My name is Daw Ni, I am 77 years old and I live in Bo Yar Gyi village, Bo Yar Gyi village tract, Kyaikto Township, Mon State. I live alone, without family members, and I am a casual worker. When I don’t have work to do, I have to live on the food given away by the people in the village. I often have a headache and cannot see clearly. In summer, I collect the rain tree seeds in the village and neighboring villages to bake and sell. I earn about 30,000 kyats from selling them. That’s how I live through the summer.
Since COVID-19 started, I don’t have a job anymore. So I have to eat with the support from others. The Government supported me with rice, oil, salt and such. I also received MMK40,000 cash provided by NAG’s COVID-19 Response Programme [funded by LIFT]. I bought 8 Pyi (1 Pyi is about 2.13 kg) of rice, 1 bamboo chair, and robes for the monk. The rest of the money I saved to buy food and keep it with the neighbour who lives in front of my house.
If I need something, I ask her to buy it for me. I also bought a needle, thread, and robe to use in making toys with the coffee bags, and plastic bags I collected in the village and I sell it with 100 kyats for 3 toys. I am so happy and grateful to have received the cash from the programme which covers expenses for 2 months. I thank and wish all the donors and organisations to be happy and healthy during the pandemic.
Just like Daw Ni, about one in four people in Myanmar are poor, according to the Myanmar Living Conditions Survey (MLCS) 2017. People living in poverty are more vulnerable in unexpected crises like COVID-19. LIFT's donors and partners are working together to ensure our support includes the most vulnerable communities in Myanmar.
