At 7am, we started loading 1 cargo boat full of 52 bicycles to transport to Government School BEHS (Nal Ta Main), Nal Ta Main village, Htan Ta Bin Township, Yangon division. The village sits on the most outskirts of Yangon Region, the other side of the river is Ayeyarwady Region. During the raining season, there’s no other way to access to the school and the village but only by boat. The village has no electricity and is the only middle high school in the township, therefore most students even if they stay very far from school that’s the only school they can attend.
After loading, our boat left our warehouse at 8.30am. The boat ride is planned about 2.5 hours but it took us almost 4 hours to reach the school because of strong current of the Yangon river. Our boat needs to battle the strong current and wind to reach the school.
The school is by the side of river and our boat reached there around 12.30pm. Despite the challenges, we are very excited to see the students and principal and Teachers welcoming us at the jetty.
The school has 892 students and the head mistress helped us to select 52 students that stay from 2 miles to 5 miles from school. Many students drop out of school because of the school distance.
Due to weak infrastructure, many schools and villages have no electricity or limited access by road. Hope our bicycles will bring smile, happiness and hope to these students. We love Myanmar.
