The economic hardship will be felt by hardest by children, who will lose out on opportunities to study. Many families who have lost their livelihoods will be unable to afford to send their children to middle school and high school. Compulsory education in Myanmar only covers primary school, and according to UNESCO less than 50% of children go beyond the primary level.

We have had some direct reports from sources in the Irrawaddy delta that people there have their children’s education prominent in their minds. Imagine a child 13 or 14 midway through their high school years being unable to continue because of the sudden impoverishment of their entire extended family. There are tens of thousands of such children in Myanmar today.

Here are some other news reports that have come in on the opening of schools.

UNICEF to focus on damaged schools in unreached areas of Myanmar

Myanmar reopens schools 1 month after cyclone

Myanmar evicts cyclone victims from schools, so classes can resume

Here are some agencies we know that are directly helping to improve the lives of children. Perhaps you or someone you know can also give them a hand.

UNICEF

World Vision

Save the Children

“Her mother died in her arms in the boat,” said Davis, a Martinez native. “She’s in her 50s. She lost her two children, her mother, her grandchildren. She’s the only one left. And there’s a lot of people in these kinds of situations.”

Or…

“In my entire life, I have never seen a hospital. I don’t know where the government office is. I can’t buy anything in the market because I lost everything to the cyclone,” said Thi Dar. “So I came to the monk.”

With tears welling in her eyes, the 45-year-old woman pressed her hands together in respect before the first monk she saw at Sitagu’s clinic and told her story. The other eight members of her family were killed in the cyclone. She now felt suicidal but no longer had anyone to talk with.

That’s the reality on the ground in Myanmar (Burma) today. People are struggling to survive and at the same time looking at what they can do to rebuild their lives. But, when you start from having nothing, you need everything: clothes, shelter, farming implements, animals to pull a plow (and fertilize your land), seeds. When a police official or soldier might make $15 a month and someone with a Masters degree might make $50, the future can seem awfully daunting. What would you do?

For the surviving children, ideas for the future might be to work hard in studies and get a good job so they can take care of their families and build a better life in the future. Today (June 2nd) is the first day of the new school year in Myanmar. No one knows how many schools have been destroyed in the storm. But even when they are rebuilt, many families will not have enough money to send their children to school. That’s the reality of the future for many children in Myanmar, unless enough people reach out and help.

According to a report from Church World Service (CWS) there were at least 21 of their affiliated churches in Yangon providing shelter to Cyclone Nargis refugees. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) reports that many churches, including ones in Yangon and in Pathein (Bassein) in the Irrawaddy Delta are also serving as relief shelters. We know of various seminaries and church schools that are also providing shelter in Yangon. The Myanmar Baptist Convention (MBC), reportedly the largest denomination in Myanmar, has 306 villages in the delta served by their churches that were seriously affected. While many churches were destroyed in the storm, the MBC has been working with churches in the region to help cyclone refugees. The MBC has over 4,500 churches and 1.1 million members throughout the country.

Now it appears that church shelters like these are among those targeted by officials. Here is one such report:

Nearly 500 cyclone refugees from the Irrawaddy delta taking shelter in Christian missionary compounds in Rangoon’s Ahlone township have been ordered back to their villages, according to aid workers.

Most of the refugees are ethnic Karen Christians from villages around Labutta township area in the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta.

They were brought to Rangoon by the Yangon Home Mission Karen Baptist Association and were kept in the group’s compound in Ahlone township.

An aid worker said the refugees were ordered by Rangoon divisional chief general Hla Htay Win yesterday to go back to their villages within 24 hours.

“The Rangoon divisional chief said the refugees were to go back to the Irrawaddy delta by tomorrow – he said there were refugee camps to give them shelter,” said the aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“But in reality, there is nowhere for them to stay.”

While refugees sheltering in churches in Rangoon may be forced to move back to their villages there are a number of other church efforts that seem to be continuing with success. One Christian group was able to successfully send in volunteer doctors and nurses from America to work in affected villages there. Anglican groups have also been successfully serving refugees in their parish areas in Laputta. The CWS is also providing important psychosocial counseling for those still traumatized by their experiences during and after the cyclone.

