10 Successful Years

10 years ago, U Nayaka, the founder and principal of the Phaung Daw Oo-School in Mandalay (PDO), was laying the foundation of the dormitory for girls. The building was financed by the Foerderverein Myanmar, with funding of the German Federal Government. As the first picture shows, around the site were some bamboo huts with corrugated iron roofs and free areas. Only on the top is a small building, a vehicle workshop supported by the Foerderverein.

Today 10 years later, we see on the bottom right the NTTC school (inauguration in 2013, financed by the Foerderverein with support of the Federal Government), behind the dormitory of girls (completion in 2006), at the top left the vocational school, financed by the Foerderverein with support of the Globus Foundation. The school building was built from 2007 to 2010. You can see the ahead the mud school, financed by the comfutura-foundation, completed in 2011, followed by the staff house (2007, financed by the Foerderverein) and the kitchen with eating place, donated by the Foerderverein. We started with the distribution of 200 meals in 2007; after an extension of the kitchen and the eating place today 550 students daily receive their food which is rich in vitamins.
Further south we constructed a dormitory for boys which was inaugurated in 2009. It was financed by the Foerderverein with a funding of the Federal Government. The school clinic, a three storied building, was constructed in 2008 with support of the Foerderverein. In 2008 we renovated the orphan house (hostel) which was in a miserable state and extended it.

All projects were developed and realized in a good cooperation with U Nayaka and his team. So it was PDO which always decided the guidelines for the PDO development planning and the Foerderverein offered options for action. All decisions were consensual.
With these construction activities and the use of all buildings, the Foerderverein has revalued the life conditions of the students of PDO whose number has risen to 7.500, in the fields of living, nutrition, health and education. PDO is today, conforming to the statement of the Myanmar education minister, one of the best schools in Myanmar. We from the Foerderverein are very proud about our last project NTTC (New Teacher Training Center): a modern student oriented approach in small classes will improve the life chances and the career prospects of PDO students. And we all have taken a great step forward in the process of building a strong and sustainable civil society.