of underprivileged children that live in poverty. The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is making it harder for many people to afford staple foods such as rice and cooking oil. While the Mission2Myanmar is doing everything we can to feed and clothe our recipients; some of our recipients are using their limited resources to help other people who are struggling.

As most of you are already aware, Muang is currently our largest recipient, and he runs the Chin Refugee Centre (CRC) in Yangon. Near the CRC is a makeshift hut that is home to 9 siblings, and it is also home to a group of other children from various families. Muang and his wife clothed these children on two occasions.

Below is a series of low resolution photos, taken by Muang's previous mobile phone camera, to document the first time that Muang and his wife donated preloved clothes to the underprivileged children. These clothes were previously used by the children in Muang's care.

Below is a series of higher resolution photos, taken by Muang's new mobile phone, to document the second time that Muang and his wife purchased new clothes for the underprivileged children. These new clothes were bought with the money that Muang received from M2M.

Even though M2M could not possibly feed and clothe every single child in Myanmar, at least Muang and his wife found a way to care for the underprivileged children in their community by sharing. M2M commends Muang, and his wife, for their beautiful act of selflessness.

The shipment to the Karen refugees has arrived in Thailand

Dear Friends,

During November and December last year, the M2M Team was very busy with collecting tangible goods for the shipment to the Karen refugees who live in Thailand. Eventually, we stopped accepting donated goods because we needed some time for packing and sorting, and we also needed some time to prepare the paperwork for this shipment.

We were blessed with well over 10,000 items! The M2M Team is extremely grateful to all the people who contributed to this project. However, we had too many items. Some items were not going to fit inside the 15 bulk carriers (water tanks); and furthermore, due to Thailand's strict import laws, some consumables had to be offloaded. Therefore, we had an overflow of donated goods which were donated to another charity.

The 15 bulk carriers, that were filled and sent to the port, contained over 2 tonnes of merchandise - what a massive effort! The contents included clothes, bedding, camping gear and cooking apparatus.

On Thursday, the 26th of January 2023 at 7am (local time) in northern Thailand, the cargo finally arrived at the final destination. Below is a collection of photos to document this amazing achievement.

The Yangon campus has a new septic tank

Septic tank at the Yangon campus

What happened?

Before we focus on the outcome of this project, it might help if we gave you some background information first.

In the past, the Mission2Myanmar (M2M) sent money to David Ling, the owner of the Yangon campus, to enable David to install a rainwater tank and a water purification system at the campus. Due to these developments, the staff and students were fit and healthy because they had access to clean drinking water during the dry season.

There were some unexplained illnesses at the campus during the wet season. If truth be told, most of those illnesses were caused by water-borne infections. Finding the root cause of the water-borne infections was not easy.

 

So what was the cause of the problem?

Eventually David concluded that the cause of the water-borne infections was the harmful microbes from the students' toilets. During the dry season there was no need for alarm because the microbes, from human waste, stayed in the ground. However, during the wet season, the river swelled and flooded the campus. By raising the water level, the flood water lifted the microbes from the ground and then, the children became sick because they had to walk through the flood waters mixed with harmful microbes.

 

Short chronology of donations

In early 2021 David received a generous donation from a donor in Brisbane, to enable him to start building a septic tank. This happened before M2M became a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) for tax purposes.  The ultimate reason for building a septic tank is to make sure that all the microbes that get flushed down the toilets, stays deep down in the ground. To eliminate the risk of water-borne infections, those microbes must never rise to the surface especially during the wet season.

In the middle of 2021 M2M received a corporate donation, which was directed to the septic tank project.  This happened after the Australian government gave M2M the green light to become a DGR. David received this funding just before the heaviest monsoonal rainfall started.

 

What happened after the wet season ended?

Sometime in November 2021, the wet season ended and the flood waters receded. Then after that, David recalled the construction workers to complete the septic tank project.

 

The outcome

The septic tank was successfully completed in early January 2022. It will be connected to a new toilet block, hopefully before the next wet season begins.

Meat budget for the conference in Rakhine

You may remember Elijah from the concrete well project in Rakhine state. If this project does not ring a bell, please click here to read the blog post.

In late January 2021, Kennedy informed Pauly about an upcoming evangelical conference, to be held at Elijah's commune in Rakhine state. Apparently there was plenty of rice and drinking water for all the conference attendees but there was no budget for meat.

Kennedy expected somewhere between 80 and 90 people to attend the conference and he said that it would cost $USD800 to feed all the attendees. Furthermore, the conference was to be spread over 5 days and 5 nights. If truth be told, over 170 people attended the conference and all the attendees were very well fed.

Within a very short timeframe, M2M received $AUD1000 from a donor who lives in Brisbane. That money was sent to Pastor David in early February and then, David transferred 800,000 kyats (roughly $AUD800) to Elijah just before the conference started on the 15th of February.

Below is a collection of photos to document the food preparations and the people who attended the conference.

The new orphanage shelter in Kale is ready

During the mission trip to Myanmar in March 2020, Pauly & Kennedy went to a town in Northern Myanmar called Kale (pronounced "Ka-lay"). Maung lives in Kale with his wife and children, and he runs a small orphanage over there.

In November 2020, Maung told Pauly that he was running out of space because he received a lot of new enrolments. Maung suggested building another dwelling to better accommodate the orphans and this is how the Orphanage Shelter Building Project (OSBP) started.

A target of $2500 was set in November 2020 and after two months of fundraising activities, M2M reached the target. Slightly more than $2500 has been sent to Maung in two instalments.

As per the photos below, M2M is pleased to inform you that the OSBP in Kale is finished.

Maung expressed his gratitude in a message, via Facebook Messenger, which he sent to Pauly on Monday, the 15th of February and here is the text:

Hallelujah, Amen
By your gracious support and help now we have a temporary shelters for the children.
All glory and honor to God.
Thanks you to all for hard working, Your Time as well your money for helping the children shelters.
May the Lord bless you abundantly.

Peace
Maung

It only takes a few mustard seeds

Kennedy is a full-time caretaker at the Yangon campus. He normally takes most of March off to be Pauly's cultural advisor, translator, and fellow humanitarian missionary in rural Myanmar.

During the previous humanitarian mission trip to Myanmar in March 2020, Pauly and Kennedy spoke about the importance of teaching the children some very valuable cultivation skills through various agricultural projects. These are very important skills for anybody living in developing countries as it can provide a source of food and an income too.

When Pauly & Kennedy visited a local market in Gangaw, in North-Western Myanmar, Kennedy picked up a small handful of mustard seeds. Kennedy aspired to plant the mustard seeds after his return to the Yangon campus.

After Pauly left Myanmar in May, Kennedy went back to the Yangon campus to face some very harsh restrictions caused by the Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar. The wet season created another barrier to any agricultural projects.

Sometime in November, the rain clouds went away and the Covid restrictions were eased. That's when Kennedy started planting the mustard seeds on the block of land, next to the outdoor orphanage hall.

It's been about two months since the seeds were planted so let's take a look at the results:

As you can see in the photo gallery above, the seeds have germinated and the sprouts have grown into vegetable-bearing plants. Kennedy and the kids are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the mustard greens but, that has not stopped them from growing some other vegetables.

In the photos below you will see pots which consist of green onions, chilli peppers and tomatoes.

Way to go, Kennedy! Keep up the good work!