wfp_pipeline_43 4-08-2008 7:36 Pagina 1 The World Food Programme Staff Magazine N. 43 July 2008 Photo by KyawZaw Tun PIPELINE MYANMAR: OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES wfp_pipeline_43 4-08-2008 7:36 Pagina 2 Kyawoo Maung, Programme Officer in Yangon, Myanmar and former head of the Labutta sub-office, is the winner of WFP's quarterly story competition for his article on two brothers who were left homeless after Cyclone Nargis. You can read Kyawoo's riveting story below, followed by an in-depth interview where he tells us what it was like being on the frontlines in Myanmar. We look forward to seeing more stories and images by the next competition deadline of 30 September 2008. If you or your colleagues have good fodder for a story, but are unsure about how to capture it in writing, contact your nearest Public Information Officer for assistance - particularly if you have information from the frontlines. Please send story submissions to: Natasha Scripture at [email protected] INTERVIEW WITH KYAWOO MAUNG (A.K.A. “KOM”), SURVIVING NARGIS PROGRAMME OFFICER IN YANGON, MYANMAR The story of how two brothers reunited against all odds AND FORMER HEAD OF LABUTTA SUB-OFFICE By Kyawoo Maung (as told to Marcus Prior) When brothers Kyaw and Aung Naing were fearfully approached the site, wearing CH: Please tell me when you joined WFP and what your current position is? swept away by the tidal surge that clothes too large for their frail bodies - followed in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, oversized t-shirts and tattered old trousers KM: I joined WFP in May 2004 as Head of the Sub-Office in Lashio and then became Head neither of them would have known that which they had no doubt picked up in one of the Sub-Office in Magway in 2005. I went on to Muzaffarabad, Kashmir in October they were the only survivors from their of the camps along the way. 2005 for three months during WFP's EMOP. In May 2008, I became Head of the family. Programme Unit in the Yangon Country Office and then served as Head of the Sub-Office The WFP team had their lunch boxes with in Labutta. Now I am back in Yangon working as a Programme Officer/Field Coordinator But putting even the most basic pieces of them - which were filled with rice and local on both the PRRO and EMOP. their lives back together again would take curry - but quickly handed all four of them CH: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? days of heartache and suffering, lightened over to the boys. Their eyes turned bright only by the discovery that at least they at the sight of food and in a matter of KM: I was born in Yangon on 19 October 1964. I have a Masters from Cranfield University had each other. minutes, the rice and curry completely (UK). Before joining WFP, I worked as an Associate Professional Officer for FAO in vanished into their mouths. Tanzania. I have also worked as bodyguard for the Chairman of Kanbawza Bank. I am Their village of Mayangone, near Labutta in married with two children. the Ayeyarwady Delta, was flattened by the After the boys finished eating, depression CH: Did you feel prepared when you first heard about Cyclone Nargis? wall of water that has left tens of sank in - like a dark, looming cloud - and KM: After completing the ERT training in Sweden (12th intake) in 2005, I was prepared thousands of people dead and many more their exhaustion and hopelessness were to go anywhere. Following the 2004 tsunami, I headed the first assessment mission to still missing. Nargis swept Kyaw, a small, palpable. Their lives had been turned the affected areas in the Myanmar delta, so I knew that I would be the one to go and round-faced 11-year-old, across the Pyan upside down - and the road ahead of them my emergency gear was already packed. Mae Law River, where somehow he emerged was going to be full of hardship and alive and sought shelter in a monastery in suffering. CH: Can you describe the situation when you first arrived in the Labutta office? Labutta. KM: It was chaos. Nobody expected there would be this much devastation. We estimated Before the brothers left, the WFP staff gave that there were tens of thousands of casualties while the Myanmar Government was All 14-year-old Aung could remember was them a 5-day ration of high-energy quoting the death figures only in the hundreds. We were not allowed to go into the field falling unconscious, his thin, long body biscuits. Regular one-month rations were during the first days. The people were helpless - no food, no shelter, no drinking water, later being hauled from the water and onto distributed at Mayangone the following no health services, etc. a boat. He was then taken to a government day. temporary shelter at Myaung Mya. The initial assessment team was comprised of one Logistics Assistant, a Programme The survivors of Cyclone Nargis have been Assistant and me. We immediately requested for back-up and within four days we A week later, Aung decided to leave to see left with almost nothing: no animals, seeds managed to deploy a total of 10 TDY national staff. if he could get back to his village and find or fishing tackle which were the tools of CH: What was the daily routine like (or was every day different?) any of his family alive. After three and a their livelihoods. Morale in the delta is low half hours on a bus, he made it to Labutta, as it is impossible for people to take care KM: We all slept at the office, on the floor, nearly on top of one another. We would wake where he miraculously discovered Kyaw at of each other properly with the little up at five in the morning, cue for the toilet and shower, eat breakfast at 6:00 am, and the monastery. assistance that has been received to date. have a staff meeting at 6:30 am. By 7:00 am, all of us were working: coordinating logistics for warehousing and transport, conducting programming for assessments, But with little space for newcomers at the This is a particular frustration for the handling the administration and finances of establishing the office, etc. At 8:15 am every monastery, the two brothers decided to people of the Ayeyarwady, whose Buddhist day we reported to Hakan Tongul (Deputy Country Director, Myanmar) via telephone. At continue their journey homewards, taking philosophy compels them to look after the end of the day, we would all have dinner together followed by beers at midnight. a boat ride overnight and arriving at those less fortunate than themselves. CH: Can you describe any particular incidents that touched you? Mayangone around lunchtime the following day. As it happened, a WFP assessment Meanwhile, Kaw and Aung wonder how KM: Yes, everybody had a story to tell and all the stories were about how their loved ones team was on site, where they had found they are going to get through the days, died. In the initial days, government responses were nearly nil. After the referendum on just 32 survivors of the cyclone, out of a weeks and months ahead. They have no 24 May, people were forced back to their respective villages with two packets of instant population of 322. The village had been idea what the future holds, who will look noodles per person. They had nothing to go home to in their villages except destroyed utterly destroyed, and the survivors were after them, whether they will go back to houses and unburied dead corpses. We realized that it would be much harder to reach surrounded by appalling filth and swarms school or how to cope with life without a the beneficiaries in their villages. of large, aggressive flies. There was no family. CH: What were the “highs & lows”? shelter or clean drinking water and only a day's food supply left. Of one thing they can be sure - WFP will be KM: Despite having loads of lows, we stood together and supported each other as a team. back to provide food for at least the next The best moment was on 6 June, when we distributed a month’s ration of food to every Neither Kyaw nor Aung had eaten for 36 six months. It's not everything they need, single person in the Labutta township - that is, 240,000 people living in 517 villages. hours and were completely famished. They of course, but it is a start. On the same day, I asked each single staff member whether they wished to go back. All staff responded that they wanted to stay despite 18 hours of work, poor living A total of 646 rotations have been made to isolated parts of the Ayeyarwady Delta, delivering conditions, and a DSA equivalent to US$8/day. 740 tons of life-saving supplies. CH: How are the people of Myanmar coping - they are famous for their resilience - could you tell us a bit about this? WFP/Paul Wyatt KM: Life has been hard. However, Buddhist monks have played a key role. The philosophy of believing in fate has given strength to the people of Myanmar and has made them feel that life is worth living and not to give up. CH: Any advice for other WFP staff on how to relax in a stressful situation? KM: Just do what your heart advises. Of course, being prepared and going on missions with people that you have worked with before and feel comfortable with counts for more than 50 percent of success and it also makes the work enjoyable.