Teaching at an Orphanage in Mayanmar

Posted: March 6th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Experiences | 1 Comment »

I am a student of Yangon International School in Yangon, Myanmar. My volunteer experience started when a cousin of mine found out about an orphanage just outside the city, a place called Shwe Pyi Thar. So, our group of friends began to go there and start to tutor the wonderful young kids. We would sometimes bring food, and do some fun activities when possible.

The main reason we did it was because people in that region are suffering severely. The basic needs are sometimes not met. The Cyclone Nargis which hit Yangon and the delta region just made matters worse. But the only thing we could think of contributing was what we already had, and that was knowledge. So the idea of tutoring the kids at the orphanage was to help them with their schoolwork, and also to help them learn English.

From this experience, I have gained a unique achievement. It allowed me to get in touch with a whole new world. The fact that I am able to help the children overwhelms me with the feeling of gratitude and modesty.
After about a month or so, a teacher from our school proposed to start a Community Service Program in our school, so we approached her and told her about our ongoing project in the orphanage. She became really interested and inspired many other students to come visit our orphanage, so that they could begin to start their own independent projects. This Community Service Program in our school was born, and there were about 7 different volunteering projects at the end of the school year.

 

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  • Sharon

    Hi we’r visiting Myanmar in Nov, planning to visit to the orphanage/schools – to bring stationary & books to the kids. Would like to find out more on the location of your orphanage, and do the kids there required stationery? If not, we would like to get your advise on the schools which we can visit. Thx