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Thanlyin, Myanmar
“No one had ever given us a light” was the response from grateful recipients of some 400 Solar Light devices donated to the residents of the slums in Thanlyin by Soulrich Foundation on 21st February 2023.
“No one had ever given us a light” was the response from grateful recipients of some 400 Solar Light devices donated to the residents of the slums in Thanlyin by Soulrich Foundation on 21st February 2023.
In a community where basic commodities are scarce, large-scale distribution of goods can be trying and even dangerous. Previous door-to-door food distributions reportedly turned chaotic, erupting into desperate grabfests rife with verbal and physical altercations. However, Saw Kingdom Po Mya (nicknamed Baw Baw), Executive Director of Grace Home Myanmar, was undeterred and determined.
In collaboration with a team of volunteers, he meticulously planned this distribution over 2 weeks, formulating an innovative way in which they could not only hand each household a light but also gather households in an organised and peaceful manner to teach them the functionalities of the lights.
They devised just the plan - utilising tokens which were distributed door-to-door which could then be exchanged for lights at the monastery later in the afternoon. Why the monastery?, one may ask. This boils down to the religious distribution of the slum, predominantly Buddhist, who see the monastery as a sacred ground where one should not misbehave.
As planned, the crowd of residents arrived in an orderly fashion later that afternoon, with each resident managing to receive a solar light. Moreover, Baw Baw was able to fulfil his aims - engaging the attentive crowd and informing them how they could use the solar lights to enhance and support their daily lives.
The response from the residents was an outpouring of gratitude and joy seen through the video interview conducted by the team on the ground.
The residents remarked that the lights would help them save approximately MMK 400 ($0.20USD) a day, totalling around US$75 a year, money which can go a long way in helping them afford other necessities such as food. This distribution was an undoubted success.
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