Daw Aye Li’s Story – Myanmar

My name is Daw Aye Li. I am 32 years old and live with my husband and two children in Na Mat village in Myanmar. We live with my parents. Our village is located in the western part of Lashio District and is a long walking distance, 18 miles, from the nearest town.

A STORY OF MY VILLAGE: Before this year, everyone was limited to planting a single annual crop, corn, during the rainy season and vegetables at home. We didn’t have an irrigation system so were dependent on the rain. Often there wasn’t enough rain water to grow vegetables or to grow enough corn. Corn was harvested in October and November and if the yield was poor we didn’t have work and found it difficult to feed our families. We had to buy vegetables from the bazaar. For washing and cooking, we carried water from a small stream near our village. I gave birth each year and I had to cook and babysit at home all the time. The children were too young to help in the fields so my husband had to work alone.

THE ARRIVAL OF SAFE WATER AND FOOD SECURITY: Last year, Care Myanmar came to our village and organized work to create a gravity flow system for water. Our village participated by providing labor and local materials. Now, the village has easy access to safe water for every household, enough for cooking, washing, and bathing. Everyone is free of water-borne diseases. This year, most households could grow a second, winter crop and grow their own vegetables. Our food supply is secure and we are healthier.

MY EDUCATION ABOUT FAMILY PLANNING: Last year, the staff from Meikswe Myanmar came to our village and taught women with children about the health benefits of family planning. We learned that with births every year the mother can become malnourished and anemic. Mothers with 7 to 9 children born too close together can have an exhausted uterus that could lead to miscarriages and/or excessive bleeding during delivery. Too many children born over too short a period leads to poverty. A lack of balanced diet leads to poor growth for our children and a poor ability to learn. Finally, an exhausted, malnourished mother can’t attend as lovingly to her children as she would wish. I now take the oral birth spacing medicine distributed by Meikswe Myanmar. My husband has agreed to spacing our children so that now I can help him work and care for our children properly. My family benefits from my having time to grow vegetables and, sometimes, I can participate in community work together with other women.

My children are growing day by day. They happily walk the 2 miles to school with other children and, when they all come home, the children look after each other so they are safe from accidents.

I am so grateful to Care Myanmar and Meikswe Myanmar. My life has been transformed. ~ Daw Aw Li