Michelle Obama’s Journey: Humble Beginnings to Significant Breakthroughs

Do you think it would be possible for someone from a disadvantaged background and an underrepresented community to make significant breakthroughs, and become influential worldwide? It is definitely possible regardless of your social status, gender, race, or skin colour. There were a number of people throughout history who had proved the notion that anyone from any background can reach their fullest potential and achieve their goals - Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen King, to name but a few. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, one of the world’s powerful women, is also a solid example of becoming an inspiring woman icon despite being born as an underprivileged little girl.  

Humble Beginnings to Significant Breakthroughs 

 Michelle’s journey started with humble beginnings: she was born and raised by her working-class parents, Fraser Robinson III (a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department) and Marian Shields (a stay-at-home mom) - who are not college graduates. The Robinsons lived in a brick bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. Michelle went to Chicago public schools. She had to take out student loans to fund her education. Obviously, she was a first-generation college student who had to go through a great deal of struggles to pursue her education. However, being brought up in such an underprivileged community could not hamper Michelle from making significant breakthroughs happen. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Princeton University in 1985 and a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. She became the executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares young people for public service, in 1993. In 1996, she joined the University of Chicago as associate dean of student services, where she developed the university’s first community service program. In 2005, she became the vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She was the first African-American First Lady of the United States (2009 - 2017). As a first lady, Michelle initiated “Let’s Move!” in 2010 - a public health campaign dedicated to solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Furthermore, she initiated the “Reach Higher” campaign in 2014, inspiring every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education . Later in 2015, Michelle - together with former President Barack Obama - launched “Let Girls Learn”, a U.S. government initiative committed to helping young girls receive the education they deserve worldwide. Michelle has been admired worldwide for her intelligence and dedication to public services: in 2019, she was also named the “most admired woman” in the world in a major new US survey.  

What it takes Michelle to become who she is today? 

Firstly, it can be said that who she is today is the result of her growth mindset and positive attitude towards challenges. Taking account of her words "You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages," which she said during her 2016 City College of New York commencement speech and "Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you. Let them make you even hungrier to succeed.” said during the King College Prep High School commencement speech in 2015, it is obvious that Michelle - unfazed by the hurdles life threw at her and seeing the bright side of seemingly unpleasant things - embraced obstacles as a stepping stone to reach her fullest potential. 

 Secondly, Michelle’s pursuit of education has a role to play in getting her where she is now. Michelle, as a student back then, was ambitious, industrious, and committed to excellence. “I worked hard to get the best grades I could in all of my classes. I stayed up late, got up early, and worked on my essays and personal statements. I finally got into Princeton which was the proudest day of my life” Michelle recounted in her speech on the power of education. Undeniably, her hard work and perseverance paid off in the end - in spite of the fact that her teachers told her she was setting her sights too high, and was never going to school like Princeton, the Ivy League University. Michelle also claimed in the speech, “Education was truly everything for me. I was willing to do whatever it took for me to go to college. Getting my degree changed the course of my life.” 

 Thirdly, it would not be complete to miss out the good upbringing she had received from her parents: love and unwavering support, faith in her, as well as encouragement to speak out - which shapes her to become who she is now. In her memoir “Becoming”, Michelle penned how her parents talked to her and her brother Craig like they were adults and never grew tired of asking them questions and provoking conversations on all kinds of topics. “As parents, they are not raising babies but raising adults”. said Michelle in an interview about her memoir “Becoming”, explaining how the real value she felt for her voice in the family inspired her to become such a powerful woman with a powerful voice today. 

The fourth factor which attributed to Michelle’s becoming an influential leader while being a mom (she called herself “Mom-in-chief”) is having a mentor (role model) - which Michelle stressed as a relationship that can make all the difference . "We are living, breathing role models, not just in what we say, but what we do." said Michelle Obama on her podcast called “The Michelle Obama Podcast”. For Michelle, Valerie Jarrett, her former boss, who worked as the head of planning and economic development at the Chicago Mayor's office, had a profound impact on her. Michelle also revealed in the podcast that Valerie helped her realize the kind of leader and mother she wanted to be in the workplace. Michelle, upon witnessing Valeria stopped a meeting to take a call from her daughter, said “She was like the head of economic development one second and Laura's mommy the next”. Michelle also remarked "That made us all more productive and feel like not just our work had value, but our lives had value."  

