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Build a School in Burma From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

Burma also known as Myanmar, is one of the poorest countries in the world. United Nations says people there earn an average of about $460 a year. For more than twenty years, the military ruled the country leading to international economic sanctions. The country now has an elected government and international aid has begun to arrive, but there are few resources for education in rural villages. Bob Cornwell and the group called Build a School in Burma are trying to change that. Three years ago, he was a financial advisor to several foreign governments. Today, he is building schools in Burma. "We're really trying to help kids on the margin who wouldn't otherwise get an education, and kids not having an education is just a recipe for every kind of personal disaster." He met some of those children in 2010. He and a friend were traveling from village to village in the northwestern province of Burma. "None of these villages had electricity. Many of them are not really accessible even by road. And lots of kids. Maybe like five on average per family. No school." Bob Cornwell returned to his home in California. Back home, he learned that the cost of building a primary school in Burma was just $15,000 to $20,000. So he sold his interest in the financial consulting company that he had started 25 years earlier, and returned to Burma. He looked for villages that would give land and construction help in exchange for school. Rick Heizman, an expert on Burmese music volunteers to help. He had been working on humanitarian and education projects in Burma for more than twenty years. Rick Heizman is married to a well-known Burmese harpist Su Wei. They live in San Francisco, California. But they return to Burma often to visit the school projects. Su Wei says the children are excited to learn to read and write, and she says their parents are happy that their children can get an education without having to leave their village. "You know, The school is inside their village, nearby, so, at least, they don't have to worry about taking the kids to the school in faraway places. You know like that." Build a School in Burma has built two schools, and a third one is almost completed. In June, construction or renovation began on two more. Bob Cornwell says the group works with community leaders. "They have a very good connection to the local people. They understand what the needs are. So having someone who really understands the local situation is crucial. They are underground there all the time, so we really focused on those groups." Bob Cornwell is applying for grants and asking for donations, so he can build more schools. He says spending his retirement years this way has made him happier than he ever imagined he would be. And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English, I'm Jerilyn Watson. Findings Could Help Slash Child Malnutrition Experts say funding child nutrition is the highest profityielding strategy any country can take. If children are starving, they get sick more easily, need more costly health care, and earn less than adults who had the right nutrition. Child malnutrition is a global problem. It exists even in rich countries. It affects a large number of children in Asia, especially in south Asia.

In parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, it threatens child survival. Dr. Peter Salama represents UNICEF, the United Nations children's agency, in Ethiopia. "Almost every country in Africa today has an acute rate of malnutrition. The question is how high it goes," he said. New studies published in the Lancet medical journal show that malnutrition causes 45 percent of all deaths in children under the age of five. Other children suffer stunting, meaning their body and brain fail to develop properly. The problem starts in the womb, says Dr. Robert Black of Johns Hopkins University, who headed the series. Undernourished mothers have fetuses that dont grow as well, so fetal growth restriction itself is a problem. Babies who are born small for their gestational age have increased mortality and increased stunting and developmental problems later," he said. The researchers say if countries take some simple measures, they can save the lives of one million children a year. The proposals include giving pregnant women folic acid and calcium supplements, promoting breast feeding, and giving young children vitamin A and zinc supplements. The Lancet reports that cutting child malnutrition by 20 percent would cost nine billion dollars. Harold Alderman is with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington and one of the Lancet series' authors. For every dollar invested, you can get between eight and ten dollars of economic returns," he said. "And when I do these studies, I say 'look, nobody knows how to say how valuable is saving a life.'" Alderman says governments profit when they keep children well fed. Im a little puzzled as to why governments still think of investments in nutrition, as how you compensate the poor, 'but well do our productive investments elsewhere.' These are productive investments. There is no question. The numbers are there," he said. Alderman says investing in child nutrition will improve a countrys economy because well-fed children do better in school and eventually become a stronger labor force. That statement is supported by other research showing that adults who were malnourished as children earn 20 percent less than those who had proper nutrition. Trustina Sabah contributed to this report. UN Warns Rising Fuel Costs, Inequalities Raise Risk of Social Crisis A senior United Nations official warns that economic inequalities in the Asia-Pacific region could worsen as energy costs rise. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, energy security and poverty reduction are key themes at this week's meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. To the strains of Verdi's "Va Pensiero", the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific opened its annual conference Monday. The delegates in Bangkok will focus on the need to secure affordable energy to fuel the region's development.

UNESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer said in her opening address that rising social inequalities, exacerbated by record high oil prices, could trigger an "imminent crisis" if lower-income groups begin to lose ground. "Income inequalities have led, among others, to serious social and environmental imbalances. An increasing part of the region house the world's poor and live in areas where the environment is under stress," she said. "The poorest people may use less energy but actually pay proportionately more than the rich for energy services. These high levels of inequality erode social cohesion in the region." The Asia-Pacific region is home to 641 million of the world's poor. Many development experts fear that number will increase because of rising food prices and rocketing oil costs. Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej urged the delegates to push for reforms that ensure environmentally sustainable energy supplies. "Our region urgently and seriously needs to consider energy management reform, promotion of cooperation in the energy sector, efficient energy usage, clean energy promotion, and development of alternative and renewable energy," said Samak. A new UNESCAP report calls energy security the key challenge to the region's development. The report says energy consumption in the region has doubled since 1980 because of high economic growth and growing populations. Over the next 22 years, it says, the region will need up to nine trillion dollars in new infrastructure to meet its energy needs. UNESCAP chief Heyzer says governments can not do the job alone. "It's time to hold the private sector accountable and obviously they are a player and they have to be accountable to progress and also the way they use scare resources," she said. "At the same time, governments have got to have the right policies." The U.N. report urges governments to work with businesses to find renewable energy sources for the region. China's Elder Care Law a Struggle for One-Child Families July 18, 2013 A new law in China requires adults to provide mental and financial support for their elderly parents, or face fines and other penalties. The regulation entered into force earlier this month, adding new burdens on a generation of urban single children who struggle to live up to traditional standards of filial piety. Chinese families used to live three generations under one roof, but mounting work pressure is scattering members into different directions. With the need to find jobs, pursue careers and gain financial independence, many young people leave home. Older parents frequently are left behind. Generations Strain

Han Yujing, manager of the Qianhe retirement home in Beijing, says it is easy for young generations of single children to lose touch with their parents. They live in a transition time where they have both older and younger generations to look after. Here they have their work and their career. They have to try and manage elder parents, family and work, allocating the right amount of energy and resources, he says. The nursing home opened for business this year. It accommodates about 50 people whose children are concerned with giving the kind of physical and mental care that they themselves are not able to provide. Children of people living here know that, beside material needs, spiritual life is also very important, says Han Yujing. One of the main reasons families are willing to pay monthly expenses of about $650 (4,000 yuan), he says, is that they want their parents to live with dignity and without loneliness in their twilight years while apart from their relatives. Lu Jiehua, a professor of population studies at Peking University, says 90 percent of older people live off their family's support. However, as the number of children shrinks due to family planning policies, there are few supporting resources for the elderly. And now we have a floating population of more than 200 million, which means there are many elderly empty-nest or old people living alone, he says. An Elderly Dilemma Lu Xinling, an 80-year-old retired school teacher in Beijing, felt like she was a burden when she was living at home with her family. Her relatives had no time to spend together and she was often at home alone. The kids come back at night and we only have Saturday and Sunday to get together. The rest of the time they go to work before I wake up and come back when I go to bed, she says. Routine daily tasks, such as cooking or doing the laundry, would stir conflict within the family unit. Lu started to feel the generation gap. Those who wish to have a career and raise a family at the same time have a huge burden; they have the heart but dont have the strength, she says. Earlier this year, Lu Xinling moved into Qianhe nursing home, after she read an advertisement for it in a newspaper. It seemed the perfect solution: theres a hospital nearby, rooms remind her of home and she even got a discount on the monthly fee. Im not lonely here, if I want life I just go outside and meet people, if not I just stay in my room and watch TV, she says. Lu Xinling says she has found companionship with other residents, sharing interests and hobbies and chatting about problems they face. She says she keeps in touch with her family, calling home often and using the Internet. Business For An Aging Society

