Overview of How Elysium Began Working In Myanmar Article written by Alan Garcia, on 6th July 2011,in Yangon, Myanmar Cyclone Nargis I first went to Myanmar in June 2008- just one month after the 8th most deadly storm in recorded global history, devastated the region, particularly in southern Myanmar- the country's "rice bowl" where most of Myanmar's food is grown and fished. The tropical cyclone killed well over 138,000 people with over 55,000 still officially listed as "missing". Relief for the survivors was hampered by many setbacks, one of the most significant being the Sichuan earthquake in neighbouring China which happened just ten days after Cyclone Nargis and diverted much international attention away from Myanmar.
My good friend Jon Thaung (who has roots in Myanmar) was extremely keen to do something significant to help the people whose lives had been turned upside down with most families in the region losing loved ones to the storm. He raised funds with an email to friends for an initial disaster-relief effort to buy food, clothing and medical supplies and bring it to some of the areas which were worst hit. The email appeal which he sent out to his friends reached me and I wanted to do everything I could to support Jon's project not just financially but also physically and so KT Care was set up by Jon and his family as a UK Registered charity- so far the charity has existed solely from donations from friends and mainly from direct funding by Jon and his family themselves. Elysium donated US$25,000 to help KT Care begin.
The KT Care Foundation While KT Care was being registered as a UK Charity Jon and I traveled to a little island called Thetkethaung (where Jon's grandfather was originally born), which was in one of the worst hit and least accessible areas right on the edge of the Irrewaddy Delta- a four hour boat ride from the Labutta township where over 80,000 people died. It was a long journey across bumpy roads and stormy seas but of course there were far more important issues at hand than our own comfort and indeed we weren't too uncomfortable. The people genuinely were of course our main concern. On the island we learned that there had been widespread casualties (ultimately we learned that more than 6,000 people in Thetkethaung- half the island's population) died in the catastrophy. Now 3 years later it's easy to see from my photos how peaceful and enchanting this romantic island and their inspiring and warm people are. Many people know that the greatest pain and sadness in life is to lose a loved one or see them suffering. It is a true testament to the strength of humanity for the people of this island to have stayed so positive to be able to rebuild their lives and homes and support those who were most in need, including the heart breaking fact that there are now hundreds of orphans on the island who are now being looked after by relatives and where necessary by Buddhist Monks.
The KT Care Foundation, led directly and primarily funded by Jon and his family, set up a grass roots organisation and used micro-finance (with a loan repayment rate of 99%!) and direct funding to help rebuild the island's fragile rice farming and fishing industries, rebuild homes, schools, monastries and infrastructure and research and improve efficiency to help the people to help themselves. Notably the KT Care Foundation also built a new Cyclone Shelter on the island in case of future storms (which are common in the region but not normally on the gargantuan scale of Nargis) In so many cases people only required very small amounts of money to give them the opportunity to provide once more for their families and not be left in hopeless situations. It truly is astonishing how little money it takes to make people completely financially independent in the poorest places in the world but when you research everything it makes total clear sense. Below you can read a brief overview of the fishing and rice farming economics so you can see just how the smallest amount of help DOES sustainably transform the real life prospects of entire families forever.
Fishing Economics in Thetkethaung
On my last trip to Thetkethaung on 2nd July 2011 the KT Care Staff arranged a meeting with the local fishing experts so we could gather further information and fine tune future fishing projects. Over the last 3 years here are some of the key points we've learned: With just US$200 you can buy a 6metre (18feet) fishing boat hand-made not far from the island and all the nets and equipment necessary to fish effectively on a small scale. A trained fisherman on average can bring in roughly 4kg (10lbs) of fish in a single day- even out of season. The quality of the fish is very high. This is obviously far more than enough to feed a large family and have extra to sell and trade at market. The local value of the fish which an average fisherman can bring in is about US$90 per month. It doesn't take a skilled business mind or mathematician to work out that if you loan $200 to a fisherman who has lost his boat and equipment in the tsunami which came with the storm, he or she can easily repay that loan in just a few months and then be forever independent afterward. The KT Care Foundation is constantly in contact with the local experts on fishing to ensure they can help provide the necessary support for fishermen and train people who do not know how to fish to help them to also live from the fruits of the sea. It's important to note that this kind of fishing is completely sustainable and does no damage to the fish populations or ecosystems like the large scale, intensive fishing systems employed by big corporations which provide the majority of the fish consumed in rich countries. No tax of any kind is imposed by the government on these small scale fishing enterprises.
