PROMOTING LEARNING AND LIVELIHOODS IN CHIN STATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000180

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: PROMOTING LEARNING AND LIVELIHOODS IN CHIN STATE

REF: 07 RANGOON 1118

RANGOON 00000180 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Poloff Chelsia Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary. In a country where many are impoverished and
oppressed, the Chins are among the most destitute. Tedim, a
town of 13,000 people located in the remote northern Chin
hills, depends on sparse agricultural production and
remittances from abroad for its meager income. Two
Embassy-funded groups work to make living in Tedim a little
easier. Daikonia Myanmar runs the only public lending
library in the town and conducts computer literacy classes as
part of its Embassy small grant. The Tedim Baptist
Convention used Embassy funding to train 30 women last year
in basic tailoring skills for income generation. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) On February 25 Poloff and LES traveled from Kalay in
Sagaing Division to Tedim, Chin State to monitor two
Embassy-funded grants projects. The town, with a population
of approximately 13,000, is the largest in its district. The
steep surrounding mountains afford infertile soil for
agriculture and only very limited opportunities for trade.
As a result, the town and its surrounding villages survive
primarily on subsistence agriculture and remittances from
relatives abroad. Government workers rely on bribes to
supplement their salaries.


3. (C) Life in the nearby villages is even more difficult
than in town, said Reverend Zen Thawng, General Secretary of
the Tedim Baptist Convention. Many of the villagers spend
their annual income of less than $100 in four or five months,
making the rest of the year very difficult, he explained.
Villagers survive the remaining months of shortage primarily
through barter due to the scarcity of liquid cash.


4. (C) Communication with the outside world is one of the
town's major problems, says Pau Suan Kam, President of the
Embassy-funded library Daikonia Myanmar. In the entire town,
there are only 500 phone lines and no internet access.
People in Ton Zaing and Tedim districts, the two most
northern districts of Chin State, must travel to Kalay if
they want to use the internet. In some instances, a trip to
Kalay from the remote parts of northern Chin State could
involve a two-day hike and then a two-day drive, as is the
case with Tuimui village in which we have another small grant
project. In addition to the difficulty of the journey
itself, some travelers to Kalay face security threats from
rebels that hide in the hills.


5. (C) With funding from Embassy Rangoon's small grants
program, Daikonia Myanmar and the Tedim Baptist Convention
work to alleviate the poverty and isolation of people in
Tedim and its surrounding villages. Daikonia Myanmar houses
a library of nearly 1,000 volumes, the only circulating
library in the town. It receives weekly donations of
journals from World Vision and has benefited from book
donations from the Embassy-facilitated Books for Asia program
of the Asia Foundation. During our two-hour visit, five
large boxes of books that we had sent from Rangoon months
before arrived in Tedim by bus. The library is open every
day except Wednesdays, and Pau Suan Kam said that they have
approximately 30 patrons daily during the week, and 50 on
Saturdays and Sundays. Library patrons primarily consist of
students and a few pastors who use the quiet environment to
study and prepare their Sunday sermons.


6. (C) Daikonia Myanmar also has a telephone line and five
computers that the Embassy funds. Instructors have completed
one two-month computer training course with six students and
they plan to hold another beginning on March 15, which will
also include computer accountancy and English. This course
is one of only three computer courses available in the town,
and by far the least expensive with a cost of $18 for two
months.


7. (C) Pau Suan Kam expressed interest in applying for
another grant to fund internet installation at the library.

RANGOON 00000180 002.2 OF 002


Having internet in Tedim, he argued, would save people the
time and expense of spending several days traveling to Kalay
to conduct business. He believes that once the internet is
installed, it would pay for itself with user fees. Users
from throughout Ton Zaing and Tedim districts would come to
use internet in Tedim, he asserted.


8. (C) The Tedim Baptist Convention used its Embassy grant to
conduct a one-month tailoring training course for 30 women in
July 2007. Women can use their skills to supplement their
meager household incomes. Reverend Zen Thawng explained that
one blouse could earn the food equivalent of 600 kyat or USD
0.52, enough to feed a family of five for a day. Most of the
trainees are married women aged 25 to 35, who need the income
to feed their children. During our visit, three men walked
from surrounding villages to thank us for our support. They
said that the training has helped their families put food on
the table when otherwise there would have been none.


9. (C) The Tedim Baptist Convention has just been awarded
another grant to conduct a two-month tailoring training this
year. In feedback from last year's participants in a
one-month training, the primary request was for the training
to be longer and more in-depth. The Tedim Baptist Convention
hopes to address that need in its new course, which will
target women from the surrounding villages rather than from
Tedim. 25 women from the villages already plan to
participate, along with five women from Tedim.


10. (C) Comment. In Burma, as elsewhere, all politics is
local. Some of the greatest impact that we can have in
promoting democracy and building the capacity of the Burmese
people is in remote areas such as Tedim, completely neglected
by the regime. The Chins were christianized by American
Baptists and remain proud of their ties to the U.S. Lacking
the natural resources that the military covets has meant that
the Chin people have been left to their own devices to
survive. Our small grants empower women and provide more
access to information which will enable the Chin people to
have greater control over their futures. End Comment.
VILLAROSA