Youth Society for Education, a non-profit organization run by Myanmar youths, is raising funds and implementing projects to support the community suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. “I know now is a difficult time for everyone. But our motherland needs more support to overcome this crisis. So, we need all hands on deck to help our people,” Ko Kyaw Tun Naing, CEO of Youth Society for Education, urged his friends and colleagues.

“We are planning to donate N95 and surgical masks to the frontline hospitals. As far as I know, there are more than 500 healthcare workers in government hospitals including East Yangon General Hospital, West Yangon General Hospital, Yangon Workers’ Hospital and New Yangon General Hospital,” Kyaw added

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, YSE has just successfully implemented their first project of the COVID-19 Pandemic Aid Package as a part of the organization’s “Health Matters Project (HMP)”. The Health Matters Project was founded in 2018 to assist patients with chronic medical conditions by providing financial support for the medications every month. For this month’s HMP, YSE donated 1600 surgical masks and 400 N95 masks to four government hospitals, New Yangon General Hospital, Insein General Hospital, Hlaing Thar Yar Hospital and West Yangon General Hospital on April 6th.

“We’re really thankful for YSE’s donation. The amount [of masks donated] will be sufficient for our department to use for the whole month,” Dr. Myint Myint Than from the Department of Anesthesia, New Yangon General Hospital said happily.

The mask donation was indeed just a beginning of YSE’s effort to help their community fighting against the COVID-19 Pandemic. The second project of YSE’s COVID-19 Aid Package is now under way. The “Food Matters Project,” started on April 8th, to provide 600 lunch boxes and 1200 surgical masks to anyone who is in need of essential supplies in South Okkalapa Township. The Food Matters Project will be continued for six days throughout April and May; 100 lunch boxes and 200 surgical masks will be given away on each FMP day.

“All of the hundred lunch boxes and surgical masks were completely taken within a couple hours on the first day. I felt it very rewarding as I watched many trishaw drivers (who are economically most affected by the Pandemic) taking our lunch boxes with a bright smile on their faces. All our hard work got totally paid off,” Gandamar Kyaw, Executive Coordinator of YSE, shared her experience.

“YSEers from all departments including from Community Outreach Department, PR, and Finance to Social Media Team have been very busy everyday organizing the COVID-19 Response Projects. All of us were thrilled every time we received funding to implement our projects,” Gan said. The third project of YSE’s COVID-19 Aid Package is scheduled to be launched by the end of May.

“We are planning to see how things will change after the Food Matters Project ends. If the COVID-19 Pandemic is under control, and schools will reopen in June, our last COVID-19 Aid project will be focusing on students who would need financial assistance to go back to school.” Gan explained their next step to help the community.

On top of that, YSE just launched a scholarship program for high school students in 2019, and awarded four high school students with 500,000 kyats each for the 2019-2020 academic year. “We are planning to expand our scholarship program to include elementary and middle school students in the upcoming years. The COVID-19 pandemic hit hard on the economy and especially, families living on daily wages may need support with the education of their children when they return to school. We are now trying our best to pool up the necessary funds to help as many students in need as possible within our reach,” Akayi Thein, Executive Director of YSE said.

Currently, Youth Society for Education is raising funds with the slogan, “Let’s Support Our Frontliners and Community Together with YSE!”

If you would like to support the mission of YSE and donate to their fundraiser, please visit their website and Facebook Page.

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