Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 17-year-old Nang San Noon, was unable to attend school. A short time later, BRIGHT— a four-year project that promotes and facilitates education, especially for girls and women living in countries experiencing civil conflicts — came to her village in Myanmar and introduced a vocational training program. Noon was intrigued, and since she was no longer able to attend school, she enrolled in the mushroom training.

“Before I joined this training, I had dreamed of growing mushrooms and selling to customers,” Noon said.

In her training program Noon learned about environment conservation, using local products with low capital investment to produce mushrooms, and how to grow mushrooms with a low capital investment.

“Now I can grow and care for mushrooms!” she said.

Noon also learned how to replant the mushroom packages provided by BRIGHT. She now has enough to feed her family and share with their neighbors.

As a part of the project, mushrooms are regrown with the help of trainees and village participants. “As trainees, we share tips with villagers on how to grow mushrooms,” she said.

Now she is inspiring other people in her community to learn about organic mushroom farming.

Noon and other trainees are looking forward to the development of a mushroom grow house. Villagers are contributing bamboo to build a mushroom grow house where more than 1,500 nurseries will be planted to grow mushrooms.

She dreams of starting her own mushroom nursery one day, and BRIGHT is helping her make that dream a reality.

About Sustainable Development Goal 4

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) focuses on quality education and is among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in September 2015. SDG 4 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

About the BRIGHT Project

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Canada is partnering with Global Affairs Canada to implement the Breaking barriers, Improving Girls Education, Hope and Totality (BRIGHT) project.

ADRA Canada believes that every child everywhere has the right to an education. Through the BRIGHT project, ADRA will work over the course of four years (2020-2024) to make education available in war-torn and conflict-affected communities in Niger, Sudan and Myanmar, focusing particularly on girls and women.

The project works to make education more readily available to communities. It partners with parents and village leaders to address the specific barriers that prevent girls and women from attaining an education, such as early, child, or forced marriage; the devaluing of girls’ and women’s education; and sexual and gender-based violence. The project also works to ensure that minority groups have access to education that meets their cultural and language needs.

The original version of this story was posted by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Canada.