However, other challenges still remain. Many people within Myanmar, including many Christians, are willing to travel to the Irrawaddy Delta to help storm victims, but they are being turned back if they do not have National Registration Cards from Yangon Division. With refugees being sent back to the Irrawaddy Delta, churches and other relief groups will also face greater logistical and financial challenges as already scarce transportation and sky-high fuel prices place a greater demand on the limited relief finances. So, as the relief effort continues in the face of these new challenges, the people of Myanmar still remain in need of your thoughts, prayers, and donations.

For whatever reason, it seems the decision has been made that the homeless from Cyclone Nargis should be moved out of their temporary shelter in schools, temples, and even government-organized camps. Reports of refugees being asked or forced to leave private residences and temples came out in the week after the cyclone hit. The refugees then were often sent off to camps set-up by the government. Now, evidently at some level, the order has been made to break up these camps and temporary areas of shelter and send the refugees on their way. Some reports mention the start of the school year on June 2nd as one motivation for some evictions. However, such a situation ultimately makes the relief effort that much more difficult, as these centers were at one time central areas where food, shelter and medical care could be distributed in a somewhat orderly manner to the homeless.

We present some excerpts of these reports of forced eviction:

KHAW MHU (Kaw Hmu), Yangon Division (See Maps page)

Myanmar’s junta is evicting dozens of destitute families from one of its own cyclone refugee centres, giving each one just four bamboo poles, a tarpaulin and an unlikely promise of a monthly ration of rice.

“What are we supposed to do?” said 39-year-old Than Soe, nervously stroking the heads of his three young children at the small government ‘tented village’ 20 miles south of Yangon, the former capital.

“We have no food, no money, no home and no job. We don’t trust their promise that they will give us food every month,” he said.

Bogale (Bogalay)

The local authorities say they want the refugees to return to their villages instead of camping by the roadside. However, many survivors say that it is impossible as their houses and farms have been destroyed and they have no way of making a living.

On the international aid front, UN and other NGO’s are expanding their operations to accessible areas. The team witnessed packages of aid being brought in to Bogale, including farming equipment. However, small villages off the main road remain isolated.

Pyapon, Maung Mya, Laputta

Sources in the Irrawaddy delta said thousands of refugees from Phyapon, Myaung Mya, Bogalay and Laputta townships also have been evicted from shelters.

“There were 45 camps in Pyapon Township previously but now only three remain,” said a source familiar with the relief effort.

Starting on May 21, refugees were told they should wait in their villages for the government’s reconstruction plan and were provided with small portions of rice and 10,000 kyats ($ 8).

The remaining refugees at Myaung Mya camps lack sufficient food and water, the source said. .

“Most of the refugees are sheltering at the No 933 Rice Mill compound, and there are almost 3,000 refugees, said a resident of Myaung Mya. These people are waiting daily for outside donors to give them rice. This camp will be closed soon.”

The camp at No 16 High School in Myaung Mya has been closed and authorities sent the refugees back to their villages in Laputta by trucks and boats.

Yangon Division (Multiple townships)

Authorities closed down several temporary camps in Rangoon on May 23, including a camps in Shwe Pauk Kan in North Okkalapa Township where 3,000 refugees were staying in temporary blue tents; tent camp No 16 Quarter of North Dagon Myo Thit at the junction of the township Peace and Development Council PDC office and Nat Sin Road bus-stop; and a camp at State High School No 2 of Dala Township.

“They closed the Shwe Pauk Kan refugee camp during the evening,” said a resident of No 16 Quarter at Shwe Pauk Kan. “They forced the people to return to their homes and gave them 10 pyis of rice and 7,000 kyats (US $6.5) to each refugee. The authorities took the tents.” A pyi is close to 0.25 liter.

