2 May, Mawlamyinegyun - Daw Win Kyi is 55 years old. She recalls the days and months after Cyclone Nargis struck Lay Ein Tan village in Mawlamyinegyun Towsnhip.

“I had lost all my worldly belongings as a result of Nargis, including my business. But I also gained a precious, little treasure I will love forever. This precious treasure was Mya.”

Mya was born three months after Nargis. Her mother requested Daw Win Kyi to adopt the new born baby.

“Mya’s mother could not afford to take care of her small baby. I felt very sorry for her since Nargis had taken away her husband’s life, her property and her belongings.” Daw Win Kyi said. “Although my husband and I already had six children, the thought of neglecting Mya never crossed my mind. I wanted to care for her and nurture her along with my other children.”

Prior to Nargis, Daw Win Kyi and her husband operated two shops – one selling religious offertories such as coconuts, bananas and sticky rice, and the other selling local building materials such as bamboo and thatches – that helped them support their living and children’s schooling.

After Nargis, Daw Win Kyi started to borrow very small credit when UNDP launched its Micro-Credit Project in her village in 1999. The project provided loans to its clients to support their children’s education.

“The income generated from my two shops was not enough to support my children at school. So I took three to four loans from the project, and with these loans I could support my children to continue their education. Two of my children graduated from university in engineering one year ago,” Daw Win Kyi proudly proclaimed.

Daw Win Kyi also has two other sons wanting to pursue a university degree; however, they could not continue their studies after Nargis because the cyclone took away Daw Win Kyi’s and her husband’s ability to support them.

Five months after Nargis, Daw Win Kyi was able to re-borrow credit from the UNDP Microfinance Project and re-start her former business of selling religious offertories at the village market.

Today, Daw Win Kyi and her family no longer need to worry about food, as she is making a daily average profit of about 2,500 kyat. Her older children contribute to the family income as well.

“With this regular income, I can look after my family and feed Mya nutritious food, food that will allow her to grow strong and healthy to go to university one day,” Daw Win Kyi said. “My next goal is to repair our house. My husband and I intend to re-open a bamboo and thatch shop once we are eligible to borrow again, so that we can earn more and save more.”

Before the cyclone hit the region, there were 50,000 active clients with outstanding loans of more than 3.2 million kyat in the Delta. The Microfinance Project wrote off the outstanding loans and commenced the provision of new loans at the end of 2008.