Moegyo raised over $5K for Kyite Latt Girl Orphanage at Virginia Lawn Concert on 11 July 2009

We are excited to share with you that we raised over $5,000 of our goal of $10,000 at the Lawn Concert fund raising event on Saturday evening in Virginia. On behalf of Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation family & the girls at Kyite Latt Orphanage, we would like to thank all the donors, sponsors, guests & volunteers for making this event a success.

The funds will go toward building a sleeping quarter for the girls at the Kyite Latt Girl Development Center located in Burma. There prior sleeping quarters was destroyed over a year ago by the cyclone Nargis. Since then the girls have been sharing sleeping quarters with the nuns that run the center. We appreciate everyone coming together to support the cause despite the short fall of rain. We would like to also thank you for bringing your friends, bosses, co-workers & family members etc., We were honored to have all of you at the event and hope to continue the friendship through many years to come.

We are very pleased to announced that the event was made possible by many sponsors so that 100% of the proceeds of the event including ticket sales and your donations can be used for the project.

It is heartwarming to see a community of people over 8300 miles away and unknown to the orphans have such a positive and profound impact on those in such need.

On behalf of Girls Orphanage located in Kyite Latt (Irrawady Delta Region, Burma), Thank You!!


Please click here for the photos of the event.

A Summer Lawn Concert to raise funds for girls orphanage

A Summer Lawn Concert raising funds to rebuild sleeping quarter for Girls Orphanage located in Kyite Latt (Irrawady Delta Region, Burma). The sleeping quarter was destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Music: Doug and Melanie: Friends without Benefits (starts at 5PM)
Food: Various Burmese Cuisine
Drinks: Sodas/Alcoholic Beverages
Cost: $20.00/per ticket (kids under 12 free)

How we are going to use the funds raised from this event
We plan to rebuild the girls’ sleeping quarter in the orphanage in Kyite Latt as it is in unlivable condition. It is a two-storey wooden structure that was damaged during the cyclone Nargis last year. Moegyo was able to bring an engineer crew on second visit to school to make assessment and to do estimate on rebuilding cost. It was estimated that rebuilding would cost around $10,000 using brick and concrete foundation to and wooden structure at the top. We are now raising money for rebuilding the girls’ sleeping quarter.

Video from the Food Fair, 13 June 2009

Please watch the video of Burmese Food Fair held to help the children in Burma, organized by Moegyo. Reported by Irfan Prawira, a Video Journalist in New York.

Burmese Food Fair on Saturday raised $8,700 for orphans in Myanmar

Thank you for your generosity, help and support!

The Burmese Food Fair on Saturday, June 13 was a huge success. We had a good turn out and the food was great. We are proud of our chefs! We raised a total of $8,700 at the event thanks to all of you, volunteers, donors and guests.

Every dollar counts - $1 donation can feed a child for a day in an orphanage in Myanmar. This means we will be able to help even more orphans this year.

Watch this blog for more information.

Photos from the Food Fair: http://picasaweb.google.com/moegyo2008/MoegyoFoodFair2009

Donors/Volunteers list: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=r31j4PwkNorb51kC25hCG-g

On behalf of children in Myanmar, thank you!

Come and enjoy authentic Burmese Food (all for a good cause!)

Come and enjoy the best authentic Burmese food in Tri-State area

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

12 PM to 5 PM

PS-150

40-01 43rd Avenue

Sunnyside, NY 11104

And, it's for a good cause!

Direction and menu

May 2: MHF commemoration of one year anniversary of the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar

1 May 2009. It was cold and breezy May evening in New York. At 9pm, we started loading our cars for a trip to Maryland. We were all silence during the trip. Our thoughts were with the families who lost their loved ones and their sufferings in the worst natural disaster in the history of Myanmar (Burma) one year ago. When Cyclone Nargis landed on 2 May 2008, more than 100,000 people lost their lives and thousands of children became orphans. To this day, tens of thousand of people are still displaced. Their lives and livelihoods have not returned to normal if it ever could.

