By Jim Connor | Project Leader
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
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