Leaving a Legacy behind 

 Michelle’s steadfast commitments to shaping a more healthier and educated nation sets her legacy as a distinguished First Lady, whose life story and strong-willed persona inspire individuals from all walks of life across the globe. The way she pushed the boundaries and created her own identity in the face of a myriad of struggles makes Michelle an iconic role model for women of all ages, young girls in particular.

Photo Source: www.forbes.com

Kyal Sin Phu

11 September, 2020 

 

How Improving English Language Skills can contribute to Socio-Economic Development of Myanmar?

 

Before Myanmar’s independence in 1948 was gained, a significant number of records indicate that almost all Myanmar’s university students used to speak English fluently having taught in English as the medium of instruction during the British colonial era, and the quality of Myanmar’s education was ranked one of the tops in Asia.

However, as of today, the vast majority of the Burmese people still lack adequate English language skills despite the fact that they had studied English as a compulsory subject for eleven years in basic education. Some students are taking English language classes even after getting a degree. It is noticeable that the number of youth who speak English in the country is relatively low compared to other Asia Pacific countries since it was labelled “Very Low Proficiency” on 2018 Global English Proficiency Index. EF English Proficiency Index also reported in 2019 that the country took a significantly lower position of 86 out of 100 countries in terms of English language proficiency.

Source: EF EPI Asia Rankings 2019

Driving Forces behind low level of English Language Proficiency in Myanmar

There are a number of conditions that hamper the students from becoming confident speakers of English language. Firstly, a high proportion of English teachers employed in the government’s schools in Myanmar – where massive population of students are educated – are not competent users of English. A report of Australian Journal of Teacher Education on the language competency of English teachers in Myanmar, who participated in EfECT (English for Education College Trainers) teacher training program of the British Council Myanmar, stated that the teachers were weak and had low levels of English. They could not speak fluently in conversational situation, and their English was limited to simple vocabulary – this, in the report, is pointed out as the reason why the teachers use the native Burmese language both inside and outside of classrooms.

Secondly, since English teachers, themselves, lack an efficient level of language proficiency, they are not capable of conducting their classes in English and using English as a medium of instruction – indicated by Gary V. Ireland and Robert Van Benthuyse in their research paper entitled as Contemporary Issues in EFL Education in Myanmar. “Our official language is not English, so we often do not use it. Even in our own classrooms, we do not deliver our lessons in English because we are not confident to use it, and we are more comfortable using our own language”, said a participating teacher of EfECT program, which is also mentioned in Australian Journal of Teacher Education. As a result, the students are not exposed to English-speaking classroom environment and, this, in turn, costs them losing opportunities to speak English.
 

Thirdly, teachers with a low level of English language proficiency are more likely to employ a conventional teacher-centred pedagogy, which results passive learning and a limited interaction between students and teachers in classrooms, - according to a research on “Teacher Training in Myanmar: Teachers’ Perceptions and Implications” issued by International Journal of Instruction. Accordingly, the English language classrooms in Myanmar’s state schools are not dynamic or vibrant enough to conduce effective language learning.

Fourth, English language teaching pedagogy used in government high schools in Myanmar is found to be exam-oriented, training the students for a mere purpose of achieving good grades in exams through memorization of textbook contents – rather than facilitating the actual development of language skills – as stated in a research on “An Analytical Study of English Teaching Skills of Teachers in Government High Schools in Myanmar” by Ven.Suriya.

In the case of private providers of English language courses, the academic credentials of instructors working at language schools are not properly set up in Myanmar unlike Singapore and Malaysia, where teachers are required to hold a recognized TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) qualification, in addition to a bachelor’s degree to ensure that the quality of teaching is standardized. “There are many teachers in Myanmar whose English may be defined as lower than ‘competent user’ (IELTS Band Score 6), but are offering both online and in-person classes nationwide”, said an experienced English teacher who prefers his name kept anonymous.

