MR Kyaw Lwin and his wife stitched together thatch to make a new roof for the bamboo shack they now call home, after their farm was destroyed in the Myanmar cyclone more than two months ago.
They laboured beneath a plastic sheet, piecing together a roof and their lives with 45 dollars donated by the UN Development Programme and whatever resources they can scrape together on their own.
Their village of Kanyinkone in the Irrawaddy Delta, which suffered most of Cyclone Nargis's fury, is among the many farming communities where storm survivors have met their immediate needs, only to now wonder how they will make a living in the future.
Before the storm, Mr Kyaw Lwin said he owned a small shop in addition to his poultry farm and a fishing business in Kanyinkone, a village reachable only after a one hour boat ride from the nearest town of Labutta.
'We have nothing left. All of my business is gone. I don't know what to do now. My hope is far away,' he told AFP desperately.
'The important thing is to get a job first. Everything will be okay after that,' he said.
More than 138,000 people are dead or missing after the cyclone struck Myanmar on May 2, washing away entire villages and flooding fields.
Aid agencies say that their worst fears of hunger and disease in the immediate aftermath of the storm have not materialised, thanks largely to the efforts of local volunteers and the resourcefulness of residents in feeding themselves.
Although the delta is Myanmar's most important rice growing area, damage to the fields is not as extensive as initially feared.
But in the hardest-hit villages, often in remote areas reachable only by boat, residents are wondering how they will eat if they do not return to work to start growing food.
'Ordinary people like us have nothing except for the assistance from aid groups,' farm worker Mr Bo Htay, 44, said.
'Whenever government officials come here, the village headman tells them the reconstruction is complete. It might be complete for him, but it's not for us.' Many rice farmers whose fields were flooded have now missed the main planting season, meaning they will have to buy rice or hope for donations at least until next year.
'Every household is starting life from zero. We want paddy seeds, diesel, power-tillers and draught cattle. We are ready to work. But the problem is we have nothing,' said 55-year-old Mr Pan, another farmer here.
'Now farmers have to ask for rice to eat. We don't want this situation,' he said.
The United Nations on Thursday asked for US$481.8 million (653.34 million) for the aid effort, saying that two million people had been affected by the storm, but only 1.3 million had actually received any international help.
People in Kanyinkone said they were surviving on rice, beans and other supplies from UN agencies and other donors, but many wondered how long the aid would continue.
'We don't dare throw away even rotten rice. Then if the aid stops, we will have that rotten rice to eat,' farmer Mr Thein Myint, 56, said. 'We are ready to grow rice, but many farms are empty.' Ayuna, a 29-year-old Buddhist monk who travelled here from central Myanmar to escort a group of doctors to the delta, said that worries for the future were hanging over the region.
'The villagers can't do anything now. They are just surviving,' he said.
'If they could work, that would ease their mental stress
They laboured beneath a plastic sheet, piecing together a roof and their lives with 45 dollars donated by the UN Development Programme and whatever resources they can scrape together on their own.
Their village of Kanyinkone in the Irrawaddy Delta, which suffered most of Cyclone Nargis's fury, is among the many farming communities where storm survivors have met their immediate needs, only to now wonder how they will make a living in the future.
Before the storm, Mr Kyaw Lwin said he owned a small shop in addition to his poultry farm and a fishing business in Kanyinkone, a village reachable only after a one hour boat ride from the nearest town of Labutta.
'We have nothing left. All of my business is gone. I don't know what to do now. My hope is far away,' he told AFP desperately.
'The important thing is to get a job first. Everything will be okay after that,' he said.
More than 138,000 people are dead or missing after the cyclone struck Myanmar on May 2, washing away entire villages and flooding fields.
Aid agencies say that their worst fears of hunger and disease in the immediate aftermath of the storm have not materialised, thanks largely to the efforts of local volunteers and the resourcefulness of residents in feeding themselves.
Although the delta is Myanmar's most important rice growing area, damage to the fields is not as extensive as initially feared.
But in the hardest-hit villages, often in remote areas reachable only by boat, residents are wondering how they will eat if they do not return to work to start growing food.
'Ordinary people like us have nothing except for the assistance from aid groups,' farm worker Mr Bo Htay, 44, said.
'Whenever government officials come here, the village headman tells them the reconstruction is complete. It might be complete for him, but it's not for us.' Many rice farmers whose fields were flooded have now missed the main planting season, meaning they will have to buy rice or hope for donations at least until next year.
'Every household is starting life from zero. We want paddy seeds, diesel, power-tillers and draught cattle. We are ready to work. But the problem is we have nothing,' said 55-year-old Mr Pan, another farmer here.
'Now farmers have to ask for rice to eat. We don't want this situation,' he said.
The United Nations on Thursday asked for US$481.8 million (653.34 million) for the aid effort, saying that two million people had been affected by the storm, but only 1.3 million had actually received any international help.
People in Kanyinkone said they were surviving on rice, beans and other supplies from UN agencies and other donors, but many wondered how long the aid would continue.
'We don't dare throw away even rotten rice. Then if the aid stops, we will have that rotten rice to eat,' farmer Mr Thein Myint, 56, said. 'We are ready to grow rice, but many farms are empty.' Ayuna, a 29-year-old Buddhist monk who travelled here from central Myanmar to escort a group of doctors to the delta, said that worries for the future were hanging over the region.
'The villagers can't do anything now. They are just surviving,' he said.
'If they could work, that would ease their mental stress
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