After Typhoon Talim, there was no sunny day for Taik Kyi and Okkan counties in Yangon in Myanmar -- only heavy rain and flooding.

Intense Rainfall and Dam Releases Cause Severe Flooding

On July 19th, Typhoon Talim brought torrential rain to seven provinces in Myanmar, a deluge that persisted until the end of the month due to the relentless monsoon downpours.

On July 31st, Tzu Chi volunteers in Myanmar proceeded as scheduled with a workshop at the Tzu Chi Office in Shwe Na Gwin village in Okkan. Input from the attendees revealed that many had braved the floodwaters to attend the training session; the floods were caused by a continuous accumulation of rainfall and dam releases.

The training team was stunned, given the lack of flooding around the training site. The participating volunteers decided that, once the workshop was over, they would investigate the situation. Villagers noted that the water levels, following the dam releases, had not receded below knee level; this affected many families living in lower-lying areas.

Trainee Daw Myint Nwe's household was particularly hard hit. A night of relentless rainfall on the 30th, coupled with a surge from dam releases, inundated her home and ruined all the rice and food. Seeing that her family faced a food shortage, Tzu Chi volunteers swiftly started relief, providing her with twenty kilograms of emergency rice.

Other villagers faced kitchen flooding, rendering cooking impossible; this forced children to satisfy their hunger with snacks. A villager pointed to the watermarks as evidence that the previous night's flooding had reached around four to fifty centimeters up the pillars.

The team continued to assess the state of rice cultivation in the fields and discovered cases like that of farmer U Kyaw Win. On his four acres of rice paddies, recently planted seedlings had been submerged for over a month, removing any hope of a harvest and leaving him in despair.

Volunteers gradually made their way to nearby villages in Okkan to assess the situation firsthand. They learned that many households were struggling to cope with the challenges caused by the water. A decision was made to initiate urgent relief efforts, targeting fifteen villages and nearly a thousand households who had responded to the Rice Piggy Bank promotion in recent years. Supplies were distributed to alleviate their pressing needs.

Urgent Distribution

The flood-affected areas were about 112 kilometers away from Tzu Chi's Yangon center; this meant a journey of about two and a half hours. In addition, the situation is unstable due to the ongoing conflict between the military government and opposition groups in Myanmar. The team planned to initiate the first wave of distribution from Yay Thoe Village. If traveling by motorcycle from the Tzu Chi office, the distance would take approximately fifteen minutes. Starting from August 12th to September 3rd, a total of seven distribution rounds were planned to benefit 996 households.

On the 12th, 107 households from Yay Thoe Village arrived at the Tzu Chi Shwe Na Gwin office. Volunteer Guo Bao Yu (郭寶鈺) introduced the villagers to Tzu Chi's principles, missions, and Master Cheng Yen and explained that the distributions were a result of the collective love from Tzu Chi members worldwide. "Doing good deeds can keep misfortune at bay even before blessings arrive," the volunteers emphasized, also pointing out the increasing occurrence of natural disasters due to climate change and urging everyone to join hands in goodness.

The villagers listened attentively during the explanations. When volunteers encouraged them to quit betel nut chewing and smoking, villager Ko Wai Yan (郭偉嚴) immediately raised his right hand, to show his determination to break these habits. He makes a living as a casual laborer and lacks a stable income. His wife usually participated in Tzu Chi's activities, and they had previously donated to the Tzu Chi rice piggy bank. That day, due to his child's illness, his wife stayed at home to care for the child, so he came to collect the rice. This marked his first involvement in a Tzu Chi event.

"I used to think that my life was already very difficult, but, after hearing the volunteers share stories from Nepal, I realized there are people facing even greater hardships," Ko said. While he lacked the financial capacity to give, he desired to contribute. He pledged to quit smoking and chewing betel nuts, saving the money instead to aid those suffering in Nepal.

After the briefing, volunteers distributed a sack of 48 kilograms of rice and two liters of cooking oil to each household. As most of the villagers were members of the Tzu Chi rice piggy bank program, they brought along their rice piggy banks for a refill. On the Day for Rice Piggy Bank event, the villagers collectively donated 105.6 kilograms of rice, hoping to lend a helping hand to Nepal.

Nature's Cruelty, Humanity's Love

After the distribution, volunteers also visited the homes of several villagers to provide care and understand their living conditions.

Ma Ei Chaw and her family of four rely on her husband's income as a laborer making charcoal. He provides her with a monthly allowance of 20,000 Myanmar Kyats (approximately $13 USD) to support their two young children. Their older son, six years old, should be in school, but, due to financial difficulties, they cannot afford his education. Their two-year-old son lay in her arms, malnourished.

During the visit, volunteers found Ma Ei Chaw's home without food, with a pot of oil-based soup cooking as their lunch. She usually collects bamboo shoots to sell when she has free time, earning around 2,000 to 3,000 Myanmar Kyats ($1.3 to $2 USD) to buy rice. However, heavy rains recently prevented her from collecting bamboo shoots, plunging the family into hardship. With no rice left and needing to borrow money to buy vegetables, the bag of rice given by Tzu Chi will sustain them for a month.

U Soe Myit, a 63-year-old villager, lacked a stable income and sometimes received support from his children. "After listening to Tzu Chi's explanations and the volunteers sharing Master Cheng Yen's wish to give back to Buddha's hometown, I decided to quit smoking." Seeing others in greater need, U Soe Myit resolved to give. He usually saved a handful of rice, and today he collected an additional rice piggy bank, intending to donate it to Nepal.

During their interaction, U Soe Myit revealed cherished Tzu Chi red envelopes and Tzu Chi introductions that he had kept for a long time. Due to the family’s tight budget, their rice container had been empty for a while and contained miscellaneous items. After receiving the bag of rice, he and his wife quickly cleaned the container, pouring the Tzu Chi rice into it. The old and new rice piggy banks sat side by side on a small wooden table beside the container.

With a simple yet selfless intention to help others despite their own hardships, these villagers upheld the principle of "helping others when in need." Witnessing their acts of kindness, volunteers gave them strong affirmation and hoped for disasters to end soon, to allow the villagers to live in peace, and prosperity, and be able to lend a hand to those in need.

A Jing Si Aphorism says: “Count me in when doing good deeds; count me out when doing bad deeds.”

Join Tzu Chi. Let us spread Great Love to the needy.

Story by Chu Hsiu-Lien and Huang Lu Fa | 2023/08/17