A humanitarian and his motorbike

In the capital area of the mountainous Chin State - a region in the Western part of Myanmar stretching along the border to India - a motorcycle has become a lifesaver. The vehicle belongs to the Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation, founded in December 2004 by  a man named Cung Hu, who owns a bookstore. Day and night, whenever donor blood is needed, Cung Hu jumps on the motorbike to pick up a voluntary blood donor and rushes to the General Civil Hospital in the region's main city of Hakha.

Cung Hu's Living Blood Bank has registered more than 400 voluntary blood donors - mainly young people - who are able to supply 95 per cent of the hospital's need for donor blood.

The remote Chin State - one of the seven states and seven divisions, into which the Union of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is divided - is almost the size of Switzerland, but with a population of only slightly over half a million people.

The main objective of the Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation is to provide blood free of charge for patients in urgent need of blood transfusion who cannot afford it otherwise.

The Foundation is financed with profit from Cung Hu's small bookshop and his family economy.

The expenses include petrol for the motorbike and nutritious food such as "milk, eggs, cake, and blood builder medicines so that the blood donors would regain their strength and energy." In addition, the Cung Hu family sponsors seminars for the young blood donors, the information material and posters - and pays for the medical testing of new blood donors. The blood donor foundation of Chin State has so far had no other sources of financial support. "It would be difficult or impossible to continue the good work indefinitely with my own money. So I need help," Cung Hu explains.

"Chin State is far away from the mainland Myanmar. Most people are simple and ignorant. It is very difficult to educate them about blood donation. I try to convince the people to understand the sufferings of patients. Sometimes they have the wrong conception about giving blood," Cung Hu says.

The blood donors therefore will also be introduced to the patients' family, and moral support is rendered to the patients.

During the first four years of existence, The Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation has procured about 1000 units of blood for the General Civil Hospital in Hakha, which also has a small number of its own blood donors.

"The problem has always been blood. Since the hospital has no blood bank and because the supply of electricity to the town of Hakha is not regular, no blood can be stored. Therefore, no blood was available in time for transfusion when there was an emergency. The result was death," Cung Hu explains.

Whenever Cung Hu gets a call from the hospital that donor blood is needed, the next step - getting hold of a blood donor with a matching blood type - is not without difficulties. The young donors, who depend on being picked up by Cung Hu and his motorbike, live between one and eight miles from the hospital and usually do not own a telephone. In addition, there are no trains, busses, or taxis in the capital of Hakha.

"We are usually in an impossible situation, especially during the rainy season. We nevertheless have to send the blood donors to the hospital any time of day or night, rain or shine, or even during storms. Sometimes it can be dangerous," Cung Hu explains.

"We are thankful that local authorities and health department officials have given us encouragement with regard to carrying on the good work," Cung Hu says.

Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation "is impartial, non-political and non-profit, with no discrimination against race or religion."

Myanmar is currently one of few countries without the presence of Rotary International. That has not always been the case. The first Rotary club in Burma was founded in the late 1920's. It is somewhat unclear when the last Rotary club closed in Myanmar/Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962. In 2008, Rotarians again sat foot in Myanmar. When the tropical cyclone Nargis made landfall on May 2 in the southern part of the country, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 146,000 fatalities, Rotarians from the grass-root humanitarian aid organization ShelterBox were among the first to be allowed into the country by the hesitant regime to help the many victims. According to newsreports at the time, Nargis, the deadliest cyclone in the North Indian Ocean Basin, left as many as one million people homeless.

Cung Hu first contacted Global Network for Blood Donation, a Rotarian Action Group by e-mail in July 2008 in order to develop a partnership and has since kept in contact, going into details about his voluntary blood donor organization. For GNBD, serving as an umbrella network for blood donor projects within Rotary International and Rotaract, such a partnership depends, in any case, on the reaction from interested Rotary and Rotaract clubs and districts around the world. 

Cung Hu admits that no "NGOs or missionaries" will be able to travel to Chin State without obstacles. Nevertheless, he invites organizations or private individuals, who would be interested in helping, to contact him.

According to the Red Cross, there only exist two blood banks in Myanmar at the moment, one in Yangon (Rangoon) and one in Mandalay, the country's two major cities. "Thus, unfortunately, the situation described by Mr. Cung Hu is the case in many places in the country," a International Red Cross source tells GNBD. Myanmar has an estimated population of 48 million people. On average, life expectancy is less than 63 years

In December of 2008, Cung Hu traveled to Malaysia and Singapore to bring knowledge about his blood donor organization in the remote Chin State to the outside world, meeting with Myanmar communities in the two countries. 

Footnotes:

Go to the PHOTO Journal for pictures.

Go to FORUMS for testimonials from patients having been helped by blood donors from Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation.

Contact:

Cung Hu

Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation

Hakha, Chin State, MYANMAR.

Tel: +95-70-21558

E-mail: cunghu2007@gmail.com, cvbloodf@gmail.com           

Editor's note:

A full text of the project and future aspirations of the Cung Hu Volunteer Blood Donor Foundation can be obtained by contacting GNBD at editor@ourblooddrive.org .

Cung Hu has become an affiliated member of GNBD.

Send your comment to: editor@ourblooddrive.org