Mandalay Student Fund

 

 

For many people in Burma, money is very scarce and it can be difficult to get an education. As many Burmese people have told us, education is vital to their future.

In Mandalay, the second largest city in Burma, 7,000 children are educated in the Phaung Daw Oo monastery school (PDO). There are school classes (100 in each class) in the morning for 3,500 children, who otherwise would have no education because their families are too poor to be able to pay. After lunch, another 3,500. At break time, PDO is a melee of monks and novices of all ages, teachers and local children. They play football in bare feet in the dust between their lessons.

PDO is a remarkable place – its leader Unayaka is a charismatic monk who has built up international contacts and through wisdom and energy has developed an amazing resource for the local community, recently including a health clinic which sees 100 patients each day. There is supportive funding for the school from a number of international charities, and the British Council & British Embassy have funded equipment and furniture for the library, medicines for the clinic, and regular teacher training.  The American Center in Rangoon has also generously provided teacher training in recent years.

But there is no help for University students.

Going to university costs money – for books, fees, food. But the main costs are borne by students’ families. Students from poor families usually have to get a full-time job, so that they can provide not only for themselves, but for their parents and siblings as well.  And this makes it very difficult for them to study effectively.

The Mandalay Student Fund, now in its third year, currently supports 15 graduates of PDO, who come from poor families and have a university place. Each student is matched to an individual donor in the UK with whom they have email contact when possible. Each donor provides £120 a year for three years, and the Fund tops this up to £200. The funds are given direct to PDO (currently via the British Embassy in Rangoon), and U Nayaka gives a monthly allowance personally to each student.

From our trip to Mandalay in January, when we were invited to visit the families of some our students, we know that the money we send makes a huge difference to the students and to their families. Most importantly, it allows the younger siblings to stay at PDO, and not drop out of school in order to work to help feed the family. We know that before our scheme, some parents have had to borrow money from neighbours or to pawn possessions, and siblings have had to leave school at the age of 11 or less in order to get a job.

Charity Status

At present the Fund is not a registered charity.

We will be seeking to register The Mandalay Student Fund with the Charity Commission early in 2008. This will enable the fund to claim Gift Aid.

How you can help

Donations

You can help us by making a donation to the Mandalay Student Fund.
Please contact John Hayward by email jhayward50@blueyonder.co.uk or by mobile 07930 395795, or if you wish, write to:
Dr John Hayward, 25 Cranmore Way,  Muswell Hill, London N10 3TP.

Cheques should be made payable to Dr John Hayward Burma A/C.

Sponsor a student

You can sponsor a student from 2008 by contacting John Hayward (see above). We need you to make a commitment to providing £120 a year for up to three years (please note this is at 2007 prices, and there may need to be an increase from 2008/09). We will try to match you with a student (for example we have matched medical students with doctors and a maths student with a mathematics lecturer). Your student will probably want to send you regular emails, both to enjoy the contact with their donor in the West, but also (and usually most importantly) to enable him or her to practise their English!

You will receive a brief biography of your matched student, which will include a photograph. We will ask you to provide us with something similar about yourself (again with a photo) to send to the student and to PDO.

We do encourage all donors to respond reasonably promptly to email, understanding that in Burma servers do not always work, electricity supplies may fail and students usually have to use someone else’s computer. So if you don’t get a reply it is best to send the email again a week later!

All enquiries please to John Hayward on 07930 395795, or email jhayward50@blueyonder.co.uk or, if you wish, write to:
Dr John Hayward, 25 Cranmore Way,  Muswell Hill, London N10 3TP.