Work

 

Mr. Saw Shekina works in Karen state near Myanmar’s border with Thailand where the powerful Cyclone Nargis hit in 2008. In the wake of that storm he joined the efforts to provide relief and rehabilitation in that devastated area. As a livestock expert, Mr. Shekina frequently visits the 31 villages he serves to improve the overall situation of livestock management, including animal health, water supply and sanitation. This is important work for the farmers in that area because “livestock breeding is done by all the farmers as side income for extra money for a better living. Only by breeding animals can they send their children to schools for education or invest money for a certain purpose.”

 

Mr. Shekina has a strong motivation and high expectation to learn about farming in general, and animal husbandry and social development in particular. “I have this great desire to attend this school [ARI] and learn many things and do practical work that I love to do to help my people.”

Sending Organization

 

World Concern Myanmar’s mission is to serve the rural poor by helping villagers improve their living standards and by building communities capable of acting locally and regionally. In order to fulfil this goal WCM has several supporting programs and coordinates their work with fellow organizations. One of these joint programs is the HACD – HIV and Community Development project which includes home based care for HIV positive people, capacity building of community based organizations, and micro finance programs. The projects are located mainly in the Kachin, Shan, and Mon states since these areas especially suffer from extreme poverty. Altogether there are 200 full time employees which are supported by volunteers who are connected to the World Concern Myanmar.