We had the school orientation yesterday May 7th to explain about the program and A Shar lead the students in getting to know each other by asking lots of questions through an icebreaker game. We had 7 students from North Dagone, Swe Pyi Thar, and Yankin townships here in Yangon. I gave an opening speech on youth in Myanmar and the needs that the school meets. Mary handed out and explained a test that helped students understand their temperament and behavioral styles which relate to business. I followed that up by talking about understanding their skills and narrowing business ideas that most fit them. They came up with being a shrimp and crab wholesaler, fixing electronics, making and selling fried snacks, grocery store, dried tofu seller, restaurant owner, and rice miller. After all that, we had lunch, which ended our wonderful morning.
Around 1 p.m. Teacher Saw Say Htoo arrived and taught on Budgeting and Accounting. We have planned too much material for the students to learn so we’ve had to make adjustments after only the first day of teaching. Luckily we have really good teachers who understand the situation well enough to adjust as we go along. We really think our program is very good but will have to be adjusted to tweak it to fit the students that we have. We’ve been anticipating this day for the past 2 years. Day 1 was a huge success and we are on the road to empowering these 7 youth to start their own businesses to impact their communities.
Ryan Russell
Executive Director of Opportunities NOW