MANDALAY, Myanmar (UCAN) -- The plight of women unable to work after giving birth and struggling to raise their other children and pay school expenses caught Augustine Myint Wai's eye. But that was just the beginning.

Myint Wai, a middle-aged Catholic who owned a restaurant and fish farms, was relatively well off, but he felt something had to be done for others. So Myitta Wai (sharing love) Social Welfare Association was born.

The Catholic businessman told UCA News that some families can't even afford a burial. "I started a Catholic social welfare association at the parish in Zawgyi, my native village, where I struggled while growing up," he said. The village is about 30 kilometers southeast of Mandalay.

"In 2000, I donated 50,000 kyat about (US$38 in street value) to each village as a starting fund. There were five villages in Zawgyi parish. Village members also donate 100 kyat every month for fund raising," he continued.

Wai, 55, took time out Aug. 24 to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the lay Catholic welfare organization's founding. Eight parish priests and 83 representatives from 17 Catholic villages joined the celebration at his large brick house in Myitnge, a village 20 kilometers south of Mandalay. They reported on village social welfare projects supported by the association.

Wai took the opportunity to donate start-up capital of 300,000 kyat to each of four more Catholic villages joining the program -- Sagaing, Ywadaw, Shwebo and Shwepyithar. His association will use the money, profit from his businesses, to give loans and help with social welfare.

Mandalay, Myanmar's cultural capital and second-largest city, lies 580 kilometers north of Yangon.

Today, the association runs a general fund totaling about 8 million kyat, helping people with loans or donations for burials and weddings, a maternity subsidy, and education and agricultural support. The association aims to help needy people by cooperating with other members of their village, and to develop communities and people who love and serve the needy.

Most of the money comes from Wai and donations by some villagers, plus the small interest charged on the loans. According to Wai, the association has helped about 5,000 people to date. He has 16 volunteers working with him running the programs.

It was not easy getting the project off the ground. "We got a boost in 2003, when some Catholic villages west of the Irrawaddy River wanted to join. So we went and organized eight Catholic villages with the help of the parish priests." Some villages are successful today, while some are still facing difficulties with finance and lack of experience, he added.

Anthony Kyaw Kyaw Win, 32, a farmer from Zawgyi parish, told UCA News how a loan from the association helped him. "I invested the entire loan in my paddy field, buying rice and fertilizer with the 300,000 kyat," he said. "After four months of cultivating the paddy I gave back the entire loan and have a profit of 200,000 kyat, which is enough for our family for about six months."

Kyaw Win said he plants rice twice a year.

Francis Tun Nyunt, 45, chairman of the parish council in Myaukkai village, took a small loan in 2006. "The interest rate is less than outside. Every member can get 20,000 kyat for small loans and pay this back in four months. I used the loan to buy thread to use in my loom."

He acknowledged the benefit as "not quite enough in itself for our entire family, but it helps."

Juliana Khin Win, 54, a parishioner from Chanthagone village, explained the benefit in numerical terms. "If we borrow from other people, we have to pay 20 percent (monthly) interest, but in Myitta Wai we have to pay only 5 percent."

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