Rebuilding the training centre: The final stretch
Posted on 28th February 2019 by Chris Jones
On 30th May 2017, Cyclone Mora made landfall in Bangladesh before moving northwards through western Myanmar. Torrential rain and high winds destroyed homes and triggered landslides in rural villages with 37 families made homeless in the village of Lailenpi where Health and Hope Myanmar’s (HHM) work is based.
In addition, we were devastated to lose the majority of the HHM training centre; seven buildings were destroyed including the main training hall, kitchen and dining area and four dormitory buildings.
Over 18 months later, it's incredible to look back and see how much progress has been made on the building of the training centre post Cyclone Mora.
When the project started, the local tradesmen initially refused to dig foundations at 20' spans, asking us to hire 'professional builders' from outside the village. They had never dreamed of being able to construct a building of this scale, nor did they feel they had the skills to do it. But through the provision of field engineers and through careful supervision and encouragement, the training centre is now really starting to take shape. Best of all, the local townspeople can look back at what they have accomplished with their own hands, standing tall and proud of their accomplishments.
We’re delighted that the building is now almost complete and that we’ve just received a significant grant for the last stage of work to put the roof on the building. In fact, a few weeks ago we hosted our first week long training in the building, despite the fact that it has no roof, or even a coat of paint on the walls! In December, 28 Area Coordinators, who provide in-situ support for our network of Community Health Workers, gathered for the launch of our new healthcare project and took up residence in the training centre. This has been followed by training for educators in January, and fuurther training of health workers in February.