Friends and volunteers of Moegyo from New York and Virginia organized a commemoration of one year anniversary of the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar at Aung Yadana Monastery (Maryland, USA) on 3 May 2009. We offered traditional Burmese food, Mont-Hin-Gar (rice noodle with fish soup), Burmese Sweet Tea, Grass Jelly with lime drinks and Banana Cake to the monks and to the guests at the monastery. Many donors brought various dishes including dan-pauk (Chicken Bariani) and pan friend noodles to share with others.

The event was held outside underneath the tents in the monastery compound. It rained all day and we were all wet, cold and muddy but we told ourselves that this was nothing compared to what had happened in 2 May 2008. We were well prepared for the rain: we had our rain coats, a tent already set, and hot tea and hot food being served. It was a solemn reminder of what it would be like living under the rain, in the worst living condition, without a roof or a cover and no food. As we made sure our children were properly dressed for the rain, we thought of those parents who had experienced a parent’s worst nightmare of not being able to help their own children and the children who were left alone to survive with no one to care for them. It reminded us that we have to work harder to make a difference for the victims.

It has been a year since Cyclone Nargis but many are still in desperate need and many homes, schools, and orphanages were still waiting to be fixed. We realized we need to be strong and united. Everyone will need to step up and do what it can to contribute. Moegyo is now focusing its work on helping the orphans. With the support of our donors, friends and families, we have committed $1,100 a month donation to 4 orphanage programs in Myanar:

1. Mingalar Orphanage at Phayargyi Village, Twuntay
2. Popa Orphanage at Mount Popa
3. Kani Orphanage at Kani Village near Phyar Pon
4. Pyinnyar Waddy Orphanage at Kyite-latt

We were inspired by many friends and volunteers for their continued support and commitment. We received a total of $3,000 US dollars to support the orphanages in Myanmar from the guests at the commemorating event in Maryland.

Thank you for the generosity! Together, we can make a difference.

Please click here to see the photos of the event.

April 1st 2009: Visit to Kyite Latt (Women Developing School)

We have heard about the girls’ orphanage in Kyite Latt run by nuns. We were saddened to learn about the poor conditions of the children in the orphanage/school and a few months ago, our volunteer KK was able to visit the school during her trip to Ka-Ni village orphanage to donate MHF monthly contribution. Thank you, KK and the team for making this possible!
Below is our volunteer KK’s report from the field.

1. Another trip to Kani Orphanage for monthly contributions

Our five people team set off from Yangon to Phyar-Pon at 7:00 pm by boat. We brought along loads of things to donate to the children just like our previous trips. We arrived in Phyar-Pon at 7:00 am. We all loaded our things in “Sampan”, a small boat powered by single outboard motor, to go to Kani village. Our “Sampan” set off at 8:00 am and arrived at Kani village at 10:00 am. We donated the monthly donation from MHF satisfying the total cost of the 10^th grade students’ education for the rest of this school year. We also gathered some donations among ourselves and provided 10^th grade old exam books to the orphanage. After that we surveyed the school buildings for reconstruction cost estimate. Then we had lunch at the orphanage.

Please see our previous report for details on Ka-ni Orphanage. Please click here for Ka-ni Orphanage photos

2. First trip to Kyite Latt (Women Developing School)

We then set off to Kyite Latt to visit the girls’ orphanage, which we heard, was in desperate need. We ride on the back of Honda Super Cab motorbikes as the road condition didn’t permit us to go by car. We left Kani village at 12:00 pm. After two hours of back breaking motorbike ride on rough roads, we arrived at the “Pyin-Nyar-Wadi Amyo Tha Mee Bawa Myint Tin Yay Kyaung”.

The school was established in 1973. Eighty two years old head nun who suffered from stroke twice is currently managing the orphanage. There’s also a house guardian who teaches at a primary school and brings all the children to school everyday.

There are 27 girls of various ages who came to this nunnery for many reasons. Some lost their parents, some came here after their parents divorced or remarried and some came as their families or relatives could no longer support them.