Source: Harvard Business Review

Why Learning English has become more important to the people in Myanmar?

Since English has been a lingua franca used in a wide range of contexts: education, research, business dealings, science, technology and so forth, “being able to communicate in English is perceived as a valuable asset for the academic and professional development of individuals and the nation’s socio-economic growth as a whole” - stated by Dr. Daniel Brooker, Senior International Education Manager from Cambridge Assessment English, in his research. This is particularly relevant to developing countries because English can provide people with access to various sources of information, knowledge and skills needed to conduct knowledge-based economic activities and produce value-added products and services.

Source: Harvard Business Review

As Myanmar is one of the developing countries, where FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) plays an important role as part of economic reforms, it is crucial to have a skilled and English-proficient workforce that can drive sustainable development of the country. However, an enormous number of the Burmese population, having grown up in an aforementioned unfavorable environment for English language acquisition, has not unfortunately achieved a sufficient level of English Language proficiency to thrive in this age of globalization and fast-paced world - risking repercussions on academic growth, employment opportunities, and career advancement. Thus, it is recommended to provide feasible approaches to effective English Language learning for the socio-economic development of Myanmar.

Comparison between 2018 and 2019 Index

Source: EF EOU Scores Compared to 2018

EF EPI (2019) has reported that Myanmar experienced almost 2 % soar in the English language proficiency while many Asia countries witnessed a downward trend, compared to the year of 2018. It is somehow the good side of the coin despite low ranking, and we are confident that the ranking will probably improve in the following years if the following recommended strategies are systematically applied to language learning.

What are Effective Strategies for Learning English?
 

The following strategies can be deemed effective for a successful acquisition of English language proficiency. These learning approaches apply to not only the Burmese students but also wider Burmese population, particularly those who have spent decades on studying English, but still do not reach sufficient level.

1. Expose yourself to the language on a regular basic

According to International TEFL and TESOL training, the more you are exposed to the language, the more learning opportunities you have to get a good grasp of the language and sound natural. Even though you are neither raised in an English-speaking country nor surrounded by either native or non-native English speakers in your environment, you can still make it possible to get exposure to the language: taking advantage of the Internet and technology, you can have access to a variety of free resources designed for learning English, and thus read and listen to as much English language as possible.

Moreover, you can join English speaking clubs in your area, and actively participate in speaking activities whenever opportunity is given. Furthermore, you can write English essays for your school’s or university’s monthly magazine or chat online in English. It would be more effective if you can dedicate to practicing all four skills of the language on a daily basis.

2. Find interesting things in English to watch, read and listen to

British Council recommends learning English through things that interest and excite you in order to succeed in learning. It is true that having an enjoyable learning experience can help you get regular exposure to the language. Watching TV shows or movies, listening to songs and podcasts, and reading books and magazines in English, for example, can be engaging and gripping enough to motivate you to get into the habit of learning English on a regular basis - in such a way that is entertaining.

In addition, as vlogging has become a trend, following English speaking vloggers on Youtube and other social media platforms, would also be an ideal way to level-up your language skills while natural English with different accents can be exposed to. Learning English through these resources can provide you with enormous opportunities to learn real-life language input - authentic and varied language, which can hardly be learned in your classroom, reinforcing natural flow as you produce the language.

3. Enhance Productive Skills through improving Receptive Skills

Reading and listening are referred to as receptive skills, which is also known as passive skills, since the learners receive information (language input) whereas speaking and writing are labelled as productive skills or active skills as it requires learners to produce the language. Although it is true that you need to speak and write in English frequently in order to improve your oral and written communication, it is also crucial to have acquired sufficient language input through reading and listening so that you can gain more fluency and confidence, and sound natural when writing and speaking.

Starting with reading and writing, these two skills are inseparable in learning English: the more one reads, the better they write - having learnt a better vocabulary and recognized the nuances of the language. Because, it is very unlikely to produce a good written work of your own without experience of reading quality pieces.

Likewise, there is no exception to listening and speaking in this case. Practicing listening skills can have a significant impact on your speaking skill. Through listening to various native speakers of English, you can understand what they say in different contexts and how they say it using appropriate vocabulary, and you can, at the same time, learn pronunciation and intonation.

