Day I:

It is our second day in Mawgyun and the Education Program Manager and I plan to go to the villages in the southernmost tip of the township. It is the hardest hit region in the township and, in the last week, we have been delivering food, hygiene kits and tarpaulin to villages there. We plan to go and discuss with community members about how we can assist them to restart educational activities.

We reached a village, clearly devastated by the cyclone, after a two-and-a-half-hour boat ride. It looked less like a village and more like a temporary settlement with debris of rotting trees and branches scattered all around, little eyes peep out of the rows of huts covered in many coloured tarpaulin sheets as we navigate through the mud and slush towards the village leader's hut. There is distribution of food going on and we are told to wait till the village leader is free to talk to us.

We strike a conversation with the men and women standing near the distribution point. We find out that the village has lost approximately eighty people and that most of the village had moved to Wakema Township after the cyclone. Many of the people are beginning to return now. The men are concerned about beginning work again as most of them have lost cattle and tools, fishing nets and boats. They have not yet received any assistance apart from rice and tarpaulin sheets distributed by the Red Cross. The women are concerned about the skin rashes that the children are getting after the cyclone. The mobile health boat has not come there yet; they have been taking the more serious cases to the nearby village for treatment.

A mother shares her story about losing two of her children to the cyclone and being separated from her third son in Mawgyun town. One of the staff explains that we have a family tracing service as part of our Child Protection program and makes a note of the child's name and description. There is a little girl of about eight or nine standing and watching us. She is carrying her family's share of the rice. I try to talk to her in sign language and find out that she has lost three members of her family.

The village leader has finished with the distribution and we introduce ourselves and explain the purpose of our visit. He says that he needs us to set up a temporary school for the fifty children in the village and more children are returning. He is worried that he will not be able to re-open school without assistance. He shows us an area where there is a concrete foundation where the school can be set up. He also needs more tarpaulin sheets for the returning families.

As we speak to him, the weather has suddenly changed. The wind is stronger and the sky has turned grey, we get a message from Mawgyun office that there is a storm building up and we must return. The village leader also confirms this and insists that we leave as soon as possible. We leave with the promise that we will be back the next day.

We get back to the office and plan for the next day's intervention in the village. We will set up a tent as a temporary school on the foundation identified by the village leader and will identify and assist volunteer teachers who can lead informal recreational and expressive activities. We inform the Senior Program Officer about the other needs and he quickly instructs his distribution team to accompany us to the village next day with hygiene kits and tarpaulin sheets.

Day II:

Three boats of staff and supplies are on its way to the village. The first boat has the Education Program Officer and Project assistant who will be organising the community to set up the tent and will identify the volunteer teacher. The second team is comprised of the Education Program Manager, project assistant and myself. We plan to organise the children and begin recreational and expressive psychosocial activities as the school is being set up. The third bigger boat is carrying the goods and the distribution team.

Our response goes as planned. The men in the community set up the tent as the women bring their children to the area where the activities for the children are ongoing. The children are laughing and giggling as they sing together. The staff organises them into smaller groups for the group games. There are children from the age of one to thirteen years in the group. They all seem to be equally engrossed in the games and they all have different stories from the cyclone. Some have lost parents or siblings while others are left caring for their remaining family. There are children of five or six playing parent to their younger siblings on their backs. This afternoon is a small respite from their adult responsibilities.

We have the monk from the monastic school join us. He volunteers to continue these activities with the volunteer teacher from the village. However, he is concerned about the community's capacity to pay the salaries of trained teachers to resume school. There are no teachers in the village and they would have to be called from Mawgyun. He says that he will negotiate with teachers to come to the school in this village. We offer to support him and explain that our staff will continue to work with him and the other volunteer teacher to continue the activities in the school.

The children have much more to do in their homes than their more privileged peers elsewhere in the world. The smiles and giggles belie the devastating event they have experienced and one can't help but commend the resilience they exhibit. They perhaps model their parents and care givers, who in the face of adversity take small steps towards rebuilding their lives and continue to support each other.

Although it has been a good day, we know that there is a lot more to be done to support these people to recover their life and for their children to learn and grow and to have the opportunity to be children again.

The writer works as an Emergencies Education Advisor with an international relief agency and is currently in Myanmar.