Kids Want To attend School

One of the exciting but hard situations we’ve encountered is an overflow of children in our Myanmar projects. In our Northern Children’s Center, we have 25 children officially registered. But we also have another 40 children coming to attend school from the local area. The kids spill out onto the porches. It’s so hard for our staff to say no – they give them paper and pencils and try to feed them a bit of lunch.

The same thing is happening at our Shan State Community School, where we have about 120 children in our care. But approximately 200 children are showing up from the surrounding regions. In classrooms where we should have 25 to 30 children, we have 45 to 50 crowding in from wall to wall. This is an especially tough space because the government feels it can come and take children whenever it pleases.

But we know every child educated is less likely to be poor in later life or end up a front line soldier. These kids are incredibly hungry for knowledge. It’s a good thing when our projects are successful and children are being impacted, even when it stretches us a little thin. We look forward to expanding our Myanmar projects and welcoming even more children!