Hope for Burma's Orphans
Ma Thae Phyu smiles all day long. A song is never far from her lips. The hard-working six-year old is doing well at school and is a model of good behaviour.
Yet when she was just four, Ma Thae Phyu's mother died and her father remarried. The youngest of four children, Ma Thae Phyu 's new "mum" didn't want another mouth to feed. She offered her up for adoption.
Thankfully, one of Ma Thae Phyu's elder sisters came to the rescue, taking her over the border into Thailand and the sprawling town of Mae Sot near the Burmese border. But living with her sister and husband was not the dream she had hoped: she was beaten and abused by her brother-in-law, her sister powerless to help. She had no schooling; little future.
New life
That's when Ma Thae Phyu's sister turned, in desperation, to Social Action for Women. 'SAW' helps vulnerable Burmese women, and orphans, with shelter, education, counselling and the chance to start a new life.
Many have fled war or extreme poverty in Burma. Children who flee, often without adults, are extremely vulnerable to sex trafficking. Even those with parents are in danger, should the adults fall ill (HIV and AIDS are still a big problem) or be deported back to Burma.
Now aged six, Ma Thae Phyu is latest arrival to the Children’s Crisis Centre, which is run by SAW in Mae Sot and supported by Children on the Edge. She joins 65 other children at the school and kindergarten provided by the women volunteers and teachers.
Protecting children
Social Action for Women established the Children’s Crisis Centre in 2001. This safe house provides shelter, basic needs, trauma counseling, health care and other services for abandoned Burmese children. It also protects them from sweat-shop employment, sex trafficking, and the drug trade. It even allows the children a (safe) chance to return into Burma to meet relatives that may still be alive.
In 2008, SAW was one of 25 organisations around the world to receive the Red Ribbon Award from the UNDP, for providing outstanding HIV prevention, treatment and education on a grassroots level.
Sadly there are still many dangers facing young people inside Burma today. Recent reports indicate a rise in the forcible recruitment of child soldiers by the military junta. Several former child soldiers are now being cared for at SAW's crisis centre.
Sex trafficking is on the increase, too, of both girls and boys, with SAW doing its best to counsel and support those victimised by the traffickers.
However, the crisis centre – which was opened in 2001 – is increasingly cramped. SAW would like to buy land and build another building to alleviate this problem – and Children on the Edge would like to support this effort.
You too can support this effort: DONATE TODAY TO SUPPORT THE CHILDREN'S CRISIS CENTRE IN MAE SOT
