This year, the Love and Care Employee Volunteer Program, which included employees from the Samsung Myanmar Office, visited the School for the Blind (Kyimyindine) in Yangon. The school acts under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Welfare.

The main aim of Samsung Love and Care Program is to enrich underprivileged communities across Southeast Asia and Oceania. They hope to improve their quality of life, particularly in regard to education and the environment, so every year, since the program was launched in Myanmar in 2015, Samsung Myanmar has organized activities and events to help and care for communities in Myanmar.

“We are very happy to see Samsung employees visit our school as these activities mean a lot to our kids and all of the children have been very excited to welcome the volunteers,” said Daw Khin Nyo Tun, Principal of the School for the Blind (Kyimyindine). “Even though they may not be able to see very much, the children are smart kids who can enjoy every moment to the fullest. They always like spending the day with the volunteers who understand them and can cater for their needs. The children do not like being treated like they’re different.”

The School for the Blind (Kyimyindine) provides educational and vocational subjects for kids and teenagers with visual disabilities as well as teaching students a way to lead independent lives with what they have learned. There are currently 190 students attending the school and receiving excellent help and guidance from the school principal and teachers.

“It’s my great pleasure to participate in this annual Love and Care Program because it gives us the opportunity to give something back to the community,” said YoungSeok Ham, Samsung Electronics Myanmar. We really want to make bigger, positive changes for everyone in Myanmar, so this kind of volunteer program is a special chance for all of us to earnestly contribute to the communities in this country.”

During the program, Samsung volunteers served lunch to the blind students and gave them basic medical check-ups. They observed how the kids learned braille and studied their school lessons. As part of a fun collaborative project, the volunteers also helped paint the classroom partition walls.

“I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this annual Love and Care Program as a Samsung employee. Being able to volunteer here and engage with the blind kids was very special and very rewarding. It was also very enlightening as we came to see the importance of kindness and a good quality of life for the able or disabled … we just need to try our best to achieve our dreams,” shared Khin Wai Lwin, IM Retail MCS Operation Manager at Samsung Myanmar.

As part of this year’s activities, Samsung Myanmar donated braille sheets, stationery, rice bags, a Samsung TV and snacks worth around 8 million Kyats (5,000 USD).

“I’ve been here in Myanmar for nearly 2 years now and we know that we still need to do a lot for the communities in Myanmar. This annual Love and Care Program is one of our key CSR programs being carried out in the country. Yes, we will try to give more back to the people here,” Ham added.

The Love and Care Program has given the Samsung Myanmar employees lots of opportunities to help the local community over the last few years. Initiated in Myanmar in 2015, the Love and Care Program began by helping out at Pann Pyo Lett Monastic Education School. Then, in 2016, the program was held on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the program focused on assisting the Myanmar Network for Persons with Disabilities. Last year, 2017, the program took place at Aung Myay Monastic Education School in Dagon Seikkan, which is a town near Yangon. This year, in May 2018, the Samsung Myanmar employees did something a little bit different and donated their blood to the National Blood Center in the hope that they may be able to save some lives and help those in need.

This project is also a part of the annual Samsung Global Volunteer Festival held in October, a broader approach for Samsung employees to positively impact communities around them.

Reporting by Soe Thura, PR and Citizenship Manager, Samsung Electronics Myanmar, edited by the Samsung Newsroom team

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Deaf children were encouraged to unleash their creativity, making full use of their heightened sensitivity to all things visual

Enabling and Encouraging Visual Communication

“With this book, we want to show that the visual language of images can communicate and generate emotions as well as, or even better than, spoken words,” said Pamela McCourt Francescone, founder of Link for Aid. “To do this, we asked eight deaf children to reveal their hidden potential and talents through photography. It was an exciting challenge, both personally and professionally, as photography is a new medium for them.”

The boys and girls, ages 12 to 15, from the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf were equipped with Samsung smartphones and encouraged to unleash their heightened sensitivity to all things visual. They spent Easter Week (April 1-7) taking photos around the city.

Children from the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf roamed Yangon, capturing the city’s various faces on Samsung devices

Italian photographer Francesca Moscheni, who also gave the children daily photography lessons, led the shoot. The team went to famous places like Shwedagon Pagoda and Bogyoke Market as well as to places that reflect the real lifestyle of Yangon dwellers and their daily routine of urban commuters.

“The lessons were designed to stimulate the children to look at the world with a new vision. I wanted to leave them as free as possible to discover the reality of what they are seeing, and to take photos of Yangon from many different perspectives,” said Francesca Moscheni.

to Highlight the Children’s Interpretation of the City

The book, with texts and color photographs, will be published and available for sale this fall, according to Link for Aid. Proceeds from will be donated to support hearing-impaired children in the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf in Yangon, the Parami Orphanage in Dala and the Nawarat Monastic School in Shwe Pyi Thar.

Along with the book, Filmmaker Marco Armando Piccinini accompanied the group to record the children’s week on video. He plans to submit his work to documentary film festivals around the world. Both of the book and documentary will be part of Link for Aid’s project “The Sound of Images.”

“We gave this opportunity to eight children who are particularly gifted in art and have won prizes for it,” said Daw Nyunt Nyunt Thein, Principal of the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf in Dagon Township. “Link for Aid has been a valued sponsor of training projects for our students for some time now, and we are delighted to be part of this photography project.”

Keeping in Touch with the Community

For this project, Samsung Electronics Myanmar provided the children with smartphones and a training course at its Yangon office. Also, 10 Samsung technicians accompanied the children and provided technical support during Easter Week.

Samsung employees provided technical support throughout the project

“As a brand that cares about the communities it’s involved in, we are much pleased and excited to see these photos. I am sure, when the book comes out, everyone will enjoy it as it will tell you how the city of Yangon looks like in different perspectives – through the eyes of these young, talented artists,” said Soe Thura, Public Relations and Citizenship Manager at Samsung Electronics Myanmar.

Reported by Soe Thura, Public Relations and Citizenship Manager, Samsung Electronics Myanmar; edited by Samsung Newsroom

Additional Images

Samsung Electronics Myanmar provided smartphones for the children to take pictures with as well as technical assistance

Children learned how to use the various camera features available on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

Samsung employee offers advice on how to better use the device

Brand Ambassadors of Samsung Electronics Myanmar volunteered as models for the photo shoot

Link for Aid founder Pamela McCourt Francescone (fourth from the left) and board member Francesca Moscheni (fourth from the right) pose with the children during the week of the shoot