ReliefWeb - Myanmar: “Chit Oo saved my life and that of my children”

ReliefWeb - Myanmar: “Chit Oo saved my life and that of my children”
Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Date: 30 Apr 2009
By Jason Smith, IFRC, Kuala Lumpur

When one joins an international movement, such as the Red Cross Red Crescent, one hopes to meet and work alongside inspirational people whose humanitarian actions demonstrate the power of selflessness. This was certainly true for me and, deep in the heart of Myanmar's Ayeyarwaddy delta, I met someone who did just that.

Chit Oo is a healthy, handsome 20-year-old who joined the Myanmar Red Cross as a first aid educator and disaster response volunteer three years ago. He and his best friend, Naing Linn Htun, had been looking for ways to both help their village and to learn new skills.

Today, he is one of the tens of thousands of volunteers in Myanmar who offered to help during Cyclone Nargis. But his commitment to his community runs deeper than most.
Positive words

"I first joined because I was enthusiastic about saving lives and helping others," he says. These were positive words, but with a sadness behind them. I would soon learn why.
As we walked in the heat along a dusty, narrow road through rice paddies in the village of Kyein Chaung Gyi, he shared with me the story of Cyclone Nargis as it made landfall in his community, which lies a three-hour boat ride south of the town of Bogale.

Early in the morning hours of 3 May, fierce winds, high tides and unimaginable rainfall caused homes to collapse all around him. The rice paddies were filled with water and the roads - just narrow strips of dirt - were all impassable.

Help their neighbours

Chit Oo and Naing Linn Htun had been trained to help their neighbours, so out into the storm they both went. Moments later, Chit Oo saw a woman and three children floating in a flooded rice paddy. None of them were clothed. He jumped into the water and dragged them all to an elevated spot of land. The mother was unconscious. The three children were breathing, but exhausted.

The woman's name was Myint Myint Khine. She was thirty two years old. Her children were nine years old, five years old, and the youngest, Aung Kaung Myint, was only 18 months.

Using the training he had received in Bogale - training that he had passed on to others in his village - Chit Oo used cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive Myint Myint Khine. He then carried all four family members to one of the more solid structures in the village, where they along with other families stayed until dawn.

"Saved my life"

"Chit Oo saved my life, and the lives of my children," Myint Myint Khine told me, having joined us in front of a row of makeshift shops at the end of the road. "I always thank him whenever I see him, but he doesn't want to hear it."

Indeed, as she speaks, Chit Oo stands back, seeming both humble and a bit shy. Myint Myint Khine, holding her youngest, looks down at her older children. "I want them to be Red Cross volunteers. It will make me proud when they get their training one day," she says.

Chit Oo's reserved posture is about more than his humility. Cyclone Nargis, during what was one of the most challenging nights of Chit Oo's young life, had not only laid his village to waste, but had also taken the life of his best friend, Naing Linn Thun. Like Chit Oo, he had been out saving lives, and had given his own life in service to his community. Clearly, this impacted Chit Oo deeply, and he remains emotional about his loss.

"I will continue volunteering with the Red Cross always," he says. "It is my way to keep the memories of Naing Linn Htun alive."

In a sense, Chit Oo's future dedication will be Naing Linn Htun's legacy; his humanitarian spirit will live on as Chit Oo continues to teach his villagers to be safe and as he prepares to respond to the next emergency that could impact his village.