4. Be Active and Take Control of Your Own Learning

British council also highlights the importance of learners’ autonomy in effective language learning. In essence, you should choose to take more responsibility for your own learning - setting your own goals, doing self-study, and seeking opportunities to practice outside the classroom to upgrade your language skills; rather than being completely reliant on teachers for your progress. Since motivation is one of the most fundamental elements for a successful language acquisition, you should always be motivated to devote yourself to learning English and enhance your language proficiency through various ways.

5. Persevere and Stay Passionate

Throughout your learning journey, you need to bear in mind “Rome was not built in a day”- meaning it is very unlikely to develop a very high level of language competencies overnight. It requires you to exert relentless efforts, and maintain perseverance for a considerable period of time to become a fluent language user. You may not therefore reach your targeted level of proficiency unless you are not passionate and committed enough to learning the language for a certain period of time.

** This article was originally published in Diinsider's Change Magazine on September 8, 2020. Click on the link to read the original piece.

Drones in Tackling COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

 

The popularity of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which are commonly referred to as drones, is gaining steady momentum over the past few years thanks to its ample qualities useful to a number of sectors and a variety of purposes: increasing work efficiency and productivity, decreasing workload and production costs, improving accuracy, and so on despite the fact that they were originally developed for sensitive and complex military operations.

According to a World Bank report on drones for development, the use of drones in development projects entails a lot of benefits: lower operational costs, lower operational risk to development workers in project areas, more efficient planning and implementation of projects, higher quality data available in larger quantities and more flexible, affordable verification tools. Thus, development professionals are increasingly looking into the usefulness of drones since they require extensive data collection, detailed mapping, as well as regular inspections; when conducted in remote or hard-to-reach areas to design, implement, and evaluate a number of projects efficiently and effectively.

The Uses of Drones in time of Pandemic

“Yes auntie, this is the drone speaking to you. You shouldn’t walk about without wearing a mask. You’d better go back home and don’t forget to wash your hands.” The video on a sharp-tongued drone talking to people is shot in Inner Mongolia, China in January. Drones with loudspeakers were flying above villages and cities, broadcasting health information to people, especially old people living in rural areas that lack effective communication channels to information.

From the start of the pandemic, drones are deployed on the frontline to combat the crisis. As remotely piloted devices, drones are naturally effective at minimizing human interactions, which is a key barrier currently for delivering services. They are mainly used in four ways: facilitating communication, disinfecting areas, delivering supplies, and measuring body temperature.

1. With drones, officials can oversee people’s activities and broadcast messages in dense areas of the city without the risk of contact with those who are potentially infected.
    
2. Medical supplies and samples can be delivered by drones to ensure both safety and speed. The UAVs are also used to deliver groceries or food to further reduce social contacts and risks.
    
3. Disinfectants are used to clean the public spaces that are potentially occupied by infected people. Spraying drones can cover 100,000m²  in an hour with a spraying tank of 16L. The speed is around 50 times faster than traditional methods.
    
4. Drones with infrared cameras are also used to take people’s temperature. So that people don’t have to contact the thermometer that has potentially been contaminated.

How Drones are Being Deployed in Multiple Sectors

Before the pandemic, applications of drones, along with their versatility, has already been seen in a wide range of sectors: transport, energy, water, agriculture, urban development, and so forth as reported by Asia Development Bank.

In the energy sector, for instance, drones equipped with thermal cameras can take three-dimensional (3D) pictures and videos to inspect damages, such as dents or holes, on wind turbines. Such inspection would otherwise have to be done manually by workers by climbing up the wind turbine blades using ropes, putting their lives at risk - which can be dangerous, time-consuming, costly, and ineffective. In a study, it is discovered that the use of drones in Argentina has improved inspection results for the country’s oil and gas refineries, and has brought exponential improvement of safety and efficiency to the country’s top-tier Oil & Gas players including YPF, Shell, Petrocuyo, Edelap and 360 Energía.

Drones are also useful for water projects to monitor remotely at specific times such as shortly after a rainstorm when there is typically more sediment in the water. UAV-based monitoring systems offer the benefits of low-cost imaging at higher spatial resolutions and fully controlled temporal scales.

