Location

The meaning of Daunt Gyi is “the big bend”, similarly the village of Daunt Gyi is located at where a river enters into a large bend. It is approximately 3 hours by boat from the town of Bogale and transportation is slightly more challenging as rivers in the region do not lead directly to Daunt Gyi, passengers and materials have to be offloaded at the “old rice mill” and moved across 100 meters of dry ground to the next river and transported by another boat to the village.

Cyclone Nargis

Storm surge levels were approximately 10 ft in the area. Over 95% of the houses were destroyed. As the storm intensified during the night of May 2, 2008, majority of villagers ran to the village rice storage to weather the storm, several stayed in the village church building and 2 lives were lost when the church building collapsed. After the cyclone, villagers lived at the rice storage sharing the food while the supply lasted. I Love Myanmar was the first to reach this village distributing rice and other necessities.

Food & Water

Initially i Love Myanmar was the only provider of rice and food for the villagers for the last six months. World Food Program delivered rice the beginning of November, hence food should be sufficient until the harvest during the first week of December. However, it is still uncertain if the harvest will be sufficient for the entire village.

The village has 4 freshwater storage lakes which have been cleaned by NGO AZG( MSF Holland). These lakes are sufficient in supplying drinking water to Daunt Gyi villagers.

Right: Freshwater storage lake

School

The Daunt Gyi village primary school serves 195 students and is taught by 3 teachers. The school building collapsed under the force of Cyclone Nargis. Students now attend school in two temporary school buildings constructed mainly out of wood and canvas; creating a learning environment that is hot and stuffy. Although they have received school books from UNICEF, students still lack pencils and notebooks to write upon.

i Love Myanmar has engaged Diamond Mercury Co Ltd to build a new school building measuring 30x 80 ft out of reinforced concrete and extra thick brick walls. The new school site has already been located and materials should be arriving on site before the end of November. The school will be completed within 4 months; hence students will have a new school building when their next school year starts in June 2009.

Church

There is only 1 church in Daunt Gyi. Despite the village being 75% Christian, only about 30% attend church on a frequent basis. Pastor Di Di leads the church and every morning at 4:30 am the pastor’s wife leads the morning prayer meeting, while in the evening families pray at home when the village bell is rung.

The church building was destroyed completely during the cyclone and now acts as a football ground for the children. The congregation meets in the partially covered assembly hall.

ILM is in the process of the church to be rebuilt in Daunt Gyi.

Rebuilding Progress

A total of 148 houses will be built by Min Construction Company for the original 148 families. Since then, 4 additional families have moved into the village. 98 houses have been completed and 17 houses have been partially completed, 33 houses are yet to be built.

Construction has stopped temporarily due to lack of wood, however it will resume once a new batch of wood is delivered to the village.

Left: House Number # 2 in Daunt Gyi village

i Love Myanmar Team

Stories

A similar story followed where another lady had a dream where a shepherd approached her and said “you must believe”. The next day the lady approached the village pastor asking how to be baptized.

Conclusion

Conditions in Daunt Gyi have improved drastically over the last few months, from the supply of food, to housing, ILM has seen significant changes for the better. As the school and church is rebuilt, ILM hopes and prays that the village of Daunt Gyi will be a place where life, hope and joy abides and spreads to surrounding villages.