Our visit to the Hopeful Children Home

Most of all I am thankful for the opportunity to visit Burma once again, having spent time with people there who truly inspire me, and for the great work that is being established in trying to bring about care reform across the nation. The light is beginning to shine on what is an out of date care system, and the damage to children that institutional care can cause. We know some great examples of orphanages that provide good care but unfortunately there are many more bad examples, where children are vulnerable and not safe.

We know that children pay a high price for living and growing up in an institution. It was with great sadness that we discovered that actually more than 80% of children living in orphanages, are not orphans at all. They have families. But for whatever reason, they are separated from their families and sent to orphanages in the hope they will receive a better education. There are genuine examples of orphan children of course but the longer we work in the country, the greater our knowledge of the complexity of the problems in Burma. These problems are largely deep rooted in poverty, but poverty has many causes and many faces.

Daniel was a hit everywhere we went!

For Hannah and I (plus our two year old), we left Burma hopeful for the future. We visited this time as part of Heaven’s Family UK – a charity that is committed to addressing some of those deep rooted causes and crucially who are focused on supporting families, so that the flow of children from villages into our supported orphanages can end. Thankfully we are not the only organisation doing this work, but the task ahead seems so massive, and is quite frankly very overwhelming at times. However, I feel reassured in the truth that comes from the Bible in Luke Chapter 9 – with a multitude of hungry people before them, Jesus says to His disciples ‘you give them something to eat’, but all they have in their hands to feed the crowds is five loaves and two fishes. This must have seemed so meagre in the face of such need. Yet Jesus gives thanks to God for what is offered and the miracle of multiplication takes place. I am convinced that as we offer what little we have, that He can multiply it and increase it. We just have to be willing.

Day trip of fun with the Penial Children Home

The Burma Orphanage Project has been exactly that; a simple project I embarked upon in 2009 after visiting Burma for the first time. It was my meagre offering in response to the need I saw before me. God has used that, grown it and increased it in ways I never anticipated. He has now led us into partnership with Heaven’s Family UK, and we are so pleased that our work can continue through this charity. So it not really the end of BOP, but it definitely served the purpose in getting us where we are today. I am so grateful to all those who have supported us over the years, who have rallied behind us and encouraged us to keep going. I truly hope that support will continue for a long time to come through our merging with HFUK.

So I started this post with gratitude, and so I end with gratitude – because it has been such a privilege to work with a handful of children in Burma through BOP, and if nothing else it has helped to shape me as a person, as I try and serve my Lord and Savior. Thank you to all who have been part of the journey!

Locknu Childcare Centre

For more information on all our future work, please contact  www.heavensfamily.org.uk

We have had an amazing response to the appeal so far. I am really feeling the benefit of being a relatively small organisation, in that we have been able to mobilise quite quickly and get funds to our friends who need help through our partners on the ground, at the moment of real crisis. The immediate need is still great, with the wider cost in damage to many people’s homes and livelihoods still to be counted in the months ahead. Please keep our friends in Burma in your thoughts and prayers. You can still give by clicking the donate below. Please also pray for Zo Hminga as he undertakes his second round of treatment for Hepatitis C (failed the first time), this week.

THANK YOU for your continued support!

Reports that are coming out of Chin state, the poorest of the states within Burma are really disturbing. I recieved an email today from Zo Hminga who heads up the Penial Children Home orphanage we support. They are finding it increasingly difficult to buy any rice even with the price per sack going up to crazy highs (x5). This is due to the destruction of many of the normal sources. Zo reported that the high school directly next to his family home is now resident to thousands of people who have fled in desperation. Disease is starting to spread in the high school, and the people there are suffering terribly. We have linked with our partners Heaven’s Family UK, who are gathering funds and sending it to trusted relief organisations in the area. More than anything, please pray! But if you can help financially, please donate to the ‘Disaster Relief Fund’  here.  See below for a direct appeal from my friend Aung Ling in Burma, who is also Director of the Dai Christian College:

Paletwa Town flooded

Some Part of Paletwa Town

A Bridge Between Western Chin and Eastern Chin Broken

Some Houses Buried

Dear Friends,

Greetings in Christ,

Pray for Burma!

