Piglets bring hope for Daw Ohn Myint

By: Myo Ma Ma Kyaw, Myanmar Red Cross Society
May 2011

In the village of Yae Tain in the Ayeyarwady Delta, two black piglets have brought hope to an impoverished family made all the more vulnerable by a deadly cyclone which struck in May 2008.

Daw Ohn Myint, a widow, and her daughter and two sons, have struggled to make ends meet after the onslaught of the cyclone.

Their home was damaged and one of Daw Ohn Myint’s two pigs died during the cyclone. The other one was sold about six months later.

“I needed money to repay the loan I took to rebuild my home”, she explains.

The pigs had been an investment Daw Ohn Myint had entered into with another villager. After the cyclone, Daw Ohn Myint and her son, Saw Ohn Myint, and daughter, Ma Khin May Si, did casual jobs such as bamboo weaving and cow herding but this has been barely enough to meet daily household needs. “It is difficult to get work everyday”, she says. The wages earned by the three of them have gone towards sustaining the family of four – Daw Ohn Myint’s youngest son, Aung Myo Zaw, attends school. Two other older sons are living on their own.

Last year, Daw Ohn Myint and her family got a helping hand when she was selected to participate in the asset recovery project of the Myanmar Red Cross Society. Pig rearing is very much a part of the culture in the Delta. Daw Ohn Myint was given two vaccinated piglets – a male and a female. She was also provided with two bags of feed and 30,000 Myanmar Kyat (about CHF 30) for the construction of a pig sty.

“I did not expect it but am very glad”, she says. “I will look after these piglets and hope that they will grow and multiply.” She believes they will be a better investment than her previous effort because now, she has sole ownership of her pigs.

Saw Ohn Myint adds: “They are our family’s hope.”

The assistance Daw Ohn Myint has received is part of the Myanmar Red Cross Society’s overall asset recovery project which has reached a total of 19,353 beneficiaries and their families across 11 townships. The project has provided assistance to the following groups of people in regaining their livelihoods: crop and vegetable farmers, livestock farmers, fishing communities, and small businessmen. The project is part of the Myanmar Red Cross Society’s overall Nargis Operation that provides assistance to 100,000 families across 13 targeted townships. The assistance spans several sectors: shelter, livelihoods, health, psychosocial support; water, sanitation and hygiene promotion; and disaster preparedness and risk reduction. The three-year operation which began in May 2008, is conducted with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.