The Rangoon Division PDC issued an order that all refugee camps in Rangoon division be closed prior to May 24, said one source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Irrawaddy Division

One such example is that those affected communities who were temporarily sheltered in school building have to be quickly relocated as the schools are beginning to reopen and so these people have to quickly vacate the school and return to their villages.
—–

While all these reports are extremely disturbing, it is important to note that the relief efforts by major international NGOs and local groups are continuing and having a positive effect on the homeless and hungry in Myanmar. The distribution of material and food by these groups is going directly to those affected. Currently the only limitation on the ability of these groups is the logistical difficulty of delivering supplies. But these NGOs are dependent upon the generosity of others around the world whom fund their operations. The scale of the effort that each group on our list of relief agencies can provide is only limited by the amount of funds that they receive, and by many measures the donations to the Myanmar relief effort trail other past and current disasters.

Through all of this is the cruel reality that far too many people are going without access to food and proper shelter. Here are some excerpts of the reality on the ground a full three and a half weeks into the relief effort.

Kyauktan

On the riverbank of the town of Kyauktan, are the true victims – struck down first by the cyclone and then by the neglect and stubbornness of their own Government.

Along the riverbank are hundreds of people in living conditions scarcely superior to those of animals.

Monsoon rain gushes through the walls and roofs of hastily repaired huts and churns the paths between them into grey mud. Rain is their drinking water – without it, they have only the murky contents of a riverside pond.

A week ago they sheltered in the local monastery until they were forced out by authorities.

YAWAR THAR YAR, Bogale

Those who remain, once proudly self-sufficient rice farmers, have become desperate hunter-gatherers, scrounging in the dirt and debris.

“Now the only job for everyone in the village is searching for something to eat,” said Ko Sein Lwin, 45, who before the cyclone hit was able to keep three daughters in a university, at $500 each per year.

“We’re starting out life again, not from the first step, but from zero,” he added grimly. “It’s like going back to the Stone Age.”
…
When the boats make their quick stops with aid at a nearby village, Sein Lwin and his neighbors must ask for a share of the fresh supplies. They make do with what other destitute survivors are willing to give up, usually just 2 cups of rice per person each day.

Cash savings disappeared in the cyclone-driven surge of waves at least 8 feet high that raced through the village. Gaping holes in Sein Lwin’s roof are patched up with pieces of tarp that he dragged from the river as they floated past after the storm.

The cyclone smashed a brick and cinder-block primary school to rubble. All of the books are gone, and no one has heard from the teachers, who live in Bogalay and were scheduled to start classes again on June 1 for 80 students.

Pyapon

It’s not much, but the flimsy bamboo lean-to on the side of the road is all Aye Shwe has to keep his family dry. They lost their home to the cyclone and may soon be uprooted again — this time by soldiers ordering them to leave.

…

“Where my house used to be is still filled with water up to my waist,” said Aye Shwe, pointing to fields of rice paddies in the distance, under water as far as the eye could see. “How can I build a new house there?”

Kaunt Chaung, Pyapon

“The government has still not brought us anything,” said Piniya Wentha, a monk in the Irrawaddy Delta village of Kaunt Chaung, who added that international aid groups had not been able to deliver aid either.

“The only food we get is from individual volunteers,” the monk said. “Our seed stocks are gone, the cows and buffalo are dead and we are going to miss the next rice harvest.”

Dedaye

Other survivors are relying on their own meagre resources, catching fish in canals that are now flooded with debris and rank with the corpses of rotting animals and human waste.

But along the road leading to Dedaye, thousands of people – breastfeeding mothers, children, elderly men and women – wait under the tropical sun and daily monsoon showers, hoping for someone to give them food or clean drinking water.

“It will take months for the situation to return to normal. Before the cyclone, you did not see these large groups of people begging for food,” one volunteer told AFP.

“Their houses have been destroyed, their rice lost in the storm and they have nothing to wear except what is on them,” the volunteer said.

“It is not that they like to come out and beg.”