Drones are also utilized in urban planning since drones, having equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors, can not only give accurate data on the number of houses and trees and other physical structures in a given area but also create 3D maps and high-resolution aerial images to help implement the projects. The United States is a country which is employing drones to maintain its transportation infrastructure. Eighty percent of the US state highway departments now have UAS programs to inspect bridges, pavementments, light-poles, and to gather aerial views of highway construction progress.

Drones are also instrumental in the agriculture industry with its current uses ranging from fertilizer planning to weed and disease control and tree and land mapping to crop spraying.

In the case of fertilizer planning, nitrogen deficient areas in a crop can be clearly identified from above using drones fitted with cameras that have enhanced sensors which are calibrated to limit the effect of changing sunlight levels and allow a more accurate calculation of the green areas to be made. Drone operators, in controlling weed and disease, can accurately assess weed and disease levels in arable crops, and then weed species and disease can be pinpointed and targeted with high precision crop control measures.

Having the ability to cover large ground areas, drones can also map hundreds of hectares a day, highlighting ground features and any changes that may have occurred. Such data can be used to give area measurements for administration purposes or fed into machinery software to help the operator avoid hazards such as electric cables, flooded areas, changes in water courses, etc. When it comes to crop spraying, drones are capable of applying small quantities of pesticide or fertilizer to crops, orchards and forested areas. One country which has led aerial spraying using drones is China.

ADAMA: how drones are being used in the agriculture industry.

Potential Future Uses of Drones in Development Sector

In addition to using drones in the face of the pandemic and the aforementioned sectors, the potential applications of drones, according to an article issued by the World Bank, are anticipated in other development work, including the delivery of medical supplies, fighting urban and forest fires, providing internet connectivity in rural and remote areas through a perpetually airborne network, radiological, atmospheric, and environmental sensing, meteorology, humanitarian operations, and natural resources conservation and management.

That being said, the drones have the potential to become a part of the new normal in the post-pandemic world. Some believe that the Covid-19 has brought the Golden Age of drone delivery, especially for the last-mile delivery. Drones are in their ways of becoming the future of delivery business. Amazon is planning to use a drone delivery system in the near future with the goal of delivering packages to their customers within or less than half an hour. The globally famous Domino’s Pizza is also implementing the idea of using drones for the delivery of their pizzas in partnership with Flirtey drone delivery service, and they had successfully carried out their first-ever pizza delivery by drone in New Zealand in 2016.

The Hype or the Clever way?

However, the applications of drones are not without controversy.

First of all, the efficacy and viability of the applications are being questioned. For example, the disinfection of air in the communities and cities is not known to be effective for disease control. Similarly, because drones cannot be close enough to people, the temperatures taken by drones are suspicious.

Secondly, the “drone ethics” is still under debate. Surveillance drones are very controversial, but not many drone companies are dealing with data privacy and protection issues.

Thirdly, it can be difficult to scale the applications. In many developing countries, there are not enough local skilled experts in this field. These “foreign-led, top-down, techno-centric interventions” can result in an exacerbated digital divide.

Technologies are born neutral, how we humans make use of them is more important. We need updated policies and guidelines to boost efficiency and efficacy while dealing with ethical issues. To integrate drones into the solution needs expertise and visionaries across the ecosystem. Time is still needed to see whether the use of drones is hype, or a clever new way to tackle crises.

 

** This article was originally published in Diinsider's Change Magazin on August 4, 2020. Clink on the link below to read the original article.

 http://www.changemag-diinsider.com/blog/drones-in-tackling-covid-19-pandemic-and-beyond?fbclid=IwAR1yeiieHqxYJrtc_gGAeiFqKgmLUA9ygwhPzkTvJeGpmA7iG33XI14lsII

 

Growth Happens Outside Your Comfort Zone

 

Have you ever wished to discover new talents and  passions? 

Have you ever thought of reaching your next level of growth?

Have you ever dreamt of becoming  a better version of yourself? 