Children go to Middle School of Kyite-Latt for their primary and secondary education and a total of 20 girls are in school age:

3 - Kindergarten students,

2 - 1^st grade students

2 – 2^nd grade students,
4 – 3^rd grade students,
1 – 4^th grade students,
1 - 5^th grade students,2 – 6^th grade students,
3 – 9^th grade students, and
2 – 10^th grade students

There are also 4 orphans who are now nuns, 2 grown-up orphans who teach sewing to children and 1 university student at PaThein University who teaches the children at primary school. Altogether, there are 27 orphan girls in that school. I had the pleasure of meeting all of them.

Basic Needs

The school receives about 45,750 kyats (~US $45) for food and 150,000 kyats (10 rice bags) a year from the Ministry of Human Affair for 27 children in the orphanage. The finance of the school is maintained by a 16 people committee (including members of local authority) and the money is granted upon request. The school faces difficulties with daily expenses. The children live in poor living conditions and the school desperately needs help.

Most of the girls dressed in worn out and mended clothes. When we acquired if they have enough clothes, we were asked to bring even the torn clothes as they learned to fix them to wear. My heart sank when they said that to us.

Their daily food consists of mostly vegetables and beans. Like any orphanage, their food depends on the donated money. They used to get regular donations before cyclone Nargis. Now the school faces problem providing even their most basic need, food. They said that it is getting very difficult to get 100,000 kyats (~ US $100) donation a month to feed the children. Now the children nutrition relies on the vegetables grown in their yard.

The orphanage consists of four structures, a one storey brick building (main building) where the nuns live, a collapsing 1 story wooden building, and a collapsing two storey wooden building with attached small kitchen and dining/study room downstairs. The children used to live upstairs of that two storey building but now they live in a small room in main brick building along with the nuns as the two storey building was damaged by the cyclone and now collapsing and in unlivable condition. I felt very sorry to see all of

them living in a small room. I promised myself that I would find potential donors to help reconstruct their building.

3. Second Trip to Kyite Latt

This is my fifth trip to Delta Area. Before the trip, I managed to gather as many things as I could for 27 girls at the school. I also encouraged my students to donate for them. Surprisingly, I got many more things than I except before my trip. I collected 12 dozens exercise books, 5 dozens pencils, 50 pens, 20 rulers, sharpeners, erasers, 32 dozens shampoo packs, 18 bars soap, sweets, snacks, 3 sets of 10^th grade question books, 2 bags of clothes, and 495,000 kyats from MHF altogether.

I reached the nunnery at 10am. As I phoned them before hand, all the children were expecting us since early morning. They all came out from the school and welcomed us when we got there.

Donation

First of all, I gave the donated money from Moegyo (MHF) to the school. The school guardian accepted the money and gave us receipt signed on behalf of the school. She said that this donated money would be used not only for the children’s food but also for the candles for them to study at nights.

After that, I went to their dinning room to distribute the presents

to the children. The children were anxious to see the gifts as this was the very first time receiving gifts. We gave old question books to 10^th graders and distributed the gifts to all. The girls were very happy to receive the shampoo and bathing soap as well. They usually washed their hair with traditional shampoo since the school couldn’t afford to buy shampoo for them. The children were so excited that they said they wouldn’t be able to sleep that night.

And then, I took photographs of the children having lunch while they had their very best clothes for the photo. The monastery next door to the nunnery had lunch donors that day and the children could eat with fish since monks share meal with children whenever there is a donor. Otherwise, their meal merely consists of vegetable grown in their own little plantation. The monastery is the main supporter of the school. The monks share the things like rice, onion, oil, potato and etc. with the children.

After our lunch, we went around the compound and took more photographs. Then, we said goodbye and went back home. On my way back, I couldn’t stop thinking of the happy faces of the children while they were receiving the presents. Whenever I came back from my good deed trip, I thank to MHF for inspiration and my family for helping me pack and prepare for my trip.

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Thank you all for giving us the opportunity to help the children in Myanmar who are in great need. Together, we can make a difference in many young lives.

Please click here to see the photos of the school.

