Voices from Myanmar

 

Bente Sandal-Aasen (52) has 20 years of experience working with children and youth and has extensive international experience from working in the field in a number of catastrophes.


Monday 30 June

Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar seven weeks ago and still we are in the first phase of our emergency response. Things seem to be progressing very slowly! Getting anything done seems to take an extremely long time.

The local staff members work relentlessly to deliver the necessary aid to those who are in need; this need seems to be without an end at the moment.

Last Thursday we received some terrible pictures from our colleagues in the field. A village which had just become accessible was visited, the area was cleared and the bodies of victims laid to rest in a respectful way.

Here in Yangon members of Save the Children’s education team reviewed the results of a research project, together with other organisations and staff from the Department of Education in Myanmar.

We received information last night (Sunday) on the extent of the catastrophe here in Myanmar, it is enormous.

As such we have been asked to write a report that will be passed on to UN’s Geneva and New York offices in order to launch a so called “Flash Appeal.” This has been done for all aid sectors and helps UN to reach more donors and to formulate a multi-sectoral map of needs. In this way it will be possible to build up a more holistic approach to the overall aid response.

As you can understand, there are still a lot of people in great need of help. When it comes to education, there are many things that happen if schools are not open again. I try to think how I would react if my children lost all possible chance of an education for a long or even short period.

This is a brief overview of what can happen if a child is denied an education

  • Early childhood development can be reduced without access to basic education
  • Restoration of normalcy is delayed for affected children
  • Without the safe spaces associated with school, there are increased protection risks


Tuesday 17 June

There is still so much action and a high tempo at Save the Children’s head office in Myanmar. We see new faces all the time, people arrive to relieve staff members that have been present from the beginning or cover for them as they take a well deserved rest. The logistics team is still the biggest. On a daily basis this team welcome fully loaded planes, piled high with airlifted aid, this then has to be emptied, sorted and repacked for distribution.


Friday 6 June

We have now received tonnes of tents, sleeping mats, kitchen kits, plastic sheeting by the meter and litres of dry milk products. Not forgetting school materials of all kinds which once packed into boxes will contain everything a teacher needs to get a classroom up and running.

Lorries laden with goods from Save the Children drive to and from the worst affected regions and that is not the end of their journey. After three hours driving the lorries are unloaded and the items are transferred to boats. The latter part of the journey takes place on the river.

As co-lead of the education cluster together with UNICEF, Save the Children have the responsibility of coordinating all organisations, local, international and UN bodies, which are working to rebuild the education systems in Myanmar. The main goal is to ensure that none of these activities overlap, it would be a waste of resources if Save the Children and UNICEF both turned up to deliver school materials at the same school. Coordination like this also takes place in other sector areas, like Protection. This is another area where Save the Children and UNICEF share a co-leadership.

All the leaders of the different sectors meet once a week at the UN organisation OCHA. OCHA has total responsibility for the aid response in Myanmar, in this way; a more effective response can be given to the struggling population.


Wednesday 28 May

It was a very emotional meeting with our colleagues this morning. Save the Children’s director in Myanmar, Andrew Kirkwood thanked all staff who had been working non-stop for three weeks.

The meeting ended by everyone singing a Diana Ross song, “If we hold together,” this song has become Save the Children in Myanmar’s theme song and is being used all over the country. It was so beautiful; I was moved into tears, as were many of the expats including some of the hardened relief workers.