myanmar testimonies
Mr. Tin Aung
Mr. Tin Aung (73yrs) and his wife Mrs. Tin Aye (60yrs) live in Kyi Su a base for children ministry, evangelism outreach, and the meeting place for home church in that area for nine years. Even before the storm came, his house was in need of repair.
When the cyclone hit, his house was tilted to one side and his wife helped him to get to a shelter with great difficulty in rain and in the strong wind. It took one hour for them to get to a neighbor's house where they can take shelter for the night. The poor man has hypertension and heart disease and did not know what to do as he was gripped with fear.
During the night, his wife managed to bring the belongings of the home church- an old guitar, some Bibles, and cups- by going back and forth between their home and the neighbor's house. She treasured these things so much because they belong to the home church and regards it as her responsibility to save them even though they lost all their belongings except the ten cats they have. When morning came, they found their house totally collapsed.
They built a temporary shelter with whatever is left from the house, but water level rose and reached their floor because of the continuing rain and they do not have a good roof to protect them from the rain. Besides that they were tormented by the leeches that the water has brought.
For a week they could not sleep well as they had to stay alert from the thieves who were trying to steal the cups. The storm destroyed their fire place made of mud so they could not cook. The market is three miles away from their place and they have nothing to eat when our church team brought them food on Tuesday (6 May 08) which is three days after the storm.
Mr. Win Nyunt and family
Mr. Win Nyunt and his wife Mrs. Aye Khaing live in Kyi Su Village, South Dagon Township with their three children. Mrs. Aye Khaing is a believer but her husband is a drunkard. He was drunk on the night when the cyclone came.
Their house was destroyed and Mrs. Aye Khaing carried their two and a half month old baby and fled to take shelter under a big tree with their other son. Mr. Win Nyunt and the oldest son were left in the house. In the morning, the tree was blown down by the storm and so Mrs. Aye Khaing had to run to a house.
Before long, that house also collapsed and the two families had to flee to another house where five families were hiding from the storm. When morning came, Mr. Win Nyunt and the oldest son could come out from the broken house unharmed.
They lost everything. Now our church team has built a temporary hut for them and provided food and water for them. So far, they did not receive any help from the authority.
Mrs. Htay
Mrs. Htay is from Seik Kyi Village, Dalah Township and she has six children. She is a Christian but her husband is an unbeliever.
When the Nargis came, their little house was swaying under the storm. She prayed the whole night that the Lord would protect them.
Before dawn, as their house was about to collapse, they escaped to another house. They have a pig and nine piglets which is the only valuable possession that they have. The husband put them all in a big bucket and managed to bring them to safety.
They lost their house and most of their possessions. Now they built a small hut but have nothing to eat. Till today, they receive only a small amount of rice and five potatoes from the authority.
Mrs. Aye Thein
Mrs. Aye Thein (70yrs) lives in Seik Kyi Village, Dalah Township. She lost her husband last year and is left with five-year-old grandchild who is an orphan. She went to stay with her son but her son told her that she could not stay with him anymore. She moved to another village and lived with other people for a while.
On the night when the Nargis hit she came back to her son's place. The storm destroyed the house so she is staying now at a school building. Soon the school will be opened and she will have to move from there but she has nowhere to go. She suffered from diarrhea so people carried her to see the doctor.
She and her grand child are in desperate situation and she wants to send her to an orphanage. The church wants to build a house for her but she does not even own a piece of land to build it on.
Mr. Maung Maung and family
Mr. Maung Maung and his family live in Tamada Kanchay Block, Dalah Township. He has three children. Mr. Maung Maung and another twenty families made their homes near the paddy fields which are not recognized as a residential area by the authorities. It was a shanty block with their homes made of bamboo, palm- like tree leaves with no toilets. Since it is not a permanent residential place, they are not allowed to build toilets.
When the cyclone came, the family prayed the whole night. The water level rose to the leg and fills their house. In the morning, their house collapse and they had to leave at once. They could not stand and walk because of the strong wind so they held one another and crawl on the earth till they reached a tin roof about 4'x7' in size made for a water token. They stayed there till the storm subsided.
They gathered whatever is left and make a temporary shelter with plastic roof. For two days after the storm they had nothing to eat, but the three year old youngest child did not get sick. He only cried because he could not bear the cold weather.
At night times when it was raining, they could not sleep because they were wet under the rain. So far, they receive a small amount of rice from the authority twice. They received a polyethylene sheet for shelter given by the United Nation. Only 81 sheets were available for over 600 families so they had to cast lot to distribute.
His wife got sick and had sinus infection due to the cold weather. They earned their living by collecting used bottles and plastics and sell them to a buyer. Nowadays, there is no buyer and they lost their job. All the families living in their block have similar stories like him.
more Testimonies
23/05/08 - Click here for testimonies of five survivors.
22/07/08 - Click here for reconstruction testimonies.
16/09/08 - Click here for reconstruction testimonies.
16/09/08 - Click here for testimonies of five survivors.
30/09/09 - Click here for testimonies of three survivors.
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