By the end of the year in China there will be more than 200 million people over the age of 60 years. With the new law requiring adults to support elderly parents, many see a business opportunity. Websites like Taobao, the online shopping platform, offer services to visit elderly parents in place of their families. Since the start of this month, more than one hundred elderly care service providers have been registered on the website. They offer families an alternative way of demonstrating filian piety, at prices that range from around two dollars to more than $300. However, Professor Lu Jiehua says caring for the emotional needs of parents is usually more difficult than ensuring their material well-being. Surrogate attention from external services will not make up for a lack of love. People who work in a different city send money home to their elderly parents and provide material support. But the biggest problem is when they get ill, who is going to look after them? These children live miles away. And the elders also suffer emotionally," he says. And there are other moral questions that the law will not fix. The issue of filial piety and taking care of elder parents involve moral aspects that cannot be solved by enforcing a regulation, says Lu Jiehua. Even though the law can make a difference, it can also drift apart domestic affection, friendship and love for the elders. Earlier in July a woman in Jiangsu province was the first to sue her daughter for dereliction. A court ordered the young woman to pay compensation and visit her mother every two months. Sustainable Care In order to relieve younger generations from being the only ones responsible for their parents welfare, the Chinese government is now promoting more community and institutional support for the elderly. Although many welcome the law, Lu Xinling has sympathy for younger generations under pressure. We cant say theyre not filial. They are just unable to be so, she says. Hunger - New Causes for Same Old Problem Jill Moss - October 21, 2007 This is the VOA Special English Development Report. The United Nations says more than eight hundred fifty million people do not have enough food. For this year's World Food Day observance last week, VOA reporters examined the current causes of hunger. Poverty, disease and conflict have historically threatened food security. Now, rising food prices and issues like climate change add to these threats. A new study warns of future losses in world food production because of crop damage from changes in the weather. William Cline wrote the study from the Center for Global

Development in Washington. He says countries closest to the equator will be hardest hit. For example, he predicts that if nothing is done, global warming could cut India's food production by up to forty percent by the year twenty eighty. Africa and Latin America could lose twenty percent or more. Governments concerned about global warming and dependence on oil are investing in biofuels from corn and other plants. But Lester Brown at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington says demand for fuel crops is pushing up food prices. He says the world's eight hundred sixty million automobile owners are now in direct competition with the two billion poorest people. This comes as grain supplies are at their lowest level in years. Experts see a number of reasons. These include not enough investment in agricultural technology. A loss of farmland to development. Droughts and floods made worse by climate change. And, growing competition for water. Population growth also means a greater demand on food supplies. The United Nations predicts a population of more than eight billion by the year twenty thirty. By that time, demand for animal products could double, led by growing economies like China and India. Francois Le Gal of the World Bank says climate change and the globalization of trade raise the risk of spreading animal diseases. Experts say most countries are not ready for a health crisis caused by a disease jumping to humans. And, finally, they say the growing population of cities is adding to the world's hunger problem. Danielle Nierenberg at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington says the poor can spend fifty to eighty percent of their money on food. She points out that city people do not have farm animals to sell in times of need. So they are especially threatened when prices go up. And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. Slowing Growth in China Could Affect Its Neighbors July 24, 2013 Economists are warning that Chinas slowing economic growth may be something for neighboring countries to worry about. Milagros Ardin has more. Last week, China reported that its economy grew seven and a half percent between April and June, compared to the year before. The growth rate was generally what economists expected. But it was far less than nearly 10 percent rate that China experienced for many years. The slowdown is partly the result of continuing weakness in the international economy and the policies of Chinas central government. Chinese officials have been working to cool some areas of the economy by making it harder to borrow and by permitting the value of the countrys money, the yuan, to rise. The slowing Chinese economy has increased concern across East Asia and the Pacific. Chinas continued growth has helped the area survive the international economic crisis since 2008.

