Yangon Myanmar

The old Pegu Club, at the corner of Pyay, Zagawar and Padonmar Roads, built in 1882

After a few days in the US, I flew to Yangon where I'll be working on a GSMA funded mAgri project with Frog Design and Ooredoo. I only had a month to find an apartment and get settled before Thingyan (water festival celebrating Burmese New Year) began. I managed to explore some of the old colonial architecture and attend an Action Aid event where Muhammad Yunus spoke. He expanded on his social business thesis, "a new form of economic organization that links a social, ethical, or environmental objective with a commercial or financial one." One point he made stayed with me, "if you have a CSR department, what is the rest of your company doing?"

Muhammad Yunus

It's an interesting time to be in Yangon. However, so much of the press has focused on how high the rent is for foreigners that I was a bit wary about accepting the position. When I arrived I stayed in a cool apartment building made of shipping containers until I finally found one on my own. The apartment hunt was a lot of work but I'm happy with my new place and really grateful to David Ney for all of his help. It's a newer building with a wet market nearby in a great neighborhood, Hledan. It has a nice balcony where I've been watching the kids below douse unsuspecting passers-by with water as part of the Thingyan tradition.

• Schwartz, R. (2010). Hear, Hear for Profits. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 8(4), 18–20.
• An Expat’s Adventure Apartment-Hunting in Yangon, Myanmar
  5 Expat Tips for Finding an Apartment in Yangon, Myanmar

Muhammad Yunus and Action Aid

Neighbors dousing everyone with water for Thingyan

Neighbors dousing everyone with water for Thingyan

Neighbors dousing everyone with water for Thingyan

Neighbors dousing everyone with water for Thingyan