If your answer is “YES” to all the questions above, what you need to do, first and foremost, is just to push yourself out of your comfort zone. As said by Maya Angelou, an acclaimed American author and a poet - "If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be" -  you can hardly ever realise our hidden talents and capabilities until you  step out of your comfort zones, and try new things. However, it is, of course, easier said than done, to leave your comfort zone: it can be more or less challenging, intimidating, stressful, and uncomfortable when you attempt to take up new things for the first time. You should, nevertheless, try to get comfortable with being uncomfortable if you aspire to thrive and level up to your premium versions - since new challenges, along with new learning points and opportunities, can shape you into a stronger person in such ways as follows. 

First of all, you can discover new talents and passions that you have not noticed you had. When you venture outside familiarity and try something new, you are normally required to utilize your untapped knowledge and skill-set in order to address challenges and obstacles encountered along the way.Thus, you can find out a new area of work that you are passionate about, and have a knack for.   

Secondly, once you are familiar with being unfamiliar, you can become adaptable to change, and would be willing to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge. Having a drive to learn and improve could help you develop fresh perspectives, and discover new ways of doing things - which are pivotal to optimize efficiency and productivity. Furthermore, being able to conquer your fears and overcome challenges, you are more likely to see new challenges as new opportunities to demonstrate your capabilities.  

Thirdly, you can expand your social and professional network through creating meaningful and long-lasting relationships outside your sphere of comfort. Once you start doing something unfamiliar or different, you are more likely to meet and communicate with new people with diverse backgrounds and personality traits. Since new connections can open new doors, those different individuals you are connected with could possibly bring new opportunities - that you might otherwise not have access to - for your personal development and career growth. 

Fourth, pushing your boundaries can boost your self- confidence and self-esteem as you become more assertive, knowledgeable, and skilled - after you have accomplished things you didn’t assume you were capable of until you leave your comfort zone. As it is said “Success breeds more success”, each milestone you have achieved could instill confidence in you to make another breakthrough happen. At the end of the day, you would possibly be cognizant of the fact that there is more in you than you think.

All in all, it is true that it may seem overwhelming to step into the unknown. It is, nonetheless, worthwhile to embark on a journey of change and growth since you can gain a rewarding experience, which can, in turn, mold you into a better and stronger version of yourself. 

 

This article was originally featured in the Sunday Special section of The Global New Light of Myanmar published on 6 September 2020. Click on the link below to read it in the newspaper.

https://cdn.myanmarwebdesigner.com/gnlm/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/6_Sept_20_gnlm.pdf

 

“How the Burmese Youth are Tackling the effects of “Brain Drain”

Myanmar’s standard of education is lagging far behind the developing world, having faced decades of an underfunded education sector. According to UNICEF Myanmar, the effects range from weak school infrastructures and outdated teaching methods and curriculum to having insufficient numbers of qualified teachers. The 2013 ASEAN State of Education Report also states that the grossly underfunded education system and the scarcity of the state-of-the-art learning and teaching resources have been impeding the country’s efforts to upgrade the education standard. The situation is aggravated by the circumstances in which the students have to learn by rote and regurgitate in exams rather than being nurtured to think critically and develop reasoning skills.

It is undeniable that such a low standard of education results in a lack of literacy, and technical know-hows and life skills that students in Myanmar need to thrive in a globalised 21st Century world. These implications on existing human resources contribute to a very high level of unemployment among the younger generation in particular.

As poverty causes migration, a large number of Myanmar’s citizens (4.25 million according to the “2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census” reported by UNFPA), are living abroad to pursue better education and for employment opportunities. The Burmese diaspora are also very likely to lose connection and are unable to contribute back to their home country owing to the geographical distance and some other circumstances. This highlights that the poor quality education and the shortage of human resources are the pressing issues heading Myanmar towards increasing brain drain.

A Solution is Born

In 2018, a group of Burmese college youth studying abroad initiated a passion project called BridgeBurma in an attempt to counteract the effects of brain drain in Myanmar. With the mission of cultivating collective wisdom, and the vision of increasing talents in their home country, they are dedicated to sharing information, knowledge, resources and experiences that they have acquired abroad with their peers studying in Myanmar, bridging the gap of opportunities and resource access between the local and global Burmese youth.