December 1st 2008: Monthly contributions at Ka-ni Village Orphanage

In September, we reported about the Ka-ni village orphanage and our first donations at the orphanage. Ka-ni orphanage hosts 93 children and provides primary and secondary education to children right at the orphanage. High school, however, is an hour walk from the orphanage. We have learnt about the orphanage, and we are touched by the orphanage’s great interest and care for their children education. We would like to help the orphanage at least ease some of their financial burden for their great cause.

Fortunately, with your support, we were able to start our $100 monthly donation at Kani orphanage last month and we are happy to share with you that our monthly contribution was just in time for 5 months educational support (Nov 2008 – Mar 2009) for 10th graders. Below is the report from our volunteer, KK from the field.

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Trip to Ka-ni village

Working together with Moegyo (MHF) for Kani Village donation trip, I have been on the adventurous journey to delta area that I’ve never dreamt of before. I’ve done good deeds and learnt the lives of people after Nargis. Being witnessed the disaster victims, I found out how difficult their lives were. I also admire their strength during and after disaster. Along our visit to Kani village, I saw many Nargis survival children. Kani village orphanage gives them accommodation, food and education as they arrived there. Even though I can’t help them with all aspects of their livelihood, I want to help them get good education as I believe that education is their best foundation to acquire knowledge and get ahead in life.

On my last trip to Kani Village orphanage, one of the things I found out from the orphanage that they wanted to hire teachers and guides for 10th graders for this school year. I told them not to worry about the 10th standard students. I would help them out as much as I could. After that I was thinking about my words and worried that if I could keep my promise if what they need is so much more than I alone can afford.

Monthly contributions

Soon afterwards, I was delighted to find out that MHF was planning on sending more contributions to the orphanage. As soon as I heard that news, I phoned to Kani and informed them that we’re now going to help the 10th grade students. When they heard that news, they were very happy as their burden was relieved. They said again and again that they are very thankful for our help.

Three teachers were assigned, Math, Physic and chemistry teachers cost 30,000 each per month (~$30) and the study-guide costs 60,000 per month (~$60) who helps and guides them with all subjects. All the tuition fees are covered by MHF. When I asked them what is still needed for the students, they were hesitated to tell me. At last, they said they could use 10th grade old question books. That part came to me and I donated those and some exam outline books. Now the 10th grade students in Kani are studying with teachers and practicing their lessons for this school year until March 2009 when the final exams come.

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There are many children who need our support and care. We want to thank those who are in the field helping and shaping the lives of those children for the better. We want to thank our donors for the continued support and opportunity for us to take part in this great cause. Together, we can make a difference in many young lives.

Please click here for Ka-ni Orphanage photos.

November 1st, 2008: Popa Moegyo Orphanage Report

Introduction

One of the objectives of Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation has been to help the needy children of Myanmar, and Moegyo has worked with some orphanages towards that goal. A core member of Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation also serves as a patron of a forest monastery near Mt Popa in upper Myanmar. The abbot of the monastery is active and enthusiastic about helping children. He’s also knowledgeable about computers, and uses technologies whenever possible. More information about the forest monastery can be found at Buddha Sasana Net.

The monastery was established in 2005, but due to shortages in funding, the abbot was only able to move in to the monastery in 2007. In a prime location at the foot of the popular travel destination – Mt Popa, original plans called for a meditation center and an orphanage in the monastery compound.

When Cyclone Nargis struck the southern coastal areas of Myanmar in May 2008, the abbot decided to ease the suffering of some Nargis orphans by offering a place for them to stay. Accordingly, he approached the Patron and member of Moegyo for funding to open an orphanage.

In July 2008, Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation decided on an initial funding amount of approximately $5,000 to construct a building necessary for an orphanage. In October 2008, Moegyo members in Yangon visited the area for assessing the needs of the orphans. This report is the result of that visit.

