• About
  • Our Work
  • Join
  • Partner
  • Media
EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for monthly updates on Winrock's work around the world.

Volunteer Blog

VOLUNTEER BLOG

Impressive Burma

  • SHARE:
  • Copy

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Daniel Miller, F2F Volunteer

This week’s blog comes from Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer Daniel Miller, with reflections after his return from an assignment in Burma (also known as Myanmar):

For those of you who have not visited Myanmar, you have missed a good opportunity. It is a major Buddhist center with pagodas and monasteries everywhere. The next to last worldwide Buddhist conference was held here about 200 years ago, and the agreements on what constitutes Buddhism were inscribed in 729 marble tablets and set up in small pagodas for generations to come. They probably will outlast the records of the more recent worldwide conference that were recorded on a hard drive. Another pagoda you will want to visit is one of the largest in the world in Yangon, the Shwe Dagon. Supposedly it was originally built by two merchants who talked with the Buddha on a trip to India. Some of Buddha’s hair relics are said to be buried there.

The world’s largest standing Buddha is in Myanmar and is quite impressive. There are a number of other famous pagodas that were built by former kings and are now maintained either by the government or by private donations. Another thing I saw was a wooden bridge across a lake that was built less than 200 years ago to facilitate commerce between the producers on one side of the lake and the consumers on the other side. It reduced the need for boat traffic and made things a lot easier.

Depending on your viewpoint, the best time to come is during the monsoon season when everything is growing and temperatures are cool or during the dry season when it is dry and hotter than a good Mexican chili, but there are no mosquitoes. And on top of that, there are festivals of some kind or other most of the time.

My USAID Farmer-to-Farmer assignments actually covered two areas. The first was to improve the level of management for a group of dairy farmers who were actually doing quite well given circumstances. As in almost every case I’ve seen, the biggest problem is nutrition of their animals. The second area was a group of goat raisers in the central part of Myanmar. Typically the only investment they made in their animals was to build a crude shelter for the rainy season and night time, nothing in the way of supplements or mineral salt. In the morning the goats went out to graze on whatever there was to eat coming back at midday and the evening. Salt and minerals would help a lot at little cost. The stockmen could also plant forage trees to improve the protein level of the goats’ diet. Another thing they should consider is to select based on udder conformation and size and number of kids born and weaned. Since the price of goat meat is almost as good as in the US, they should do well.
–Daniel K. Miller

Posted in Asia, Myanmar, Volunteer Feedback | Tagged cultural experiences, Farmer-to-Farmer, international travel, international volunteer, Myanmar
ABOUT FARMER-TO-FARMER WINROCK VOLUNTEER ASSISTANCE

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS

Loading

ARCHIVE

  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011

CATEGORIES

  • AET
  • Africa
    • Ghana
    • Senegal
  • Asia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cuba
  • El Salvador
  • Ethiopia
  • Field Staff
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Latin America
  • Mali
  • Myanmar
  • Nepal
  • Nigeria
  • Postharvest
  • Rural Livelihoods
  • Senegal
  • Spotlights
  • Volunteer Feedback
  • Volunteer of the Month
  • Winrock Staff
WinrockIntl
Tweets by @WinrockIntl
Follow @WinrockIntl

204 E 4th Street | North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114

ph +1 501 280 3000 | fx +1 501 280 3090

2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 700 | Arlington, Virginia 22202

ph +1 703 302 6500 | fx +1 703 302 6512

  • Contact
  • E-News Signup
  • Low Bandwidth
  • Code of Conduct
  • Winrock Privacy Statement
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © 2015- Winrock International
DEV ENVIRONMENT