Torrential rain caused heavy flood and eleven regions and states out of fourteen are severely suffering from it. Probably more than a million become victims of this devastating natural disaster. Thousands of villages and hundreds of town and cities are under water now. Please pray for us.

Pray for Chin State!

The poorest state of the country, the home of the majority of Burmese Christian, is badly damaged by landslide. It’s estimated that more than a thousand villages are affected. Chin State relies much of food from Burma proper but as more than 10 bridges are broken, there is nowhere to buy food. Some big mountains on the side of which roads are built landslide and roads can no longer reach that area.

Pray for my rescue team!

I am organising a small rescue team to go to Laymyo river region, the most remote area of the country where no government or NGO aids can reach. So please pray for the safety of our rescue team and sufficient support.

Pray for my family!

Thank God for His protection. The landslide caused by heavy rain is in the proximity of my parents’ house, just 20 feet away; my parents have moved all the belonging in the house. It is likely that we urgently need to rebuild a new house in my village. 20 tons of wood, which our small company bought to build Pike-Taw primary school, was all swept away by the flood. There is a lot of loss. Pray for God’s protection.

Yours,

Aung Ling

Just over a month ago, we received notification that Zo Hminga, the Director of Penial Children’s Home (supported since 2009 by Burma Orphanage Project), has contracted Hepititus C. Zo Hminga was formally a drug addict before he came to faith, and has worked with recovering addicts for some years.

It has been advised that he must undergo six months of treatment which include a series of injections and medication, the cost of which is estimated at £3200. A UK-based doctor has verified the diagnosis and treatment plan.

Zo Hminga and his wife Mawi Te (who herself is recovering from a hysterectomy), are parents and sole carers of twenty-one children. We are very concerned about what might happen if this disease goes untreated and the devastating impact this will have on the whole family, therefore we are seeking to raise the money for his treatment.

Burma Orphanage Project is partnering with Heaven’s Family UK who guarantees that 100% of any donation made to their Critical Medical Needs Fund will be used to provide the necessary medication for Zo Hminga.

Please DONATE by clicking the button.

Thank you

We have spent today cleaning and tidying our house, a day so rare it has taken a very long time! No matter who you are, we are all house-proud to some degree. Our home is where our family is, it is where we should feel safe and secure. In the UK, most of us can expect to live in a home feeling warm and cared for.

Our home is where our family is,  it is where we should feel safe and secure

When we first visited the Penial Children’s Home in Burma (Myanmar) this was far from what we found. Though the love and support was inside, the building itself was not safe and warm.

This is where BOP started, by raising money for a roof for the rainy season, so that the children wouldn’t get cold, wet and eventually Ill. This was a wonderful achievement when the roof was built, and to all who supported us in that-we thank you.

It was, however, a temporary fix to a far bigger problem. The house as a whole was not suitable to be caring for 22 children. Therefore ‘by faith’ the parents of the Penial Children’s Home started work on building a new orphanage.

On our visit in March this year, the family were living in rented accommodation and the building project was underway, mainly due to kindness and hard work from the community supporting them with materials and labour.

The aim was to have the house finished for rainy season, but the rainy season is just about over and the building is still not yet completed!

It is looking amazing and very nearly there. However the low cost accommodation the family are renting does not suffice and consequently we have received heartbreaking reports of our children beginning to become very ill with dengue fever (an infectious tropical disease with no cure). In the past 4 years of knowing this family, they have never suffered from the illness to such a degree. Their current accommodation is not helping them at all!

In the past 4 years of knowing this family, they have never suffered from the illness to such a degree

Therefore we have a much greater urgency to have this home finished and ready for them to live in.  If you could see this house, if a family at the end of your street were stood in a half made house, freezing and wet when a storm came…you would not just sit in your nice cozy house and feel sorry for them. You would help them- so that is what we are asking because it is so close to being almost finished!

