Nway – one year on

Soon after the cyclone last year, we met Nway, another survivor amongst the devastation. When the cyclone hit Nway was beginning her second year at school “I love to go to school,” Nway told us.

Many of Nway’s family members died during Cyclone Nargis. Nway was living with her Aunt at the time of the cyclone. They were able to shelter in the village headman’s house with up to 100 other people during the cyclone. As the winds died down they emerged to find flattened rice crops, flooded roads and houses reduced to rubble. The death toll in their village was 120, a quarter of the population of 430.

“I want to be a doctor”

After seeing a mobile medical clinic helping people in her village soon after the disaster, Nway decided she wanted to be a doctor in order to help others. Her school was reduced to rubble during the cyclone and her dream seemed that much further away.

One year later and Nway is ready to start her third year of school. During the school break she helped her aunt sell vegetables from their garden, but now she is ready to begin her studies again. World Vision’s work in the community has supported her stay at school, by providing school supplies and a school uniform.

There is still work to be done to rebuild her community, but Nway has hope for the future. Much of World Vision’s rehabilitation work has focused on ensuring life returns to normal for the children in Myanmar. As well as building Child Friendly Spaces, we are building new schools, distributing school uniforms and setting up early childhood care and development classes.

Looking forward – giving assistance and hope for the future

World Vision has a long-term commitment in Myanmar to work with communities to help families rebuild their lives.

World Vision is working with the government of Myanmar, the United Nations and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on a three-year recovery and preparedness plan to reduce the communities’ vulnerability to natural disasters. World Vision International is building 16 cyclone-resistant schools, which will double as disaster shelters for families.

In three townships including, Hainggyi, Pyapon and Bogale, World Vision New Zealand is providing livelihood assistance which includes the distribution of boats, agricultural equipment and livestock for families who lost everything including their animals.


Hundreds of community water ponds still require decontamination from the bodies, which were swept into them. Temporary water purification systems are providing water for more than 100,000 people. Your support is bringing long-term water security to vulnerable families.

As Myanmar moves into the rehabilitation phase, Child Friendly Spaces will become early childhood education centres. They will offer non-formal education for working children whose parents are too poor to send them to school and children who work in the fields or care for babies.

Thank you so much for your support and for helping to give these children and their families, living in the most destroyed areas of the delta further opportunities to live fully and celebrate life in all its fullness.

May 2008 – Cyclone Nargis

On the morning of 2nd May, 2008, a cyclone with winds up to 240 km per hour hit Myanmar, leaving a trail of destruction. The winds blew for twelve hours and more than 2.4 million people were affected. Cyclone Nargis left many homeless, without livelihoods and struggling to survive on a daily basis.

One year on, World Vision New Zealand’s Jenny MacIntyre travelled to the Ayeyarwaddy Delta, the area most affected by the cyclone. During her trip she came across many stories of miraculous survival and extraordinary resilience. She shares just some of her stories here.

A miracle of survival

Linm Moe is a miracle. When the cyclone struck 12-year-old Linm was with his mother and baby brother. The cyclone caused a four-metre tidal surge that submerged land and houses. Linm watched as his mother and brother both were struck by the rising water. Linm held on to a piece of wood while he watched his mother and brother sink under the water. He couldn’t reach them.

“I held on tightly until I woke up in a cemetery”I am told that when he was found, 50km from home Linm was in such a state of shock, he had no idea who he was or where he had come from. World Vision staff estimate Limn must have held on to his piece of wood all through the night, for at least ten hours.

It took World Vision three weeks to reunite Linm with his father and brother in Aung Hlaing village. His mother and three other siblings had not survived.

I met Linm in a Child Friendly Space (CFS) set up by World Vision. CFSs were established after the emergency to protect and care for vulnerable children. In Myanmar, World Vision established 108 CFSs for 17,000 children. In these safe environments children play, study and learn about their rights to: protection, education, and to grow up in a family environment.

World Vision, alongside other organisations, are still working to reunite hundreds of displaced and orphaned children. While many children have been reunited with relatives, another 1500 children are being cared for within their communities.