Rice Farming Economics in Thetkethaung Since June 2008 we have learned much about the local rice farming industry. From talking with local rice farming experts we have gathered the following important facts. The rice paddy fields rely on fresh water to effectively grow rice. Cyclone Nargis brought 5metre Tsunamis of sea water crashing over the entire island which meant that salt-water resistant varieties of rice needed to be bought and the yields from the land were obviously massively affected. Many farmers died in the Cyclone which was obviously the greatest loss in every sense. Organic farming methods using buffalo to tow the ploughs and tend the crops are by far the least expensive (as no fuel is required for tractors and no expensive fertiliser or pesticides need to be bought) and produce the best quality of crop. Organic farming is of course more sustainable and obviously better for the environment too. Farming with organic methods produces 1/3 less yield than non-organic farming however when the lower costs are taken into consideration it makes sense on balance to use organic farming methods. Should fuel prices and fertiliser prices rise then organic methods are also shielded from these potentially crippling costs. Animal dung is used to fertilise organic fields and rice casings (bran and husk) from previously milled rice can also be used. One acre of suitable land will easily produce at least 10 bags of milled and ready to eat rice annually with each bag weighing over 10kgs (25lbs). The local value of a 10KG bag of rice is about US$18. The local farmers inform us that to provide for a whole family comfortably requires about 5 acres of land. The local rice farmland value in Thetkethaung is about US$400 per acre. As all of the land suitable for rice farming in Thetkethaung is already being utilised now and all the local rice farmers have been supported to get their rice farming back on track the focus is now on making new organic rice farms on land which is currently completely unused in areas away from Thetkethaung.
Lessons Learned From Thetkethaung and the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis
By far the biggest and most inspiring reason for the people who survived Cyclone Nargis not being left in a situation facing starvation was due to literally thousands of people from other parts of Myanmar, (notably from the north, which is far poorer even than the south of the country) who took what little savings they had and what little supplies and food they could spare to the south, often on very long and difficult journeys with various means of travel, none of which were easy or cheap. The lesson from this is that where often a few may fail to show love and care for one another, many thousands more will show so much and will give everything they can, in every possible sense, for no other reason than because they CARE. We must never let ourselves become cynical when so many people show us every day how much generosity exists in human nature.
The people of Thetkethaung have inspired me personally more than can be put into words. Their loving, generous, hospitable and honourable nature is beyond description. To meet these people and spend time living with them is the only way you can truly begin to understand how great humanity can be. The clear lesson which can be learned from this example in Thetkethaung is that the problems in our world are solvable, even from the aftermath of the most terrible of disasters in a country as poor as Myanmar. It's not a case of people scraping by for a meager existence. The great and beautiful irony if you can look at things fairly is simply that the people of Thetkethaung TODAY live lives which are more peaceful, close to nature, healthy, spiritual and much less stressful than many people who live in rich countries and cities around the world. Now my aim in telling you this is obviously not to make you feel jealous of these people but to recognise simply that while at the beginning of this article you may well have thought how desperate and unsolvable the issues for the people of Myanmar must have been and yet with care, generosity, love and a reasonable (but not impossible) amount of human effort, the island of Thetkethaung can now carry on living and evolving positively and with real dignity. They are highly receptive to visitors if you would ever like to make a life changing trip to visit this magical place (they receive virtually no foreign visitors- I was a rare case and I can assure you from personal experience that they are truly happy to welcome all visitors). Another unbelievable irony about this island is that it's clear to me that the people who live there have far more overall freedom than most people in the west including all EU countries, the USA and Canada without question. An interesting point is that virtually noone on the island possesses a bank account.
Rice Farming Economics in Thetkethaung