What We Do

Our Mission Statement, as stated in our constitution, is :

to prevent or relieve financial hardship in South West Myanmar by providing or assisting in the provision of education, training, healthcare projects and all supports necessary to enable individuals to generate a sustainable income and become self-sufficient.

One of the main ways we do this is by teaching English, the language of commerce which will help young people improve their employment prospects, through dedicated active lessons over an intensive two-week period in Pathein, SW Myanmar, each January. Over the last two years we have built what we feel is a very good model, with native English speaking teachers being supported by fluent, bilingual assistants of various nationalities, who themselves have had to learn English and its tenses and rules. We also leave a range of resources for students to access to enhance their learning and build on our work, throughout the year.

Because of the global pandemic we are unable to travel in 2021 but plan to take a team to Myanmar in 2022. If you are interested in finding out more or think you might like to join us, please email ahtutucharity@gmail.com and we will get in touch.

In 2020 we distributed more than 200 Days for Girls kits to Pathein Women’s Prison. We visited the schools we support in Phan Khar Gone village, taking toys and books and leaving sufficient money to continue the nutrition programme at the nursery school. We visited the ECD school we helped build at Saar Phu Su village. Most importantly we planned a substantial project for January 2021 (now moved to January 2022).

In 2019 we carried out more work at the orphanage and with the village school. We enable a nutrition programme to continue at the ECCD school in Phan Khar Gone Village – 850,000MMK. We took $125 of resources to the Street Kids hostel in Pathein. We distributed around 250 hygiene bags to prisoners and orphans and took family packs to the village. We took 70 Days for Girls kits into the Women’s Wing of Pathein High Security Prison and they have requested 130 more which we will take out in September. In addition we took out Grifaid water filters to be trialled in the field by KMSS Pathein along with sample Days for Girls kits. We left 2,500,000.00 MMK to construct a new ECCD Centre in Sao Phu Su Village and 1,234,000.00 MMK for the scholarship for poor students in rural areas to be sponsored to attend school on the recommendation of the village elders or parish priests.

In 2018 we took $6000 donated by supportive relatives, friends and parishioners of St Etheldreda’s RC Church, Ely. This included a very kind anonymous donation and a generous grant from the Monamy Trust.

We spent this, supported by KMSS Pathein’s management skills, on:

funding the building of a ceiling in the dormitory of the Family Home Boys’ Orphanage ($2400)

helping to support the ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) Schools in Phan Khar Gone village and another three adjacent villages(4 x $500 = $2000)

Phan Khar Gone’s $500 has gone to support a school in Nutrition Programme at the ECCD School

funding a girl from St Mary’s Girls’ Orphanage to go to university to further her studies ($1000)

buying and distributing 135 hygiene bags containing comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and soap

buying and distributing 15 family hygiene bags along with tubs of washing powder and a sack of rice in Phan Khar Gone

resourcing six small projects to improve the grounds of the Family Home Orphanage

buying students’ folders to keep together their English materials ($600 for this and the three items above it)

In 2017, we were delighted that Edinburgh Napier University sponsored Dr Kate Durkacz, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, to join us and in 2018 she brought two current and one former students with her, also sponsored by the generosity of the university, which continued to support the attendance of three students in January 2019. Financial and other contraints mean this will not take place in 2020 but indications are that this valuable link will continue in 2021.

Ahtutu is committed to ensuring all young people and vulnerable adults are protected and have asked all volunteers from 2019 to undergo full DBS checks.