No one seems to really know exactly how many Karen there are in the Irrawaddy Delta. We have seen some estimates of them making up 40%-60% of the population. We know, based on reports from natives of that area, that there are many villages and areas where the Karen predominate. For example, there may be one village or groups of villages being nearly 100% Karen, the next nearly 100% Burmese. For those new to Myanmar issues, the Karen speak different languages than the majority Burmese, which can add to the sense of separateness between the two peoples (Pwo Karen and Sgaw Karen are the primary dialects of Karen in this area, with some further dialectical differences based on region, such as Bassein Pwo vs Thailand Pwo).

Ethnic conflict between the Burmese and Karen is nothing new. There was open fighting at times during WWII after the British were initially pushed out by the Japanese in 1942. But, at least in the Irrawaddy Delta, there has not been extensive ethnic strife in the delta for many years (at least that we are aware of). So, it would be worrying if the reports of discrimination in aid accessibility prove to be true (though we should note that many of our Karen friends seem to take these reports as very believable).

Here are some excerpts of the reports we have seen:

One villager who spoke to Asia Times Online said that the Karen in the Irrawaddy Delta did not trust the military, which he said treated the ethnic group as second-class citizens. “Many Karen villagers are not going to the relief centers because they fear human-rights abuses by the military,” he said.

Other ethnic Karen delta residents say it’s still too early to tell if racism is guiding the junta’s aid distribution and that to date all ethnic groups are suffering equally. Karen political and military leaders, based on the Thai-Myanmar border, also cautioned against jumping to race-based conclusions.

“The lack of aid is general, they are all victims. The relief teams are not reaching them,” said David Taw, the KNU’s foreign affairs minister. Yet whether the discrimination is real or imagined, the perception that it may exist could add to the frustration and desperation left in the cyclone’s wake.

The Karen Human Rights Group reports more of the same:

Speaking to KHRG, one Karen resident from the delta said that it is because many of the villages are predominantly ethnic Karen and were formerly “populated totally by Karen” that “the regime is not interested in aid reaching the area.”

According to another report received by KHRG, “In the rural areas the SPDC are not allowing assistance to villagers… The authorities have set up check points along the roads on the way to Labutta, Pathein [Bassein], Myaung Mya and Bogale in order to block relief from reaching those in desperate need.” Labutta, a predominantly ethnic-Karen town, has reportedly been decimated by Cyclone Nargis; as has Bogale, which outside of the town centre is also predominantly Karen. Myaung Mya, like Bogale, is predominantly ethnic Karen outside the town centre and in the surrounding countryside. Bassein, while now largely populated by non-Karen residents, was previously a majority-Karen town and the surrounding villages remain heavily populated by Karen.

“I have no dish, no cup, no blanket, no pillow. I have received nothing from the government,” said Daw San Mar Oo, 31, a farmer in a hamlet near Dedaye. “I have nothing in my hands.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything they own, such as their homes and belongings but most importantly they have lost their stocks of food. In fact, entire communities and regions have lost their stocks of food. Relief agencies are trying to build up logistical centers to replace the now destroyed food distribution system so that it can support the 2.5 million people who have been severely affected by this storm. As the flow still is meeting only a fraction of those affected, assessments of the impact the lack of food is having are beginning to come in. Here are some findings from one assessment from a few days ago:

- 72% of people surveyed only eat two meals per day, in contrast to three meals per day before the cyclone.

- 86% of people surveyed eat damaged rice and eat half the quantity they used to eat per meal.

- One week after the Cyclone struck, people already said that they were starving.

But, what amount of food would need to be delivered to people out in the Irrawaddy Delta? As we have noted before, the assessments are still ongoing, but we will take a wild guess here. We have been told by one relief agency official that the average person needs roughly 1.5 pounds (or 650 grams) of food per day to live. Multiply that by the number of people that the UN’s humanitarian relief officials estimate are in dire need – 1.4 million – and you come out with 2.1 million pounds, or 1050 tons (since tonnage is the figure often quoted in aid reports). So 1050 tons a day or 7350 tons a week and that’s just for the people out in the Irrawaddy Delta, not including the 600,000 or so estimated in dire need in Yangon District (which may be underestimated as well).

