Support Teacher Trainings in rural Myanmar

Dear friends and supporters of our Teacher Training Programs here in Myanmar,

In our last report we updated you on the natural building training program we conducted at Shwenadi Monastic School. The school in the dry zone houses about 450 children, the majority of whom are girls, and does a great deal of work in fostering environmentally friendly practices within its own grounds and amongst the local community. We brought over a team of expert bamboo builders from Indonesia to help teach local craftsmen how to build with bamboo and begin construction of new training hall.

We are delighted to announce work on the building’s roof is now complete. It is so heartening to see how the local team absorbed the new skills with such diligence and mastery to create an amazing focal point for the school. In addition to the physical benefits of having much needed new training space Shwenadi has seen a number of high profile visits as a result of our work there. This has attracted more resources to this wonderful monastic school and is helping improve the educational experience of all its students each and every day.

Regular supporters of our work will know this is our second major bamboo construction project. The first being a community school building in Myitkyina, Kachin State northern Myanmar. Despite their initial reservations about building with earth the community is delighted with their classroom and is now fundraising to build further community schools. We will provide support with the design and technical questions but are so happy to see how the community are taking this forward independently and wish them all the best in providing vital education infrastructure to these oft neglected communities.

As part of our work with Socially Engaged Monastic Schools we conducted Permaculture training during their annual teacher training program. We are honoured to work with such progressive partners who understand the value of holistic education. The teachers were given an introduction to permaculture including practical work making terraced medicinal herb beds and sheet mulching the raised beds which will be use chicken tractor model, and even did a wonderful herb spiral.

Dear friends and supporters of our Teacher Training Programs here in Myanmar.

We have had yet another very busy few months here in Myanmar. It is now the middle of the rainy season and things have settled down a bit as we make plans for the next few months.

During the last months, we have been focusing some of our energies on sharing new skills in earth and bamboo construction. We have been working with a team of Indonesian trainers who are bringing these new skills of treating, constructing and sustainable propagation of bamboo.

Our focus in has been on the development of one of the Buddhist monastic schools which we work with in the Dry Zone of Myanmar. Shwenadi monastic school is home to almost 450 ethnic Chin children. We have been supporting the monk to build a sustainable training centre at the school, made of mud and constructed with bamboo framing and roofing.

We constructed the first training hall to accommodate over 60 participants. The next buildings will include sleeping accommodation for the participants, a dining hall and kitchen and accommodation for the trainers.

This is a long term project aimed at building the capacity of the locals involved in the project. Part of the work is to train a group of local Myanmar workers to become skilled trainers in bamboo treatment, construction and propagation.

The training was a huge success and over 80 participants showed for the first two days. The rest of the training had over 35 participants all the way until the end of the training. We have made plans to continue supporting the monastery to finish the building over the next few months.

Besides the building at Shwenadi, we are now planning two more bamboo trainings to support the development of another school and learning center in Southern Shan State working primarily with ethnic Pa-O communities.

During the last few months we also supported another trip to Thailand with a group of Senior Buddhist monks and nuns from Myanmar to learn about holistic education, community development and sustainability. Our work with SEMS (Socially Engaged Monastic Schools) will continue.

We are looking forward to share more news as the next projects begin in the coming months!!!

Warmly,

Jim