Freedom to Education for Young People in Myanmar

It all started seven years ago. A dream to see young women from rural Chin State have the opportunity to train as nurses and then come back to serve their community.  Thanks to the financial commitment of long-term supporters, this dream has become a reality. 

In the summer of 2019, three young women who have been supported by the Freedom to Education project graduated from university after completing their nursing degrees. Their training included:
- a one year internship with Health & Hope
- completing their year 11-12 secondary education in India
- an undergraduate degree in India
- a year internship in hospitals in Yangon

Following their graduation ceremony the nurses received a week's training from our partner Birthlink, took part in supervised outreach work in rural villages and received two months of training in maternal health and emergency neonatal care.

The nurses will now support the delivery of the Maternal and Neonatal programme, in addition to working in Hope Clinic and responding to emergencies through a newly established mobile medical service for remote villages.

Last month, two volunteer midwives travelled from the UK to run training workshops and mother & baby clinics in Lailenpi. The midwives wrote this summary about the nurses in their trip report: 

"One extremely valuable outcome of working with the Nurse Team throughout the week was their own development in midwifery knowledge. By working continuously alongside us in the clinics and during training, their knowledge increased substantially. On several occasions the nurses reported how their knowledge of antenatal, intrapartum and post-natal care had increased by hearing it from us in English, translating it into Mara, facilitating the questions and explanations and practising enthusiastically alongside all the trainees. Confidence and language skills increased and they thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the training.  They became competent in all the skills and fostered a positive, interactive learning environment. They grew in confidence in their organisational and teamworking skills throughout the time. When a problem arose, they were quick to admit it and efficient in finding solutions. They were very committed to the smooth running of the course and worked long hours to achieve this. We felt that positive and lasting relationships were built between us all and that very good teamworking was achieved."

It's wonderful to see the real impact that has resulted from the Freedom to Education project in just a few months after graduation, with the nurses full of hope, passion and knowledge returning home to serve in their communities. 

Your support is not only changing the lives of the individual students, but also having a wider-reaching impact on local communities through providing the skills and expertise needed to reach out and sustain our work amongst the most vulnerable in western Myanmar.