Hand to Hand Charity is
a local project, founded in 2013 by Ma Pu Sue, after she started her Cooking Class business.
The charity project first started with 10 students, having classes in Sue's living room, and the clients of her
Cooking Class as volunteer teachers, who would spare an hour or two during their holidays in town to
teach the children. Year after year, the Summer School started to be more
successful among its community. During the 2020 Summer School, we were able to register
almost 300 students.
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| Pu Sue - our founder |
The project is located in Nyaung
Shwe - Inle Lake, in Southern Shan State, Myanmar. The Inle Lake Region is a
fantastic destination with the most diverse culture and many different ethnic groups living on and around the lake. Inle Lake Region is situated in the heart of Shan State, in the northeastern part of
Myanmar shares borders with China, Thailand, and Laos. Nyaung Shwe is just
about one hour by car from the state capital, Taunggyi.
Inle Lake is
famous for its floating villages and gardens and the unique way of life of the
local Inthar people, with their living communities based entirely on the
water. Here you can find a very special and different rowing style, as
the fishermen wrap one leg around their oar. The traditional
handicrafts are an important part of the local economy, and you get to see
silk weavers and silversmiths trading on the lake. Religion plays a very important part in local life too, and numerous pagodas and monasteries can be found on the
lake and its shores.
Nyaung Shwe is
the tourist hub to visit Inle Lake. It is a small town where you can find numerous shops, restaurants, different types of accommodation, a few stupas, travel agencies, a
mini market, and a local market and bridges crossing the river canal. The town
serves as a pier for the numerous long boats taking tourists to the lake.
The lake itself is located a few kilometers south of a river canal. Nyaung
Shwe can be reached by bus, car, or by plane via Heho airport (located
about a one-hour drive away). You can learn more about our beautiful place checking the Visit Inle website.
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| Myanmar Map |
Hand to Hand Charity is a grass-root the project, run by its founder Ma Pu Sue. At the moment, it only operates during
Myanmar Summer Season (March to May), providing a classroom and a library for
the community children to spend their school holidays learning and improving
their skills and knowledge. It relies on volunteers with teaching experience who are willing to stay for at least 4 weeks at a time.
The Summer School
started in 2013, but it was only in 2015 that we started having skillful volunteer teachers coming for longer periods. In 2017, we started having a
better classroom and library structure to welcome around 50 students. The following year, we welcomed almost 100 students. In 2019, we registered around 180
students and in 2020, almost 300 students enrolled at the Summer School.
The Charity is not a
registered organization yet. It is supported mainly by Ma Pu Sue's family businesses: the Bamboo Delight Cooking
Class and Taste of Bamboo Delight Restaurant. Sue invests 15% of the
profits into her charity projects, and also receives many donations from customers, friends, parents, and the local community, which helps her run the school every year. This was the story of the Hand to Hand Charity started.
Our
Mission
Hand to Hand Charity provides an
environment where young people can learn and practice English skills,
leadership skills, and focus on ethical decision making. To achieve that, we
promote social, emotional, and educational development among our students and
encourage parent volunteering and community involvement in our school. We are
dedicated to enrich and support the lives of children, parents, and volunteer
educators. We do this through communication, by providing resources, and
encouraging involvement in the school and community.
Sue's
message to all
"If
we give each other a hand, we can accomplish everything.
In being good and by doing good, we can make our world a better place for our
children, as they are
the future of our planet."
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| Bamboo Delight Summer School Classroom, the year 2020. |