Cyclone Aid Project 7: ThanDi Village, ZiePhyu Kone

Funded by: Cyclone Aid donors/sponsors

Donation Items:
1. 100 kg of large yellow beans (2 sacks; 1 sack ~ 50kg)
2. 160 pieces of blankets
3. 145 pcs of cooking pots
4. 300 pcs of plates (9 inch)
5. 150 pcs of sandals (Assorted sizes  Men, women, and children)
6. 145 pcs of mosquito nets

Project Expenditure - Main Fund:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pqVuU-s3oPiZQ0jp9BFmQSA

Project Expenditure - Reserve Fund:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=peewW-g4TJXU-2x4Gh56RAA&gid=1

Map: http://lh4.ggpht.com/cyclone.aid/SFifmIpjG-I/AAAAAAAACAo/csGQ9ftqXVI/s800/map.png

To follow the route we took, locate the city of Yangon at the top right-hand corner of the map. We traveled south through Twante, Kawmhu, and crossed the river to Dedaye. From Dedaye, we took a boat into the sea, and entered the ThanDi river. ThanDi village is located along the ThanDi river.

Coordinator/Expedition Leader:
San Yu

Expedition Volunteers:

Special Thanks:

1. The local people who arranged for river transport for us to travel to ThanDi.

Background:
A local from the area contacted us and invited us to arrange for distribution of aid items. We purchased items as suggested by this local, and informed him of our trip in advance. Situated south of Dedaye, near the Gulf of Martaban, ThanDi village suffered from terrible floods during Cyclone Nargis.

Expedition Diary:
This was an unusual trip for many reasons. First off, we specifically targeted the 140-odd families in ThanDi village. Secondly, we did not purchase rice for distribution; our contact told us that the villagers have had rice delivered to them by another group. Instead, they requested for items such as mosquito nets and Ajinomoto (Food flavouring monosodium glutamate).

We started preparing for this trip 2 days after we returned from Laputta. We got in touch with the local representative and he advised us on the needs of the villagers. Acting on his information, we prepared items for distribution to 140 households. We also prepared a few extra packages just in case we encountered any families from other areas.

We left at 4am on Sunday, 15th of June. We hired a truck to take us to the town of Dedaye. It was nearly 8am when we got to the jetty at Dedaye. Three of the local guys were waiting for us in a small wooden boat. They had been waiting there since 1130pm the previous night. The day before, they used a public phone in Dedaye to call us to fix the meeting point.

It took us another 3 hours before we reached the village itself. The heavy rain did not help matters. Fortunately, the rain stopped just as we started distributing the items. The villagers were happy to see us. Many are farmers and the cyclone cost them their livelihood. Some also lost family members. The villagers thanked us repeatedly, and the elderly gave us blessings for long life and happiness.

Even though they were desperately poor, out of gratitude, the villagers offered us a lunch of duck egg curry with rice and vegetable soup. To be polite, a few of us accepted the offer. The rest of us ate our packed lunches on the return trip.

We left the village in the afternoon. Before we set off on the trip, we had harboured hopes of reaching other villages in the area. However, this proved to be impossible as it was difficult to navigate with a small boat so close to the open sea. Just as we were leaving, the rain poured again, and did not stop even when we reached Yangon in the late evening.

http://cyclone-aid.blogspot.com

This report was prepared by San Yu on 2008-06-18.