Thank you for your continuous support!  PWJ’s Myanmar program has begun to construct/renovate wells in villages in Kayin State!  The team also continues to visit other areas to identify more villages needing safe drinking water.
During the assessment, PWJ local staff try to talk with many people from the villages.  It is very important to listen to the villagers and understand their living situation as well as their needs, so that we could better facilitate and improve the environment they are suffering from.
We want to share some of the stories we have heard during our assessment, and we hope you will feel the same as we did – to help them live in a better environment they deserve.

Story 1: Chang Thar Village  (Reported by Sei Lone –PWJ Field Assistant)

This is what we heard from a woman in Chang Thar Village:  I am 44 years old with four children.  My two sons are working in Thailand and two daughters are still going to school here.  I work on a farm with my husband but we do not own the land.
The water situation in my house is not very good because we do not have our own well.  We normally use our neighbor’s well as  there is no public well on one side of the village where we live.  So in order for us to get domestic water, we have to use someone’s private well.  But people are not so happy when we go and use their well to fetch water, and I do not feel very comfortable using someone’s private well.
Wells in our village run out of water toward the end of the dry season, from March to May.  When the water is difficult to get from our village wells, we have to walk to the next village.  We have to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning, and sometimes we have to bathe near the well because it is very difficult to carry water to our house for bathing.  However, I am very hesitant to do so because it is not safe for my daughters.  But we have no other choice.
After the in-depth assessment of the village’s water supply environment, PWJ has decided to construct a tube well in this village.

Interview with some of beneficiaries(Win Sein)

Story 2: Win Sein Village (Reported by Nan Saung Pan Oo –PWJ Field Assistant)

Win Sein village is located within the Hlaing Bwe township in Kayin State. It is a town with 216 households and 1318 live in this town.  Most of the people are Kayin people and farmers.
Our team reached the village for water assessment on January 2, 2014.  The village’s authorities and villagers warmly welcomed us.
U Poe Tauk lives in Win Sein Village and he is 69 years old.  He has considerable difficulty in walking and his health is not well.  He has no family and no children, so his neighbors look after him.  “The well near my house needs repairing.   Even though I live near the well, I have to go far to fetch water, and I can’t bathe every day. “ he said.  “And if I asked someone to help me with the water, I would have to pay money to them.”
He continued talking ”people do not eat the rice for one day, that’s ok, but not for the water.  Water is very important for people.  The well near my house is a public well and it never runs out of water because it has a good water source.  But the well cannot be used because it needs repairing.  If we could fix the well, people will not have to go a long distance to fetch water.
U Poe Tauk is making ends meet by making goods with bamboo and selling them to people.  “My contribution to the village is very little, but at least I can try to speak to other people to help our village.”
Soon, PWJ will start repairing work for the public well in Win Sein, so villagers like U Poe Tauk will have easier access to the water anytime of the year.

Interview with some of beneficiaries(Chan Tar)

Your donations will help more villages like these in southeastern Myanmar.