Eden Centre to open new branch
THE Eden Centre for Disabled Children, a local non-government
organisation, is hoping to finish construction on its Disability
Development Centre in Hmawbi township in Yangon Division by the
end of this year.
U Tha Uke, the managing director of the centre, said construction
started last January with funding from international donors and
was now 80 percent complete.
He said he hoped the centre would be open by next year, providing
training courses on disability equality, community-based rehabilitation
and disability awareness, as well as volunteer and caregiver trainings
targeting the local community.
“The centre will also provide training courses about information
technology and management for persons with disabilities,”
he said, adding that the courses will range in length from five
days to two weeks.
U Tha Uke said another branch of Eden Centre called the Yangon
Disabled Resource Centre (YDRC) will move to the Young Men’s
Christian Association building in Botahtaung township in the first
week of December.
YDRC opened last January on 19th Street in Latha township and
has provided disability awareness trainings for volunteers, development
organisation staff and people with disabilities, and has also
offered computer courses for disabled people. – Phyu
Lin Wai
IHBC hosts business talk series
A LECTURE on the topic of work will be held on December 1 from
2pm to 4pm at the International Health and Beauty Centre (IHBC)
on Bo Aung Kyaw Street in Yangon, said event organiser U Aung
Myo Lwin.
The talk will be led by U Thein Aung, a retired lecturer from
the Department of Management Studies at the Yangon Institute of
Economics, he said.
U Thein Aung said his lecture would be aimed at “letting
people know about the importance of work” and helping them
understand the important role played by business management.
U Aung Myo Lwin said the talk will be part of a series of lectures
on business management aimed at those working at the executive
and middle management levels. – Kyaw
Zin Htu
Qatar Airways to axe flights in January
QATAR Airways is to suspend its flight schedules to Yangon from
the third week of January next year, the airline announced last
week. “All the flight schedules flying to Yangon will be
temporarily suspended for commercial reasons starting on January
20,” said U Myat Thu, the marketing manager of the Yangon
branch office. However, he said the airline's Yangon branch office
will remain open. The Doha-based airline currently has eight flights
a week on the Doha-Yangon route, with Yangon-Doha connections
on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and Doha-Yangon flights
on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The airline started
flying to Yangon in January 2005 and opened an office in Yangon
the following June. The impending suspension means there will
no longer be a direct air link between Myanmar and the Middle
East. This may also affect passengers from Europe, particularly
London and Munich, who transit Doha for a Yangon connection. –
Zaw Winn
Tourist arrivals on the increase
SEVERAL tour operators in Yangon say they expect tourist arrivals
to slowly increase in coming months as word of internal stability
spreads overseas. Daw Phyu Phyu Mar, managing partner of Seven
Star Travel, said some 30 clients have already visited in November,
compared to the previous two months, when there were none. “I’ve
noticed that tourist arrivals are slowly increasing but we still
need to promote the tourism industry by doing things like participating
in international trade fairs and attending travel shows,”
she said. Daw Phyu Phyu Mar says she hopes that it’s a sign
of better times to come for the industry as a whole. U Kyaw Myo
Tun, operations manager for Asian Trails Travel, said that any
industry recovery will be slow. He said the only clients he has
seen are those who had already booked a holiday in advance and
there are almost no new bookings. “We hardly have any new
clients this month, except people who have already made reservations,”
U Kyaw Myo Tun said. Daw Than Nwe Oo, operations manager for Exotissimo
Travel, said the number of tourist arrivals usually increases
in November and this year should be no different, although the
actual number will be well down on previous years. – Zaw
Winn
