Clean Water and Food Security
Support access to clean piped water and safer food production to improve health and hygiene for remote villages in Myanmar.
Imagine not simply being able to go into the laundry, kitchen or bathroom and turn on the tap to do the washing, prepare food, or bathe.
Meet Naw Paw Gay, a thirty-five-year-old mother of three children who lives in Bu Kho Lay Kwee village in the southeast of Myanmar. Bu Kho Lay Kwee is located on the side of a mountain, a long way from the stream which provides the villagers with clean water. The village is also very remote, with poor road access.
“I have been carrying the water from afar and felt tired my whole life”, says Naw Paw Gay.
Women and children from the village have always had to climb down the mountain and back up again carrying a heavy pot of water. And they suffered from diarrhoea and other contagious diseases because the villagers keep domestic animals without good knowledge of hygienic practices.
The villagers realized that their lives could be improved in several ways: by learning basic health and hygiene practices which would prevent contagious diseases and by getting better access to clean water. So, when AID’s partner, CPM, came, the villagers were very eager and worked hard to lay pipes and build a cistern for water storage. The villagers formed a community-based organization which worked together with the Diocese of Hpa-an’s development staff to address these pressing issues.
Naw Paw Gay from Ta Bu Kho Lay village now fetches water from tanks near her house ©CPM
The villagers showed the CPM team where the sources of clean water were, and CPM explained what was needed to get water into the village. Then, the villagers, with CPM’s support, dug trenches, laid the pipes and connected the system together. It took about 12 days to get the water piped to the village, but this was nothing compared with the very long time the people had been waiting for the pipes to arrive in their remote part of the country.
“Now I am very happy to see that the water tank is next to my house,” said Naw Paw Gay.
“Now, we can take a bath in the house!”
Moreover, the village chief added, “I will grow the vegetables and raise pigs inside my house compound. Thank you very much, all of you.”
One of the Diocesan staff was heard to say, “I could feel how much they are happy, especially the mum. Now, they are able to get water in the village and no longer need to climb the mountain to fetch water.”
Your gift to this project can support the church to work with other remote villages to gain access to clean piped water and improve their health and hygiene. It can also lead to better and safer food production which benefits everyone.
Project Updates
Communities are organising better and producing more food in AID’s Myanmar Sustainable Agriculture project
A recent evaluation of AID’s recently completed “Sustainable Agriculture Project” in Myanmar found that agricultural productivity and community organisation were the key impacts of the project.
Project Prayer
Jesus said: Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
– Matthew 11.28
Servant God,
thanks be to you
for the opportunity to be able,
in your name,
to assist those who have long had to carry
the burden of water transportation
on their backs, especially women and children.
We give you thanks for the way in which
communities in Myanmar, the Church in that country
and Anglicans in Development
have been able to come together
and achieve successful outcomes.
We pray for your continued blessing
so that more people can receive
clean water in their homes,
learn how to protect their environment,
and improve their health and livelihoods.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ,
whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
Amen.
In 2024 we hope to raise for this project:
$80,000
Donation code: XG011MW
Tax-deductible
Donate Online Now
Your gift will be used to help our Sustainable Communities projects planned for this year.
Your donation will help ABM’s Anglicans in Development and our overseas church partners work with communities to combat poverty, overcome illiteracy, enable better access to clean water and sanitation, end gender-based violence, build equality, increase resilience to climate change and disasters and strengthen community-level leadership.
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Need help? Call us 1300 302 663
As noted, this is a tax-deductible project. All donations are in Australian dollars (AUD) and all gifts of $2 or more are tax-deductible.
Gifts are received by the trustee for the ‘Anglicans in Development Ltd’ ABN 86 647 293 481
Gifts will be applied to the support of projects selected. In the unlikely event of projects being oversubscribed or not proceeding to completion, donations will be applied to similar projects.