However, even that doesn’t tell the complete story of need for, as the farmer quote above highlights, many of these 1.4 million have lost all their belongings. So even with food provided, they still need something to cook it with, something to eat it with, or serve it on. They need cooking oil to cook it with, not to mention fresh water to drink with their food (which requires pots which can be used to collect rain water).

So the amount of material that is needed is tremendous. The demand for this food and material has caused prices in Myanmar to skyrocket, increasing above already inflated global rice and food prices.

The most heart wrenching aspect is that people in Myanmar, particularly children, have an extra vulnerability to malnutrition, due to the poverty of many areas in the country. UN studies on hunger taken before this current cyclone induced hunger crisis estimate that 32% of children age 0 to 5 are underweight. This figure places Myanmar in 20th place for the percent of underweight children in the world (out of 134 countries studied).

We have already highlighted the types of disease and health dangers prevalent in the Irrawaddy Delta. Since with malnutrition comes a greater susceptibility to illness and disease, we can only hope that the increased access given to aid workers results in a dramatic improvement in the food supply and availability of shelter for the homeless. But aid agencies can not do it all by themselves, as noted already today, the World Food Programme’s appeal for funding for its Myanmar food programs has only reached 60% of the funding need. Perhaps this is an area where our readers, their friends and employers can help.

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s army-drafted constitution sailed through this month’s referendum, with 92.48 percent of the vote on a turnout of 98.1 percent despite the carnage wrought by Cyclone Nargis, state media said on Monday.

The remarkable thing is that the 92.4% yes vote was exactly the same as the percentage of yes votes for the voting that took place on May 10th in the areas not affected by Cyclone Nargis. As with all things of this nature, we don’t have any particular opinion, but we are heartened by the solidarity that everyone felt towards the new constitution. We are wondering, though, whether or not copywriters at The Onion were involved in this particular broadcast.

The UN Flash Appeal from 20 UN agencies and international NGOs so far has received a commitment of USD 74.6 million, with an additional USD43.8 million pledged. The UN Flash Appeal for Myanmar currently is requesting $201 million, although this figure is likely to rise as further assessment is made of areas that so-far have yet to be reached by relief officials in the Irrawaddy Delta.

Since different NGOs provide different types of relief assistance, funding is divided into various sectors, such as: agriculture. coordination and support, economic recovery and infrastructure, education, food, health, protection/human rights, safety, shelter, and water and sanitation. Some sectors of the most urgent need, such as food and health, have received a greater share of donations so far.

The Health sector, for example has received just over USD 15 million in committed funding and pledges against an assessed need of USD 23.5 million. The Food Sector (covered by the World Food Programme) has received USD 14.8 million in funds with pledges of an additional USD 19.2 million, however as the assessed need is for USD 69.5 million the need has only been half met. Then there is Education, there is a USD 7.5 million need for providing financing for education programs. But so far programs, such as World Vision’s emergency education for refugee children and Save the Children’s early childhood development programs, have yet to receive any committed funds or pledges, according the UN‘s figures.

Below is a list of the top 10 donors to the Myanmar relief effort. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund has contributed the largest amount so far, with private donors, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Denmark rounding out the top 5. The top private donor so far has been the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A few other private companies have provided assistance, but so far corporate donations to Myanmar, one of the world’s most economically underdeveloped countries, have reportedly trailed corporate donations to China’s earthquake relief by a considerable margin.

“For both China and Myanmar, there is lots of interest and concern, but there has certainly been more of a response for China,” said American Red Cross spokesman Michael Oko.

TOP 10 Donors to Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Relief (US Dollars / Percent of Total)*

Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) 22,417,366 16.9 %

Private (individuals & organizations) 19,511,297 14.7 %

Australia 14,365,563 10.8 %

United Kingdom 12,168,382 9.2 %

United States 11,134,846 8.4 %

Denmark 4,724,301 3.6 %

Canada 4,442,259 3.3 %

Norway 4,201,559 3.2 %

Sweden 3,161,021 2.4 %

France 3,115,265 2.3 %

*Note: Does not include funds that have been pledged but not yet committed.

