Columban Fr Neil Magill founded the Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay (Myanmar) in 2007.
In March 2025, the college was badly damaged by the massive earthquake that hit Myanmar. The epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude quake was close to the city of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. It killed over 5,300 people and left over 11,000 people injured.
Fr Neil has sent these images of the damaged Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay. He is delighted that an appeal in the Far East magazine enabled repair work to be undertaken at the college and wishes to thank all who supported the appeal.
Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay.
Before the earthquake there was 160 young people studying at the HEC. These young students have been living under a brutal military junta since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in the coup on 1st February 2021.
This has left 50,000 dead, 25,000 languishing in dilapidated prisons, and 3.5 million displaced and living in Internally Displaced Camps.
Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay.
The military has turned the country into a failed State compounded by a humanitarian crises. Villages have been wiped out, Christian churches, Buddhist monasteries and Muslim mosques have been bombed and burnt.
Fr Neil started a Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay for bright but poor young women and men to train as teachers and development workers. Over the past two decades hundreds of graduates have returned to remote villages in Myanmar to teach a younger generation who have little access to education.
Anyone who would like to support Fr Neil’s rebuilding of the Higher Education College (HEC) in Mandalay can do this by donating online here: https://columbans.ie/donate/ Alternatively, call the Mission Office at 00353 46 9098275 or you can send a cheque payable to ‘Columban Missionaries’ to the Far East Office, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath C15 AY2Y – please add a note stating it is for the Myanmar Appeal. Thank you.
