austraLasia #2165
School
for Myanmar's kids - but.....where are the schools?
YANGON: 2nd June 2008 -- Archbishop Charles Bo, whose tone
in recent letters is ever more insistent that the people's plight be
not overlooked by the aid-weary international community, now focuses on
the children in a particular way, since 2nd June is the opening of the
school year.
Gone, all -gone
"Last week I visited a village called Aima and some
surrounding island villages, Pha-ya-lay-gone, Pein-ne-gone,
Ta-yoke.gone and Lein-maw-gone. Aima village is in Labutta
township in the southern delta region and very difficult to reach. It
took almost ten hours to get there by boat. There I met families who
are still struggling to survive and feed their children. In this area
all schools were destroyed. For the children of Aima the horror of the
cyclone still haunts them. Many children cry at night and when it
rains. The children fear the worst and re-live the trauma of the night
of 2nd May".
The archbishop points out how very little aid has
been able to reach these communities, and that the only aid to reach
them for the first fortnight was from the Catholic Church. The
Government now supplies but two cans of rice per person per day - not
enough to live on. Then hinting at what the international media have
also made clear in recent days, he says: "In some cases people have
been asked by the Government to leave temporary camps and return to
their villages. But in many of the villages there is still no shelter,
food or clean water and the Government has only supplied them with a
few kitchen utensils".
The Church's activities
To date the Church has been able to supply
food, clean water, tarpaulins for shelter, cooking utensils and medical
supplies to approximately 20,000 people in Labutta township. "We
must continue to support them", the Archbishop writes, "firstly to
survive but also in rebuilding their lives".
The start of the school year is
also an important reminder to prioritize the needs of the children. The
Church will play a role in ensuring that children are reunited with
family members and are given toys and space to play in. The
archbishop also says that the Church must work to ensure that children
can return to school as soon as possible.
The resilience of the Children
"On my recent trip, amidst so much death and
destruction, the resilience of children was brought home to me by many
stories I heard. In one case a lady called Veronica told me of
how she and her three month-old child were stuck in their house when a
tree fell and blocked the doorway. The floodwaters rose inside the
house so she piled furniture up to climb above the water. As the water
level rose she had just her head and her baby above water with a foot
or so left to the roof of the house. She remained like that till the
following morning till the water gradually subsided. Veronica told me
this story then added that during this time her baby had not cried
once".
Intelligent child and a brave dog
"I also heard the story of a five-year-old boy in
Lein-maw-gone. He had been separated from his family and when the
floodwater rose he could no longer stand on the ground so he grabbed
onto his dog. He held onto his dog as it began to swim. The
dog kept swimming for hours until he eventually brought the boy to
safety on dry land. Sadly, following this amazing feat, the dog died of
exhaustion".
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Title: australasia 2165
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces MYM Schools to reopen
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2165