New donations were reported from Sweden, China and a few other countries, but many governments are waiting to see what becomes of the promises of increased access for aid workers traveling to and from the Irrawaddy Delta. The promise of increased access extracted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday has so far been kept, according to initial reports coming out of Yangon. However on Sunday it appeared as if increased visa issuance for aid workers may not be completely unhindered.

While commenting that the country would welcome aid without any strings attached, General Thein Sein, who holds the post of Prime Minister, made some remarks that seemed to put some conditions on visa entry. “For those groups who are interested in rehabilitation and reconstruction, my government is ready to accept them, in accordance with our priorities and the extent of work that needs to be done,” Thein Sein said. “We will consider allowing them if they wish to engage in rehabilitation and reconstruction work.”

New donations were reported from Sweden, China and a few other countries, but many governments are waiting to see what becomes of the promises of increased access for aid workers traveling to and from the Irrawaddy Delta before increasing on previously made commitments. The promise of increased access extracted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday has so far been kept, according to initial reports coming out of Yangon. However, on Sunday it appeared as if increased visa issuance for aid workers may not be completely unhindered. While commenting that the country would welcome aid without any strings attached, General Thein Sein, who holds the post of Prime Minister, made some remarks that seemed to put some conditions on visa entry. “For those groups who are interested in rehabilitation and reconstruction, my government is ready to accept them, in accordance with our priorities and the extent of work that needs to be done,” Thein Sein said. “We will consider allowing them if they wish to engage in rehabilitation and reconstruction work.”

The tone of other comments coming out of the conference, however, seemed to be hopeful. Evidently the heated and accusatory rhetoric that was employed in the first weeks of the crisis has been found to be less than effective. The past few days have seen more results with a more Asian-styled consensus building diplomacy, brought out in part by the first visit to Myanmar in nearly four decades by a Secretary General of the United Nations (the last visit was likely by Burma’s own U Thant, the Secretary General from 1961-71).

Both Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the eloquent Surin Pitsuwan, former Thai Foreign Minister and currently the Secretary General of ASEAN’s secretariat, played a role in setting a positive, consensus-building tone in Yangon so that issues of face and the blame game did not interrupt efforts to save lives in the Delta. Hopefully the progress of the past few days will lead to a continuing spirit of goodwill. As Dr. Surin remarked, “I don’t think we have any doubt that there will be a lot of goodwill coming through. But again it will depend on how we carry out this goodwill, or administer this goodwill, with the cooperation of Myanmarese authorities. We expect no obstacles,” he said.

Certainly the problems that the people of Myanmar face are enormous in their scale and number. The outreach from countries around the world has been encouraging. The Myanmar government presented a detailed picture of what it estimates the damages to be, down to counting the 1,250,194 chickens and 136,804 buffaloes that were apparently lost in the storm.

But it is hard to see how the current strategies being employed will produce the roughly $11 billion that the government says is needed to rebuild. Even the U.N.’s own appeal for $201 million to fund U.N. related relief activities had, as of Sunday, resulted in donations of only $57 million or 28% of the estimated relief requirements.

As evidenced by the earthquake in China this month, the global needs for humanitarian assistance are great. The 17 U.N. humanitarian appeals made for financial donations for crises in Asia, African, South America, and Eastern Europe in the last 6 months have raised only 34% of the $5.7 billion in estimated need. For example, the largest aid appeal, the Sudan Work Plan 2008 launched in December 2007 has received only 39% of a need totaling $1.9 billion (in Sudan, 2 million people live in refugee camps).

So, while the needs in Myanmar are great, the need for building donor confidence and goodwill are great as well. Myanmar is blessed with economically vibrant and growing neighbors in a region that is one of the worlds fastest growing economically. If the government opens up and embraces the goodwill of its neighbors and the world we can only imagine that this goodwill will multiply, to the great benefit of those suffering in the monsoon rains today.