Our projects in Myanmar (Burma)

Service at St George's Anglican Church. Photo: Melany Markham/ABM 2009

Peter San Lin and Joy Hla Gaw, currently man the provincial development desk in Myanmar which has the oversight of managing the community development work of the church, with support from overseas partners.

ABM is one of these partners who provides support so the desk can continue to provide training and workshops, help prepare and review project proposals, visit dioceses and evaluate community development projects. This work continues to help improve and strengthen the Church.

Peter and Joy give their time and energy on a voluntary basis and said, “The Church needs all the support it can get from its members. We are privileged and happy to help; we hope that the skills and experience we have acquired working in another organisation can be put to good use and will help the church move forward.”

Travelling is one of the main challenges faced by the couple. Not only are the dioceses long distances from Yangon, the cost of domestic airfares is also very expensive. In places where it is possible to ride the bus, travel time takes many hours. One diocese takes 3 days to reach and travel includes a domestic flight, a bus ride and a river ferry ride.

Another challenge is communication. Whilst all dioceses now have internet connection, thanks in part to the support of an ABM project, unreliable internet lines plague the whole country. Connections can be very slow or non-existent, sometimes only available at certain times of the day. At present, internet connection and phone lines are only available in main urban centres.

The Church in Myanmar is presented with many challenges. You can help. Support for these projects can provide farmers Myanmar (Burma) with rice winnowing (threshing) machines; giving small capital to start duck-raising and small fish ponds to raise extra income; engine-repair training for villagers whose main economic activity is river-based and simple water and sanitation systems to ease the burden of fetching water from miles away.

ABM is funding the following projects in Myanmar:

– Water and Sanitation
– Youth Skills Training
– Institutional Strengthening including Teacher Training
– Food Security
– English Language Tuition

Donations to the above projects are tax deductible.

ABM also has a Church to Church project called Bibles for Myanmar which allows the people of Myanmar a greater chance to read and study the bible as well as providing education opportunities to church leaders.

Please contact the office on Local Call 1300 302 663 for more information about the projects.

HOW CAN I DONATE?

You can make an online donation to these projects by selecting them from the full project list.
(Apologies - Online donation setup in progress)

Alternatively, for donations by cheque/money order (made out to the Anglican Board of Mission - Australia), telephone or email, view contact details here.