One Dream One World Children Care Center

This time AIYA BURMA FUND would like to introduce you about our ongoing program named “One Dream One World” to take care of the street children in Mae Sot, Thai-Burma border.

There are some Burmese street children collecting plastic bags, boxes, tins, etc. in Mae Sot. Some are begging money from the travelers inside town. Their parents have very low income and they cannot look after their children all the time. Those children are neglected by others and they are in the lowest standard among the communities in the Thai-Burma border. Their parents cannot afford to provide them education as they are facing difficulties in living here in Mae Sot. We are fulfilling their knowledge, food and other necessary things in their young lives. One Dream One World is not a school and it is more like a street children care project. The children care center starts at 9 am to 12 pm on Monday to Friday. The idea is bringing the street children to train to live in right ways. At the same time, we are saving them from bad things like involving crimes in their innocent ages.

We have been running the program since 1st February 2008. We are sharing happy time together with those poor children.

The aims and objectives of “One Dream One World Children Care Center” are to;

Establish the children rights by

1. Taking care of the migrant families’ children when parents are at works

2. Supporting a meal (lunch) and other foods or snacks for the students

3. Educating them to protect from human trafficking and other crimes

4. Teach Burmese, English, Thai, music and other necessary subjects

5. Help student sharing happy time together at the centre.

To meet our aims and objectives of the program, we still need support from someone for a regular basic. At present, we have 42 students under the care of 4 teachers and most of the students are Muslims. Among them, we organize 12 elder students to study Thai language. We also want to extend the school with more students and more facilities. But we haven’t got any regular assistance from NGOs, organizations or individuals since we started the project.

This is one of AIYA BURMA FUND projects and works implementing in Thai-Burma border. There will be more later….

Free Funeral Services Society (Rangoon) Needs Your Support Now

The Free Funeral Services Society -F.F.S.S- (Rangoon) is a welfare organization operating mostly with the contributions of the well-wishers locally and from abroad. Under the guidance of the founder U Thu Kha, this organization’s first priority is to help the bereaved families with the free funeral services, so as to somehow relief the burdens and sorrows during the time of losing their loved ones. There are now more than 150 volunteers and nearly 50 employees engaged in doing the various good deeds of this welfare organization. The F.F.S.S has been running it’s social works since  January 2001. The executive committee was first formed in September 2003 with 28 executive members. At present, the new executive committee was re-elected in December 2007 and duties were assigned to 21members,with U Kyaw Thu as Chairman,Daw Than Myint Aung as Secretary,Daw Myint Myint Khin Pe (Shwe-Zee-Kwet) as Treasurer.There are now more than 200 volunteers and nearly 50 employees engaged in doing the various good deeds of this welfare organization. The FFSS also is a civil organizing which directly assist the Nargis cyclone victims around Burma since. Although there is a lot of pressure and hardships while working to help the poor people of Burma, the FFSS continues working on good works in many ways. The reputation brings a lot of supporters inside and outside country for the Nargis relief works.

At the moment, The Free Funeral Service Society (FFSS) is asked by the new Abbot of the Byahmah Vihara Temple as the monks are under pressure by the Burmese authorities. So, the Chairperson, Kyaw Thu, requested us for more support from outside world. They already have place in North Dagon but they need to construct building to continue their ongoing works. The FFSS will have to move to a new place by July 2009. If they have not enough support to build up buildings in the new place, they may have to shut down Thukha Free Clinic so that the grassroots will lose their big chance to rely on the clinic for the health care.

If you can do something, please try for them. We always think of how the people in the delta and other Nargis affected areas would survive under the heavy rain. They still cannot do much to rebuild their lives under such situation. We worry about them. If anyone is interested in supporting for the construction buildings for the organization. Please don’t delay in contacting AIYA BURMA FUND. They are in urgent need of help.

The Last Load of Aids Sent to the Burma Nargis Cyclone Victims

The Last Load of aids which have been delayed for weeks were successfully sent on 28th July 2008. Those aids were being collected by the Wat Par Kao Nargis Cyclone Relief Centre in Mae Sot and the people worried about the dalaying and damages before reaching to the victims of the Burma natural disaster. According to the organizers including monks in Burma, the reason for the delay was waiting for the permission from the military regime for weeks. We have been trying to send those aids including food, clothing, house wears and medicines. We hope cyclone victims would get all those aids by the help of the monks in Burma. Most of the civil organizations are now working together with monks to bring aids into the Nargis Cyclone affected areas inside Burma.

Dhamma Talk Activity in Mae Sot

Recently, the Nargis Cyclone Relief Center organized Dhamma Talks on 24-25 June 2008 at the Wat Par Kao monastery in Mae Sot, a border town in Thailand. Thitagu Abbot Ashin Nyar Neik Thara, one of the active monks who has been helping the Nargis Cyclone victims inside Burma, contributed speeches for two days and people of Mae Sot including Burmese migrant workers attended the talk. There were about 3,000 people on each day of the Dhamma Talk, which was specifically convened for helping the cyclone victims in Burma. People in Mae Sot especially the Burmese migrant workers donated 129,047 Thai Baht for helping the cyclone victims.

2 CD packages are now available for the funding of the Nargis Cyclone Center. Each package cost $10. Now you can get the CD packages here and we will deliver the CDs once you buy them.

Collecting the victims of Cyclone Nargis

Now, some groups including the Free Funeral Service Society, are collecting the abandoned bodies of the Nargis cyclone victims to burn or to bury in graves for sanitation reasons. Peoples lives in the Irrawaddy delta are in chaos. There are mothers who have lost children, there are children who have lost parents, there are people who have lost brothers and sisters.  They are all living in difficult times. Some people from the group who buried the dead bodies were arrested by the Burmese authorities. Fortunately, there are still some groups left to carry out this duty in the cyclone affected areas.

Aiya Burma Fund website launched

The Aiya Burma Fund website was launched initially to showcase the large number of images showing the grassroots aid effort that is going on both outside and inside Burma after the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May 2008.

Please take the time to view the photogallery and if you would like to assist the Aiya Burma Fund in its efforts to provide aid directly to the cyclone victims, instructions on making donations can be found here.