Five years ago, when I started this project of building large water tanks to collect water during the rainy season in the Dry Zone of Central Myanmar I had no idea how many lives would be changed because of this simple concept. To date 114 water tanks have been built for villages and schools due to the generosity of so many donors in Australia, the USA and the UK.
As the Australian coordinator, I have given talks and shown a Powerpoint presentation to many groups in order to raise funds, while Saya Toe, the coordinator in Myanmar, organises the team of builders who go from village to village building the tanks with help from the local people. Each time I visit there are requests for tanks from the village headmen or head teachers of schools and seeing the poverty and great need, it is hard to refuse. There are over 650 villages in the Dry Zone and the government has done nothing over the last sixty years to alleviate the situation.
In January, 2015 I visited a school and the head teacher showed me a small concrete container filled with brown water from the local dam (there were even leaves floating in it) It was the drinking water for the schoolchildren. She said simply: “Please help us – we are so thirsty!” When I returned in October, 2015, I was shown the same concrete container filled with sparkling, clear water which had been piped from the large tank built several months previously. It was a moving moment watching the children come and drink there.
So once again I am making an appeal for these children and their families in one of the most impoverished parts of our world (a country which has been shut away from the rest of the world by its repressive military regime for many years) Any donation, however small, would be gratefully received and a tax-deductible receipt given.
Living Water Myanmar partners with Global Development Group for Project J812N Living Water Myanmar. Donations can be made online (simply google Global Development Group) but it is really important to put the project name and number.
Cheques can also be sent to GDG,
56, Goorari St, Eight Mile Plain, Qld 4113 (with the project number and name on back of cheque.
It is a great help if donors could also email me (rosemary.breen6@bigpond.com)
Saya Toe has recently set up a Facebook page (Living Water Myanmar) for anyone interested to see some of the recent work. Each village or school which receives a tank is committed to planting ten trees to help the environment.
Each time we have a drink of water, take a shower, flush the toilet, water the garden, turn on the washing machine or dishwasher, may we remember our brothers and sisters for whom clean water is a luxury and may it remind us to share generously with them.
In gratitude,
Rosemary Breen
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