A Volunteer’s Diary Part 2

A Volunteer’s Diary
[Nargis Relief Story Part IV – A Trip to Laputta Town]

Soon after returning from Myaungmya, my sister Ma Kyin Kyin and volunteers prepared for another trip to one of the hardest hit areas in the delta. They travelled to Laputta town in 18th May 2008. Following are notes taken by Ma Kyin Kyin about their trip to Laputta.

Upon hearing from you of additional funds, I rang Ma Myo Myo to buy more cloths and utensils. We also ordered 10,000 packs of bread. We asked our contacts in Myaungmya to make bread for us. This time we were going to Laputta. Our plan was to bring cloths and utensils from Yangon and on the way we picked up bread from Myaungmya.

In addition to cloths we purchased, we also collected lots of brand new and second-hand pants and shirts from generous donors. At home the whole family contributed in sorting and packing of cloths. Your friend Ko Than Aung sent 30-dozen bottles of drinking water. Neighbours came and donate us various items until to the last minute before our convoy left. Our house became a warehouse with full of goods. We got two truckloads of goods for Laputta. We rented another mini-bus for volunteers and for more goods. All vehicles were loaded fully.

On the day we travelled, two trucks with male volunteers left early about 10 O’clock in the morning. Our mini-bus with mostly women followed about 3 O’clock in the afternoon. So we left for Laputta with 40-person strong volunteers.

We had our dinner at Nyaungdone. Again, we met actor Kyaw Thu and his returning convoy there. It was already 9 PM when we reached Myaungmya. That night we went to bed around 1 O’clock in the morning. We woke up early about 3 AM to receive bread we had ordered. In Myaungmya, we rented one more truck to carry 10,000 packs of bread. We finally reached Laputta at 9:30 AM.

We split into two groups and set off to visit different camps. Heavy rain hampered handing out donations in some small and overly crowded camps. We had to shift goods and bags around the places to avoid getting things soaked in the rain. We were very tired and hungry when we took our lunch break at 1:30 PM. We resumed our afternoon mission at 2 PM. Rain was pounding heavier in the afternoon. At some camps we handed our donations to Buddhist monks in-charge because it was impossible for victims to assemble under heavy rain to receive aid handouts. By the way, many camps were in fact Buddhist temples and monasteries where there were large compound with bigger buildings for refugees to take temporary shelter.

Living conditions were so miserable that it was beyond any of us could imagine. People lived at those buildings under leaking roofs and fallen walls. Dampen ground was their common bed. Once the ground was flooded after heavy rain, people stacked up brick tubes under their feet just to avoid water. Children cried frighteningly in the cold of rain. We thought it was bad in Myaungmya camps. Laputta was extraordinary. In entire town, I did not see a house that was left undamaged. People walked around directionless. They appeared to be searching someone but looked for nothing. They were sick and traumatized. Some did not even respond when they were called by name.

It was already 4:30 in the afternoon when we returned to our group’s meeting point. Time ran fast. We donated remaining goods to “Four-storey-temple” which was sheltering 8,000 refugees. We departed Laputta at 5:30 PM and reached Myaungmya at 9:30 PM. We had our dinner there. We left for Yangon at 10:30 PM and reached home at 4:30 in the morning.


Sahdu…Sahdu…Sahdu.