Donghyun Park is an economist with the Asian Development Bank. He says the slower growth shows Chinas past policy of growth at all costs may have passed. The Chinese authorities are more than prepared to swallow or accept slower growth in exchange for greater stability down the road. In recent years, Chinas government has provided support to investors and lenders to keep the economy growing at almost 10 percent a year. Such growth lifted millions out of poverty. But the expanding economy also led to rising concerns about its environmental and social effect. Now that China is willing to control growth, nearby countries are predicting slower growth in their most important industries. For years, Australia and Indonesia have profited from Chinas demand for raw, unprocessed, materials. Mr. Park says the outlook for economies in Asia and the Pacific is a mixed one. But in the end, what is good for China is also good for the rest of the area. Im Milagros Ardin. We hope you enjoyed todays show. Let us know what you think by visiting our website, learningenglish.voanews.com. Clinton In Hanoi Matt Steinglass - Hanoi - December 07, 2006 On a visit to strengthen efforts to provide HIV/AIDS treatment, former U.S. President Bill Clinton strolled the streets of the Vietnamese capital, met with young Vietnamese and discussed the work of the newly opened Hanoi office of The Clinton Foundation. But beyond the public relations effort, getting the details right in treating people living with AIDS will still take time, as Matt Steinglass reports for VOA from Hanoi. Mr. Clinton went for a walk around Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake this morning. In an echo of the exuberant reception he received on his first visit to Vietnam in 2000, when he was President of the United States, dozens of Vietnamese citizens came up to him with greetings, giggles and requests for autographs. Later, in his meeting with President Nguyen Minh Triet, Mr. Clinton said he counts the normalization of relations between the two former enemies as one of the major achievements of his administration. He said, "I think the political and economic and personal ties which have grown up between our two peoples in the last 10 years or so are a good model for what our world could be in the twenty-first century." The former president was in Vietnam to visit the new office here of the Clinton Foundation, which works on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, especially in children. Vietnam officially lists 250,000 people with HIV, but unofficial figures are higher. Mr. Clinton signed an agreement with Vietnam's Ministry of Health that will provide a year's worth of anti-retroviral or ARV drug treatment to 800 children and 900 pregnant mothers, as well as training for health staff. Later in the day, Clinton held a panel discussion with six young Vietnamese, including the HIV-positive activist Pham Thi Hue. She says the efforts of foreign organizations and the Vietnamese government are having an effect. Hue said stigmatization of HIV-positive people is declining, and drug treatment improving. But some experts have questioned the Clinton Foundation's exclusive focus on children and pregnant women. They say

that in some cases children receive treatment, but not their parents, or the other way around. Doan Thi Quyen, an HIV-positive mother from Haiphong, was in the audience at Clinton's event. She and her six-yearold daughter receive drugs through separate programs. Other parents are not so lucky. Quyen says in Haiphong, many parents do not receive ARV drugs, and have less access than children do. Mr. Clinton said the focus on children was necessary, because until recently, few children in the developing world were receiving treatment. In the meantime, he said, the most important task is to educate people, and to reduce stigma towards people with HIV. As Vietnam Gets Richer, Donors Give More Aid Hanoi - December 08, 2007 International donors have pledged $4.4 billion in development assistance to Vietnam for 2008, $1 billion more than the country received this year. Vietnam's economy is growing fast, but donors say the money is needed for infrastructure improvements and other programs. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi. Vietnam's Minister of Planning and Investment, Vu Hong Phuc, announced the figures here Friday at the annual meeting of aid donors to Vietnam. Phuc says donors have pledged $5.4 billion for 2008, an increase of nearly 20 percent over 2007. The figure includes $1.35 billion from the Asian Development Bank, and $1.1 billion each from the World Bank and Japan. Vietnam's economy is growing at more than eight percent a year, but donors say that is partly why it needs the aid. Most of the new assistance consists of loans for infrastructure improvements, the ports and roads needed by Vietnam's export-driven industries. Ayumi Konishii, Vietnam director of the Asian Development Bank, says private sources cannot supply the needed capital, and official direct assistance is still needed. "If you really look at how much the private sector is contributing to the development of infrastructure, it's very limited," said Konishii. "You still have to depend on the government funds and ODA for the infrastructure buildup." The World Bank's Hanoi representative, Ajay Chhibber, said donor satisfaction at Vietnam's implementation of aid projects was the highest of any country in the world. "This is about a 20 percent increase over last year, and really it affirms how strongly the donor community stands behind the plans that the government has [for] taking this country forward," said Chhibber. European countries pledged some $960 million, and the United States pledged $114 million. But their demands to Vietnam were more stringent than those of the larger Asian donors. Both the U.S. and the European Union called on Vietnam to do more to fight corruption, and to allow greater political freedom for its citizens. An EU statement issued at the meeting said "too many Vietnamese citizens are still imprisoned or detained for the peaceful expression of their personal views." Planning Minister Phuc did not mention human rights, but he did talk about corruption. Phuc says corruption is an issue many developing countries face, not just Vietnam. He says Vietnam is determined to fight it. Vietnam hopes to prevent a repeat of a scandal earlier this year, in which a Transportation Ministry unit that had worked on World Bank projects was found to be riddled with corruption.

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