Home is meant to be a safe haven where children learn to love, respect, trust, and understand other individuals. Sadly, many children from rural Myanmar grow up in institutions in the cites in order to get education. We believe children need a family around them to develop healthy. That is why we support schools in rural villages so that children can grow up in their own families. Home is where your heart is.
Families Together 2011 Kick-Off campaign
Children are still being sent away from their families in Myanmar so that they can go to school in the cities. New children homes are started in Mandalay and Yangon. Local pastors don’t know what to do with all these children. The natural response is to start a children home and start looking for a foreign supporter. Families Together believes differently. We believe the children should stay where they can learn the best – with their families. But for that to happen, there must be an education opportunity for the children in their villages.
A long travel for the Christmas Gifts
The team just got back after 4 weeks of Christmas fun in the Chin Hills. One week going there, two weeks travelling from village to village, and one week coming back. They were exhausted, but happy. Happy was also the word for all the children they had seen. From village to village the children were shouting their joy as they received a warm sweater for the cold days and their very first Picture Bible. The Bible has beautiful illustrations and is written in their Chin language, so it was extra precious for the children.
Blessing the villages
The Christmas team helped the teachers in the schools, arranged an academic competition with nice prices, gave out Christmas presents, had open medical clinics, played with the children, and encouraged the villagers. They definitely had their challenges, such us the long walks without proper backpacks, showering publicly in the village shower place (they had to cover the shower with blankets for some of the girls), cold weather, snapchat online login and a language they didn’t understand.
More blessed by giving than receiving
As they were giving all the children and teachers Christmas presents, everyone expressed their thankfulness and joy to the team, but still, what the team received by warm hospitality, the simplicity of life, the smiles, the thank-you’s, and the simple gifts, blessed their hearts more than they were able to give. It’s a bigger blessing to give than to receive.
Thank you
We would like to thank everyone who gave towards the Christmas Project 2010. We received more than 6000 US dollars and we have not yet been able to use it all. What is left will be used for gifts to children living in Children’s Homes here in Yangon.
Hvorfor reiser de?
Hvorfor blir så mange barn i dette landet sent til barnehjem selv om de har foreldre? Selv et foreldreløst barn har det bedre hos kjente slektninger enn å bli sent til et ukjent hjem. Hvordan kan foreldre rettferdiggjøre og sende barna vekk for å bo på barnehjem? (Studier antyder at mer enn 50 % av barna på barnehjemmene i Yangon har foreldre eller slektninger som kan ta vare på dem.)
Hvor mye er du villig til å risikere?
Det er mange grunner, men den mest åpenbare grunnen er at foreldrene ønsker at barna skal få en god utdannelse og et bedre liv. Tilsynelatende er de ikke bekymret for barnas følelsesmessige og moralske utvikling. De tror barna vil få en bedre utdannelse og et bedre og sunnere liv. Helt uvitende sender de barna til det som faktisk kan bli det helt motsatte.
Alt kan ikke kjøpes
Et barnehjem her i Yangon er sponset av en rik menighet fra Australia. De ofrer mye for barnas utdannelse: de ansetter gode ekstra lærere og har fulgt gode studieplaner i mer enn 10 år. Hvert år er det barn som skal uteksamineres fra grunnskolen, men enda har ikke ett barn stått eksamen. Et annet hjem har tatt avslutningseksamenen mer enn 25 ganger. Bare ei jente har foreløpig stått. snapchat online login Det hele virker ganske klart: Barnhjem er ikke løsningen for barna utdanning.
En farlig blindsone
Det skulle være unødvendig å nevne familiens viktighet i forhold til følelsesmessig, sosial, etisk, moralsk og åndelig utvikling, selv intellektuell utvikling blir ikke like godt utviklet i et barnehjem. Vi kan fort tenke at en god utdanning i stor by har større verdi og et større potensial enn et enkelt liv i en landsby. Blindsonen vi ikke vil se er at de fleste barna ikke klarer tilværelsen i barnehjemmet og mister all kontakt med familien! Hva har de uten familien?