Dear Friends of Build a School in Burma,


Seven months after the coup swept away Myanmar's elected government, the country struggles under the twin oppressions of dictatorship and the Covid-19 pandemic. Food, medicine and Covid oxygen are in short supply. About two-thirds of the population survives on less than $2/person per day (the number was 15% before Covid struck).

Build a School in Burma managed to complete the schools we had under construction in early February, but today it remains very difficult to impossible to work with communities to build schools. Existing schools, closed in 2020 for fear of the pandemic, remain shuttered due a strike by teachers and students and now again by government order.

BSB and our 501(c)3 sponsor, Partners for Better Futures, have supported programs to help alleviate suffering and to promote alternative channels for continuing education. We will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen education in Myanmar that do not involve cooperating with the coup regime.

In view of this situation, the Advisory Board and Executive Committee of BSB have decided not to ask for donations this year. If you would like to support humanitarian relief efforts in Burma (food, medicine, educational supplies), you can donate to our relief efforts through Myanmar Humanitarian Relief at Partners for Better Futures, using the following link: https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/6e6dce42-9a35-47bc-a24d-dc4afa2443ba. As with BSB, donations are tax exempt to the extent provided by law.

The Executive Committee, the Advisory Board and I would like to extend our deepest thanks for all the support you have given to BSB over the years. Hopefully, the schools we built together will someday again ring with the exuberance of children learning in a free and healthy Myanmar.

Thank you,

Robert Cornwell
Founder