May Shin Lyan, Co-founder and CEO of BridgeBurma, said, “whilst pursuing state-of-the-art education in Germany and the United States through various scholarships, I have always dreamed of sharing similar education opportunities to youth in Myanmar. Knowing our country is one of the developing nations in the world and as a Myanmar citizen, I feel the responsibility to make sure youth in Myanmar can dream freely without limit, without concerns about finances and without obstacles from lack of opportunities. So for the betterment of the Myanmar’s youth community, my dream is to make their dreams come true through our BridgeBurma platform.”

What BridgeBurma does for Myanmar’s Youth Community

With the aim of educating the Myanmar youth community and enriching their knowledge, BridgeBurma is providing a number of education services free of charge: forum, online and offline mentorship programs, editorials, podcasts and informational videos.

• Forum 

The Forum is the first feature that BridgeBurma developed for Bridgers (the organisation’s preferred moniker for its audience). It allows students to ask any questions regarding education abroad, career and many others, and receive answers and advice from the mentors who are pursuing higher education abroad.

• Online and Offline Mentorship Programs

BridgeBurma has been conducting Online Mentorship programs once a month, and this May marks its 5th batch. Approximately 75 Burmese students so far have been provided with one-on-one education counselling with regards to their further studies and career development. The mentorship program received many positive reviews from the mentees.

On top of the virtual mentorship programs, in the summer of 2019, the BridgeBurma team went to six academic institutions in Yangon and Mandalay, and mentored approximately over 300 students regarding higher education abroad and scholarship opportunities.

• Editorials, Podcasts and Videos

Led by the Editor-in-Chief, Anna Tan, BridgeBurma has recently launched an editorial project, which is starting off as a blog page featuring opinion/academic articles and scholarship news. “BridgeBurma Editorials aims to educate the Burmese community on a range of academic fields from computer science to international relations to economics, as well as through tips on professional and academic development,” explained Anna, on the purpose of BridgeBurma Editorials.

BridgeBurma also has a developing podcast project under the editorials, which is expected to be launched around the end of June or early July. “We do this with the hope that the Burmese online community, especially its youth members, who may not have access to private education can still have access to high quality, liberal, educational resources," Anna added.

In addition to Editorials and Podcasts, BridgeBurma is also striving to educate the Burmese youth through the video content, giving advice on education, personal and career development, and so forth, by its outstanding mentors who are pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in different universities abroad. “We are now working on creating the informative and educational video content to channel the knowledge and wisdom we have acquired and our experiences abroad back to the local Burmese youth,” says Thu Ta Aung, BridgeBurma’s Chief Operation Officer.

BridgeBurma’s Response to COVID 19

In response to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, BridgeBurma team initiated COVID-19 Campaign through GoFundMe and helped the Burmese community by fundraising and mobilizing donations to Myanmar. During Phase 1 of the campaign, the team raised around $5000 together with Ko Ye Foundation and donated over 12,500 masks to the Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) of the Myanmar Government, with the aim of supporting healthcare workers on the ground to have more protective wear. “We thought even though our efforts are small in the grand scheme of things, we were happy to still be able to make a difference big or small. The COVID campaign is aimed to help not just the youth but the wider Burmese community,” said Anna Tan, Editor-in-Chief and HR Manager, who led the Phase 1 COVID 19 campaign for BridgeBurma.

Partnering with the Cambridge University Southeast Asia Society (CUSEAS) as well as Doh Eain/I Do Nation for the Phase 2 part of the campaign, BridgeBurma team also supported Myanmar’s urban vulnerable communities. In the Phase 2, BridgeBurma donated $1425 (2,000,000 MMK) to 200 street vendors residing in different impoverished townships in Yangon, who cannot operate their business due to the pandemic and are at risk of hunger. Each vendor received 10,000 MMK.

“We have always wanted to support Myanmar in any way we can because BridgeBurma is founded on the very idea of giving back to our home country. Therefore, in times of hardships imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we took a prompt action by fundraising and mobilizing donations to the most needed areas of Myanmar,” said Khin Myint Myat Zin, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of BridgeBurma.

