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Men build a roof for a new house funded by Oxfam. Photo: Oxfam

Ma Shwe Shwe. Photo: Oxfam

Ma Shwe Shwe serves customers at her new food business. Photo: Oxfam

Setting bamboo poles in the ground to built the frame of a new house. Photo: Oxfam

Building a better future

Ma Shwe Shwe from Hlaing Thayar lost her house and belongings to Cyclone Nargis. She recalls the night the cyclone hit.

"The wind got stronger and stronger. Pieces of our house and our [cooking] dishes flew around, along with things from other houses. A tree behind our house fell down [onto our house]. The house collapsed and [everything was] damaged. We lost everything with which we made a living.

"Our neighbour invited us to stay at their house. We stayed for two days, and they shared their food with us."

Re-housing Ma Shwe Shwe was an urgent priority, but it was also important to help her and her family to rebuild their livelihoods and help them find a way of making a living.

With Oxfam’s support, Phoenix Association provided emergency shelter costing 20,000 Kyat (under $30), and employed Ma Shwe Shwe's husband as a day labourer with the construction team to rebuild this and other houses in the village.

Local materials were used to help support the local economy, and to keep transport costs to a minimum.

“Our previous house was just the same as this: thatch roofing, bamboo floors, and bamboo mat walls,” Ma Shwe Shwe tells us as she shows us round her new home.

Looking to the future

And what of the future for Ma Shwe Shwe and her family? In her own words,

“We have got some income from the construction project, and bought a bike to make transport easier. [We have] even started our old business of selling meals again.”

Having provided emergency relief to around quarter of a million people, Oxfam is now turning its attention to rebuilding livelihoods and communities.

We are helping organisations that are supporting people that have made a living by farming, fishing, or working as labourers. Much of this support is highly targeted at the most vulnerable people in society including pre-school children, women, and people living with HIV and AIDS.

Help is reaching these people, but more is needed.