The enriching and life-sustaining impact ECHO has on people’s lives reverberates throughout the world. The knowledge, training, and resources provided at just one workshop through ECHO Asia and its partners in one Southeast Asian nation are helping to improve the success of farmers across the region. In one particular instance, ECHO tools and training were implemented to sustain the lives of 300 orphans in a neighboring country.
Youthful Myanmar farmer Saw Shiesho speaks
with the poise and wisdom of someone twice
his age. Interviewed at just 19 years old, his
great enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge for
his mission clearly shine through. He became
a farmer at age 17 and works the land at Full
Moon, an orphanage to the north of Yangon,
one of the region’s larger cities. He starts his
day at 6 a.m. and tends to the plants by hand,
watering, fertilizing, and harvesting. In the
evening he again waters the crops using a
hose and system of connected pipes leading
to a well.
“In general, young people in Myanmar are not
that interested in working in agriculture,” he
laments. “But I am. I want to improve the way
farming is done here. It is my mission.”
Saw recognizes the benefit of improving both
the quality and the quantity of the food and
is very proud that they use organic fertilizers
such as leaf compost, animal manure, and lime
along with natural pesticides, such as chilies,
ginger, and galangal, a spicy root plant.
“Chemicals can have side effects and are not
good for people,” he explained.
By Joan CooperRusek
ECHO News 3 Summer 2022
The Full Moon farm has the primary purpose
of feeding approximately 300 needy children
living at the orphanage there. Good harvests
producing extra crops are sold at the local
market and provide income and revenue
opportunities.
Saw had the opportunity
to attend a program
presented by ECHO Asia
in neighboring Thailand
in the fall of 2019. He
brought back and
enthusiastically applied
his new knowledge and
skills to the farm at Full
Moon.
“ECHO taught us new methods to improve our
farm and how to build a seed bank,” he said. “It
will have 200 kinds of seeds we will use on the
farm to grow crops.”
The seed bank storage facility was constructed
of bamboo and insulated with mud to reduce
the impact of the local climate’s heat and
humidity.
“We should have airconditioning, but we do
not have the funds for
that,” he explained.
He said initially the farm is
keeping and storing all the
seeds it receives in their
seed bank, but, they will
be able to share them with
others in the future and
pass along the knowledge
and skills they learned at
the ECHO Asia Small Farm
Resource Center.
The orphanage is situated
on a 70-acre farm in
Phugyi Village in Hmawbi
Township. The orphanage
is part of the Lapyiwun Children Development
Family (LCDF), which began caring for about
80 children affected by landslides and conflicts in the Mon State and Karen State regions of
Myanmar in 1998. Two years later it moved to
its current location. In 2002 LCDF was one of
the first children’s homes in Yangon to receive
government approval and registration.
Full Moon was
founded by U Ba
Hla Tin Htoo, who
developed the
land for growing
food and raising
livestock to achieve
self-sufficiency ,and
teach life skills to the
orphaned children.
A demonstration
farm established
later provides tourism opportunities for others
to visit. Full Moon also implements programs in
the orphaned children’s former villages and it
works with them on projects to boost economic
opportunities and create jobs.
ECHO Asia’s relationship with Full Moon dates
back prior to May 2017, when Full Moon staff
attended a work-study trip to the ECHO Asia Seed Bank in Mae Ai, Thailand. Since
then, ECHO Asia representatives have
visited the farm and provided training,
support and ongoing consultations.
Three Full Moon staff members
completed a one-week intensive
internship at the ECHO Asia Small
Farm Resource Center in Chiang Mai,
Thailand and brought that training
home to share with their colleagues.
In working through our partners
the ECHO Asia team has helped
the people of Myanmar during
some difficult years by providing
encouragement, training, equipment,
and resources such as seeds and cuttings
for plant propagation. What began
with one workshop held in Thailand has
continued to bring needed knowledge
and resources to Full Moon orphanage
years later. The children there not only
benefit from the increased harvest, but
also the knowledge they can take with
them into adulthood for continued
success.