The case of the two million Kyat

I knew that as a principal in Myanmar at this time of national tragedy I had to do something to encourage compassion, global citizenship and responsibility .I spent the week encouraging our kids in Mandalay to do something to help their fellow citizens in Yangon and the Irawaddy Peninsula. Ultimately, what they decided was the best approach was to donate money.

It is now Friday afternoon and I have about two million in Kyat and since I am going to Yangon tomorrow to do some work in our schools I just take the money with me…right? Do you know how big kyats are and what two million would look like? The money would almost fill my suitcase and then where would I put my dirty laundry? O.K, not a problem…get American currency and take the two thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bills; however we do not have that kind of money in the school and even if I could take the money in Myanmar currency, which is perfectly legal, my secretaries felt I would be so hassled I would end up in jail somehow if they happened to see the money in the X ray and started questioning me.

O.K. plan two. Let’s go buy 60 huge bags of rice and transport it down to Yangon. A few problems…how to transport it? If we send it by bus or train, it could get stolen. Problem two is that the government wants to be the point player on this one and control all the movement of goods and services for distribution. A monk is starting a fund with his own money, but then how do we get credit as a school and business( the second political problem) if we just give the money to the monk’s organization.

What to do? There is a referendum tomorrow so everything is closed and there will be no stores open to buy anything. Secondly, even if I were to take the money down south, there is apparently nothing to buy so we have to buy it here in Mandalay. If we buy things in Mandalay it will have to wait until Monday and may not get to Yangon until about Wednesday. Once it gets to us in Yangon, how will we distribute it? Who will get what? How do we stay under the radar? Are families and individuals still going to be needy? I presume the last point is yes.

So you think giving or acting charitably is easy? Think again.