Please would you help us to help them?

You can give by contacting us here. All giving at this time will go towards the finishing of this house so that they can get well. We will continue post updates as we get them on the children’s recovery. The boy who was hospitalised is thankfully well enough to leave hospital but we still need God’s continued healing for these children. Your prayers & support are much appreciated.

Many thanks,

BOP

2009 – Before

2013  - During Build

Photographs are great but they are limited. That is why we were so keen to spend as much time playing and getting to know all the children and their different personalities. We had lots of activities and games and Hannah was an instant hit. Each day we arrived we would be welcomed at the gate with shouts of “Aunty!! Uncle!!” and children reaching out their hands to hold ours and to guide us down the path. Zo Hminga and his wife are doing a fantastic job raising these beautiful children up, as if they were their own. What a privilege to be called relatives!

We did lots of stuff but my absolute favourite thing was walking to play football. Local people came out of their homes to stare at a sight they are so unaccustomed with – ‘white people’ holding hands with and accompanied by cohort of children in pursuit! While in Kalaymyo, every morning I walked to the local playing field to run some football drills and play football with the boys, while Hannah plaited hair or made friendship bracelets with the girls. Quite priceles

We learnt so much during our visit, but unfortunately time won’t allow me to fully update you here. But we hope to hold a coffee and cake afternoon at our Church in Openshaw for anyone who would like to know more about our experiences and what is next for BOP! Thank you for your continued support, without which the trip would not have been possible, especially anyone who gave before we left. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! As I said during a talk at a Church in Burma:

I can only stand here today because God and many people are standing behind me

In summary we have taken on three more orphanages that really need some help; comprising of 22 additional children who we hope to find monthly sponsors for (basically £18 a month). Plus we are looking to invest in micro-business’s that will enable orphanages to become ultimately self sustaining. We saw incredible examples of where this was already being put to great use.

Please ask yourself and pray whether you feel like you could support a child in this way. For a child with no parents or has been rejected at an early age, knowing someone cares enough to send money, write the occasional letter and pray for them, really makes all the difference! We got to witness this first hand but maybe it will be you next time. In the words of Paul quoting Jesus in the book of Acts:

IT IS more blessed to give than it is to receive

Kohl is turning two! Kohl’s parents Emma and Ben have said that Kohl is already so blessed that they would like to have him give to less fortunate children. From such an early age Kohl will know what is is to give to others.

At his birthday party next week, friends of the family are being asked to donate to BOP rather than buy a present for Kohl. This is amazingly generous because it will go to the children of the Penile Children Home.

During our upcoming trip to Burma, we will take all kinds of art, craft, games and fun for the children to enjoy with us while we are there. These children will so appreciate this gift and we are so looking forward to videoing and picturing them with these presents!

So a huge thank you to everyone who gives, to Emma and Ben..and mainly to little Kohl- Happy Birthday Gorgeous Boy!

Hannah

Since marrying Hannah in December 2011, she has been my greatest friend/advocate and all round supporter! Little did I know then, but marrying her would bring so much to the Burma Orphanage Project and strengthen the work we do.  Her heart for those in great need is personified in the work she does in Prison, but also on a much more deep and personal level.

Hannah joins me in March on our trip to visit the orphanage we help support. We are also going to visit other projects and orphanages to learn how we can develop and grow so that we might impact the lives of more children. This is a really exciting time for us, but equally quite daunting. We are now desperately fundraising to make sure we can take money with us to develop the work but to also to provide gifts and invest where we see the need.

One of the ideas we had, was to utilise the gift Hannah has for acting. We recently set up Hannahbettany.com to share what Hannah does in prison, but also to sell her Monologue DVD.

Hannah is kindly donating ALL the money raised by the sale of her DVD to the Burma Orphanage Project, which is just amazing!

Our target is to sell 100 before we go. I think the running total is somewhere in the 40s at the moment.

If you would like to purchase a copy of these three powerful and challenging monologues, then please check out her website:

Click Here