Farmer Ko Ye Naing is always looking for opportunities to improve his family’s livelihood. The 38-year-old father of two and his wife, Ma Nandar Win, live on a three-acre farm 55 miles west of Yangon, Myanmar. They grow about 700 pounds of chili peppers, which they sell for about $500 yearly. He also works as […]
July 13, 2020 – A lack of reliable drinking water has been a chronic problem for many years in Myanmar’s Wai Dauk village. In this village five hours southeast of Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, 60 families source drinking water from two 60-square-foot ponds. The ponds are not reliable year-round, though. First, evaporation leads to shortages […]
Despite the COVID-19 crisis, CWS program teams are busy working with civil society partners, local government colleagues, communities and families. In Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects continue with added info-sharing about how the novel corona virus spreads. And, vitally, information is shared about ways to prevent infection. […]
Things are a bit business unusual for CWS these days, as they are for much of the world. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is slowing us down and causing us to reschedule larger group activities. These include Community-led Total Sanitation start-up events and cross-community sharing and learning field trips. But, in most rural areas where CWS […]
Now there is … where once there wasn’t. Electricity, that is, at 16 village emergency evacuation sites in the Ayeyawaddy River delta area of in Maubin Township in southwest Myanmar. Thanks to CWS partner, Week of Compassion (WOC), their investment to help communities had paid off. With tangible, transformative changes in their lives, one small […]
CWS and the YMCA of Maubin Township in Myanmar recently launched a vocational education and training pilot for 20 women who will learn how to sew over the course of eight weeks with 270 hours in the workshop. Already during their first week, students reviewed manual sewing machine parts: switches, levers, pedals, etc. to learn […]
You may have heard about CWS and the ACT Alliance before. ACT is a coalition of churches and faith-based organizations that work in countries all over the world. It’s a platform for its members, including CWS, to coordinate our programs to be as efficient and effective as possible. To that end, many countries, including Myanmar, […]
Church World Service Christmas Ornaments this year are from Myanmar Social Enterprise, Hla Day, which provides a sustainable marketplace along with design and business training to support the livelihoods of Myanmar artisans, many of whom are struggling to overcome disability, exclusion, and poverty. Hla Day aims to capture the uniqueness of Myanmar design by celebrating […]
Red Cross volunteer, U Myint Swe, has helped drowning and bike accident victims since 1979. The 54-year old retired police sergeant first earned a First Aid Trainer certificate in 1986. Then, he took a refresher course in 2000. Since then, he has led or co-led 30-plus basic First Aid courses with the Myanmar Red Cross […]