Monsoon Rains
The stifling heat of hot season gives way to the blessed relief of rain and the start of the monsoon season. Suddenly the smoky air is cleaned by the smell of fresh rain. In the poor communities, it isn’t long before the rain brings extra challenges to daily life. To be fair the landscape changes are appreciated, the dry and dusty being exchanged for the lush and green. Children energetically dart out between the initial heavy showers and play. Children will make makeshift fishing poles and attempt to fish in the puddles. These fun puddles become the playground of the mosquito; a place to reproduce. With the increase of rain and mosquitos, there is an increase in illness caused by the mosquito such as malaria and dengue.
Many of the women go out to earn money by washing clothes, this is made more difficult in an environment where the clothes will simply not dry, and the smell of damp refuses to leave the clothing. These growing pools of water will often cause havoc on sanitation, and water supplies become contaminated leading to an increase in diarrhoea illnesses one of the top 5 causes of child hood death in these areas.
Make shift housing is put under stress and many houses leak as a result of the ferocity and volume of the rain. It is harder for day workers to obtain employment during rainy season, as there tends to be less road work and construction crews to join. Lack of drainage means that water sits still and stagnates, and people will have to walk through water sometimes as deep as their thigh to get to where they need to go.
People are often seen sitting in tea shops waiting for conditions to clear, it’s no different in these poor communities, a sense of camaraderie pervades the air that belies the underlying desperation of so many people’s situation.
Monica -SPM Maternal Health Project Coordinator & EMA Lead Midwife
Monica Parker is from New South Wales, Australia and is a registered nurse and midwife. She has been living and working in Thailand and Myanmar since 2009 and is the Co-ordinator of SPM’s Maternal Health Program. She is seconded to work with Earth Mission Asia’s Physician Assistant program based in Kyaukkyi, Myanmar. It is Monica’s dream to train a strong core of professional midwives to serve the Karen people in the remote areas of Karen State. She also wants to help set professional standards in maternal health care. This includes identification and appropriate management of high-risk pregnancy and birth.
Mon is based in Kayaukkyi, Myanmar. She is married to Saw Eh Hsu and, they have two precious twin boys.