No Orphans from the Nargis Area

Immediately after Cyclone Nargis, many orphans were taken to temporary shelters or orphanages by individuals, aid groups or religious organizations (i.e. monasteries or groups led by Buddhist monks, such as Sitagu Sayadaw, as well as Christian groups). Then, the authorities stepped in with an official policy for rescuing, rehabilitating and resettling Nargis orphans. Plans for a large orphanage were made public. Large scale private efforts were deemed no longer necessary. It was in this situation that the Mt Popa monastery’s Abbot and Patron decided to no longer pursue Nargis orphans for the orphanage. Instead, the monastery decided to continue with the orphanage plans, albeit with orphans from other areas, mainly the Chin area. This decision was based on the fact that the Abbot’s mentor is already established in Chin State with orphanages.

Current Situation

Currently, there are 20 Chin children who are defined as a) having no parents; b) having a single parent; c) extremely poor. Some of them were already Samanays before joining Popa Orphanage. Others weren’t. But now, under the circumstances, the Abbott has decided to turn all of them into Samanays, for various reasons, which will not be delved into here. All of them will be converted out of Samanay-hood when conditions permit (budget-wise).

Funds

Monthly funds (to feed the orphans) are most important. Toilets are necessary for health reasons. Right now, they are going into the forests. The monastery and the orphanage need the following things:

1. Monthly Expenditure
a. Monthly fund 600,000 Kyats

2. Immediate needs 2,473,550 Kyats3. Near-term needs 1,740,000 Kyats
a. Water tank (10’ x 10’) 1,500,000 Kyats
b. PVC 1” Pipeline 90,000 Kyats
c. Electrical wiring 150,000 Kyats

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Thank you all for giving us the opportunity to help the children in Myanmar who are in great need. Together, we can make a difference in many young lives.

Please click here to see the photos of the orphanage development.

October 22nd 2008: Report from RPDG Group - First Phase of Project 2

Recovery Project for Persons with Disabilities and their family

With your donations, we were able to support RPDG group with nargis recovery project.

RPDG group was able to accomplish the first phase of the following recovery projects for persons with disabilities (PWD) and their families within Yangon Division. The total cost for the first phase of the project was $5685.



- Reconstruction of 15 houses in Dhala Township, Shwe-Pyi-Tha Township, Hlaing-Tha-Yar Township, North-East Dagon Township, South Dagon Township, Hlaing-Tha-Yar Township, and Insein Township.




- Repairing of 15 shops in Shwe-Pyi-Tha Township, North-East Dagon Township, South Dagon Township, Hlaing-Tha-Yar Township and Thin-Gan-Gyune Township






- Providing Capital Funds of 50000kyats each for a total of 7 shops in the community

- Providing additional fund of 20000kyats each to ran the shops for a total for 20 shops in the community.

Outcomes of Beneficiaries:
- 15 damaged houses have been reconstructed. As a result, the PWD families are recovering from living difficulty.

- 15 damaged shops have been rebuilt. As a result, PWD families will be able to operate their business smoothly whereas the others have owned stable place for their earning.




- For those who received supported fund (27 small businesses) are able to operate their business and generate regular income continuously to support for their families.





- Our main conceptual goal, the independent living of disabled people will be completed by supporting upon our peers’ jobs.












Other outcome
- Promoted the public awareness on disabled people in the community through our group effort as well as our achievements by means of this implementation.

- By implementing our rehabilitation activity we also discovered the more disabled people in the community so that we get realistic information about our disabled peers. These will be useful for coming disability survey and networking movements.

- Those persons with disabilities will able to get more opportunities for their various movements, trainings and rehabilitation.


Challenges
- Our RPDG camera was out of function on 19.8.08 when it dropped to the flooded street because of heavy rain. Although we tried to repair it immediately by taking extra strength and time on 20.8.08, its function could not become into its original stages. It is so critical for us to take pictures for our record and also for the report.

- During our implementing process, we faced some complex situation, i.e., we had to take adjustment with regional authority in order for us to accomplish our tasks at Dhala and South Dagon Township.

- Our trained volunteers were not able to take part in the whole project. However we were able to accomplish with other volunteers with their best input to complete the project.

- We had a great support from skilled carpenters volunteering with our project to build four houses and eight shops.


Thank you for your continued support.

Please click here for more photos.