Aye Yeik Mon

Loca­tion:                             Aung Myae Thar Zan Town­ship, Man­dalay, Myan­mar 

Key dates:                           Com­menced March 2004;  Com­pleted March 2005 

Local part­ners:                    AYM Girls’ Orphan­age Association

Project back­ground:  This orphan­age pro­vided rea­son­able shel­ter and care for its more than 200 res­i­dents, but we felt that there was a need to give the girls a sense of pur­pose in life, and some­thing to help them develop new skills and become more inde­pen­dent of the orphan­age. 

Main activ­i­ties:  Fol­low­ing exten­sive dis­cus­sions with the senior staff at the orphan­age, and in con­sul­ta­tion with another NGO which had pro­vided pre­vi­ous sup­port at this site, we decided to estab­lish a Tai­lor­ing Work­shop.  We arranged for a room to be set aside for this pur­pose, and then equipped it with sewing machines, other equip­ment and fab­rics.  To ensure that the Orphan­age fully cap­i­talised on this invest­ment, we also estab­lished a Fund to cover the salaries of qual­i­fied local teach­ers for a min­i­mum of two years.

Sta­tus of project:  Com­pleted March 2005. Amongst the many girls who have received train­ing through this ini­tia­tive, at least one has gone on to open her own tai­lor­ing shop in Man­dalay, and has recruited some of the other orphans to help her in her business. 

The images below show some of the girls at work and under instruc­tion in our tai­lor­ing workshop.