During this relief trip, the group was accompanied by about 20 volunteers. A total of 8 villages in the Bokalay/Ama Township were visited and evaluated.  More than 770 households/families with approximate 3,410 people were reached during the course of the trip.  Initially, the plan involved proceeding directly to Ma Aye Kyi village, however, after informal consultations with Myanmar Red Cross Society and Noble Compassion Volunteers Group (Mon Myat Garuna Shin Myar), and after reviewing their recently updated information and data, it was decided to make Phoe Oo Zan Village Tract the primary destination.  This area is at least 7-8 hours travel by water during normal weather conditions and requires passing throughthe river junction referred to as “Ka Lar Ngo”.

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During the preparition for the donation items

These households were provided with rice, beans, oil, some drinking water, blankets, man/woman clothing, and aluminum cooking pot. The following villages were visited during the trip.
13. Phoe Oo Zan – 343 households
14. Nit (2) Number – 58 households
15. Kokko Khwe – 45 households
16. Leik Chaung – 70 households (prior to this visit, they had not received any support)
17. Kha Mee Lay – 40 households
18. Htun Aung Chaung – 16 households
19. Ywe Chaung – 57 households
20. Shwe Bo Su – 93 households (only 6 rice bags, 93 small-beans bags, 4 housing tools, 19 pots, 2 blankets, 50 men longyi were distributed.)

To the surprise of the team, compared to other villages in Bokalay township, villages visited during the trip are not reached frequently by private donors groups. For instance, Kokko Khwe was visited by “Mon Myat” once. No one has ever visited Leik Chaung and the Htun Aung Chaung villages. Villagers were very happy to receive support from us and they were already in tne process of rebuilding their homes and their livelihoods. The team was informed that death toll from the villages that were visited were low compared to the villages on the other side of Main-ma-hla Kyun. However, all of their houses were flattened and livelihoods were destroyed by Nargis. They, thus, are in need of assistance.

We met with villagers, local authorities and farmers during the course of the visit. According to them, their immediate needs are paddy-seeds for forthcoming cultivation.  Due to the length of the growing season all seeds must be cultivated before 18 July 2008. These paddy-seeds are in high demand and MMK 5,000 for one bag i.e. 16 Pyi. Though they have been assisted with paddy-seeds, due to wide area of farming land, more paddy-seeds are required to meet the enormous demand. The villagers also expressed the need of fuel, especially diesel, to use tillers/tractors to cultivate the land.

Local private donors provided support with in-kind assistance to us for the Bokalay Trip. With the support of local private donors, we were able to deliver the following items during the course of the trip to Bokalay.

Distributed emergency relief items:
1. 100 bags of rice
2. 3 bags of beans
4. 100 viss (50 gallons) Cooking Oil (from other donors)
5. 210 Blankets (from other donors)
6. 210 Longyi (from other donors)
7. 300 Aluminum Pots (from other donors)
8. 100 plastic bowls (from other donors)