Villagers employed by a Yangon-based construction company carry seeds for planting around water ponds in Labutta township.

MORE than a year of relief work has done much to restore the physical infrastructure of the regions devastated by Cyclone Nargis. But aid workers now point to a less visible problem – the growth of a culture of dependency among the victims.

Until Nargis struck the Ayeyarwady delta in May 2008, most of the people who lived there had little contact with the outside world, and were used to their traditional ways of making a living.

But thanks to the influx of national and international NGO staff in the past year, bringing media attention and huge quantities of aid, some villagers have now got used to getting something for nothing. Others, however, have still never got over the tragedy befell them and their communities, and others still have greeted aid workers with suspicion or hostility.

U Aung Myo Shein, a liaison officer in Labutta township with the France-based relief organisation ACTED, said dealing with residents could be harder than working on rehabilitation projects, with tensions arising between them and the NGO staff and volunteers.

“The main reason is a weakness in their mindset. They can’t stop thinking about the nightmare of Nargis,” he said, describing some residents as “inflexible”.

“The senior staff encourage the juniors and volunteers to be patient when dealing with the residents and to be prepared to explain how important our activities are for them. Some junior staff can be demotivated until they learn the right approach,” he said.

Victims may be reluctant to discuss their needs, believing NGOs are incapable of helping them.

Labutta township was one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. Many survivors lost family members, as well as their homes and livelihoods. Attitudes formed during a lifetime can be hard to change, despite sudden exposure to the outside world.

“I came here as a water technician,” said Ko Kyi Min Latt, who is based in Labutta, describing the various responses of the residents to the tragedy. “I’ve seen some women bearing up and being strong, but other people take to drink. Some don’t understand what we’re doing here, and there are tensions. We encountered rudeness and resentment when we distributed water to storm-affected villages. But others understand how much we’ve tried to do for their region,” he said.

Logistics officer Ko Myat Zaw Zaw, also based in Labutta, said he was close to quitting and going back home to Yangon.

“Lifestyle, perceptions and habits here are very different [from what I’m used to],” he said. “But some of the traditional habits are lovely – for example, when we first came they staged a donation ceremony,” he said.

Other local humanitarian organisations working on the ground point to the contrast between the rehabilitation of the infrastructure and the difficulty of changing attitudes.

“Maybe the current infrastructure situation is much better than it was before Nargis struck, but their psychological conditions are not. They’ve become more dependent on donors. They’ve got used to having things done for them without doing anything themselves,” said U Myo Min Tun, the executive director of Searchers-Myanmar, which is one of the local groups working for reconstruction in the delta.

“However hard we NGOs try to improve the psychological condition of the residents, it can’t be successful without their participation. We particularly need the involvement of educated young people from those regions, because they are familiar with local customs,” said another member of Searchers-Myanmar who is working in the field.

This attitude was partly responsible for the slow pace of livelihood recovery, observers note.

Cyclone Nargis dumped millions of tons of saltwater on the delta, ruining paddy fields. Though aid workers provided seeds, some were ineffective. The shortage of fertiliser and the fall in the price of paddy discouraged many farmers from cultivating this season, as they otherwise would have done.

“Another reason discouraging them is the boom in short-term jobs. They can make money building new houses and roads [as part of the relief effort],” said one aid worker.

“Rehabilitation involves helping people who have fallen to get back up again. But we can’t keep holding them up. They have to stand up on their own two feet,” he said.