For the time being, BridgeBurma team is collecting donations to conduct Phase 3 of the COVID 19 campaign in which another $1425 (2, 000,000 MMK) is planned to be disbursed to 200 vulnerable street vendors in Yangon again, as so they have done for Phase 2.

BridgeBurma’s ambitions on the Future of Myanmar’s Youth Community

BridgeBurma, is now a growing team with the recent involvement of some new members who are the local Burmese students studying in Myanmar. The global and local Burmese youth have come together to work towards cultivating collective wisdom and increasing local talents in Myanmar, by creating more projects and services on education for the professional and academic development of Myanmar’s youth community.

“In the future, we plan to provide additional services like online e-learning, organization collaborations and university linking. Through our online e-learning service, youth across Myanmar will be able to learn world-class educational content,” explained May Shin Lyan on BridgeBurma’s future plans for the academic growth of Myanmar’s youth community. “We will always be there to help our home country and work to the best of our abilities to have a positive impact on Myanmar,” Khin Myint Myat Zin expressed BridgeBurma’s enthusiasm to work towards the betterment of Myanmar’s human resources.

This article was originally published in Change Magazine by Development Innovation Insider on July 3, 2020. Click the link to read the original piece. 

Kyal Sin Phu
Change Magazine 
Development Innovation Insider  
3 July 2020

Challenges or Opportunities ?

Challenges or Opportunities?

It is often said that `` Life is not always a Bed of Roses´´. Certainly, each individual has to experience ups and downs, i.e. both good and bad happenings in life. According to human nature, although we tend to happily embrace decent aspects of life, we are more likely to consider challenges daunting, and feel intimidated. Most of us often have an opinion that challenges bring us only terrible predicaments. From my perspective, if we view challenges opportunities to learn and grow, and take actions sensibily, we can make the most of challenges.

Currently, the news of the Coronavirus has become a very hot issue among the people from all walks of life. Since the outbreak has been causing a significant number of deaths and a great deal of comfirmed cases worldwide, it was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by WHO on 11 March 2020. It is understandable that many people residing across the globe including our nationals panic, and are very anxious of the life-threatening disease. As negative impacts of the pandemic, we are encountering economic and social crises in our daily lives as we are required to do social distancing , stay at home, and self-quarantine to lessen the spread of the virus, and protect ourselves. Thus, one cannot deny against the fact that these aforementioned situations and circumstances are challenges for us to go through and overcome. Indeed, it is sorrowful to encounter such an undesirable national health dilemma. However, on the other hand, these challenges somehow offer us opportunities, especially in the areas of learning and development.

For the sake of being productive during our stay-at-home period in time of the pandemic, a considerable number of the world's prestigious universities and institutions are now offering online courses free of charge. These online courses cover a myriad of fields, ranging from Languages, Humanities, Arts and Designs, to Business, Programming, and Engineering, etc. Some courses even grant certificates to those online learners once they are eligible. Obviously, getting access to such fabulous online courses would be a sort of treasure for those who are passionate to continuously learn one subject after another at their own pace and at the time of their convenience. In addition to online courses, we can also download numerous books of both local and international authors for free, and read the e-books to our heart's content. Thus, those who are avid readers may certainly find their paradise in the prevalent availability of a wide variety of e-books.

Another noticeable opportunity during the Coronavirus outbreak is the emergence of online learning in the education industry in our country. Since the schools and courses are also required to close for a while in order to avoid the mass of people during the pandaemic, many teachers and students are now transforming to online learning.Through video conferencing and group chat using Google Classroom, Zoom, and other social networking sites, most of the teachers and the students in our country are now continuing their respective classes online although learning in our country has traditionally happened in physical classrooms most of the time. As a result, both teachers and students get to familiar with online communication tools, and do apply the usefulness of these applications and websites in the learning process.

In a nutshell, having to do self-isolation at home during the Coronavirus pandemic may be quite tough at times. But, it would be smart of us to exploit available online resourses, and equip ourselves with the skills we want to develop in us while staying safe and healthy at home.

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Kyal Sin Phu

Sunday Special

The Global New Light of Myanmar

17 May 2020