Helping hand for measles affected villages

Being the first ever relief team to have reached out to the measles affected Myanmar's border villages, the Tangkhuls For Nagas in Myanmar (TaFNIM) has marvelously opened up new avenues for restoring strained relations between the Tangkhuls and the Konyaks.

The team undertook the mission to reach out to the hapless villagers in Myanmar's remote border areas in the backdrop of the current outbreak of measles epidemic claiming many precious lives in the Naga Self Administered Zone (NSAZ) since early June last.

Equipped with a heavy consignment of medicines, nutritional food and clothes, the team set out from Ukhrul on 23 August and managed to reach Longwah village in Nagaland's Mon district in the next few days with the help of numerous Naga social organizations like Eastern Nagaland Peoples Organization (ENPO), Eastern Nagaland Students Association (ENSA), Tangsha Students Union, Konyak  Union and others.

From Longwah village, official members of Naga Cultural Committee/Yuya in NSAZ collected the relief materials on motorcycles which sneaked through the rugged terrain to reach Lahe township from where the materials would be despatched to each destination of affected villages in the border of the neighbouring country.

Acknowledging the tireless and humane mission of TaFNIM, S Manlip Konyak president Konyak Union, said that the team was the first ever group that had reached out to the affected villagers. He further poured out the feelings that the selfless mission was an eye-opener for them as it would give fresh impetus for revival of brotherhood between Tangkhul and Konyaks.

In the course of the mission to Mon district where Konyaks dominated, the TaFNIM team also had the fortune of visiting the Angh (chief) of Longwah village and his Anghnok(ancestral palace). In a bid to renew the bond of brotherhood, the team presented a traditional Tangkhul neck cloth to the Angh who rolled out a warm reception.

Meanwhile, the TaFNIM team has expressed gratitude to all the Naga civil society organizations for extending cooperation and assistance in the course of the journey and also all the individual and group donors for their generous contributions and added that all that has gone in to make the mission a grand success.