Four commitments, on the ground
Every project starts from a need identified with families and communities. You can support whichever speaks to you: your donation goes to it in full.
Nyilay Nyimalay Education Center
Our boarding house opened on June 1, 2017, in Tuithang, high in the mountains of Chin State. The civil war forced us to move it: it now houses our residents in Yangon.
The children we support come from small isolated villages in Chin State, where school often stops at primary level and the nearest secondary school is hours away along steep tracks. The boarding house first allowed them to keep studying without leaving their region.
The conflict made that impossible. The boarding house was moved to Yangon, and our residents can no longer go home — not even during the three-month school holidays. It has become their home all year round: we run lessons, workshops and outings there while other children go back to their families.
- Accommodation in a safe environment suited to learning
- Three balanced meals a day
- School fees, supplies, uniforms and tutoring
- Healthcare, hygiene products and medical follow-up
- Extracurricular activities and individual support
- A home that stays open all year, school holidays included
Nyilay Nyimalay Drop-In Center
A day centre for out-of-school children from the poorest districts of Yangon.
In these neighbourhoods, families simply cannot afford to send their children to school: paying enrolment fees and supplies is impossible when covering daily essentials is already a struggle. Many children have never set foot in a classroom, or left one very early.
The centre gives them a safe place to return to learning, at their own pace, with no conditions attached.
- Tutoring and catch-up teaching in small groups
- Educational, artistic and sporting activities
- A meal and access to basic hygiene
- Support for families, so the child stays in school for good
The “One Heart, One Hope” initiative
Giving children born with a heart defect the surgery they need. In Myanmar, heart surgery is out of reach for almost every family we work with.
Diagnosis rarely comes in time, and the hospitals able to carry out this surgery are out of reach: children have to travel abroad for it. That means paying for the journey, the stay and the surgery itself — far more than a family earns in several years. Without outside help, the child lives with the defect — or does not survive it.
Two children have already had their surgery thanks to this initiative: Ngaih No and Lin Lin Htet. Others are still waiting. Every gift directly funds a diagnosis, transport, surgery and post-operative follow-up.
Moe Pyae Pyae Maung and Yin Mon Phoo Khine
The two girls reached Bangkok on October 19, but sadly neither could have surgery. Tests revealed complications that make surgery impossible for Yin Mon Phoo Khine and far too dangerous for Moe Pyae Pyae Maung. They are going home to Myanmar, and we will continue to help both families, especially with oxygen, medicine and care for Yin Mon Phoo Khine.
Their costs are being covered separately, so the fundraiser, open until October 30, will pay for surgery for other children who are waiting.
Ngaih No and Lin Lin Htet
Both have had their surgery thanks to the initiative. Ngaih No went back to being a child — and back to school; Lin Lin Htet returned home to Myanmar after her recovery.
Development projects
Fifteen small-scale projects completed, every one of them designed in close collaboration with local communities.
The aim is not to import an outside solution, but to answer a need the village itself has identified, with means it will be able to maintain on its own afterwards. That is the difference between one-off relief and lasting improvement.
The vegetable garden on the land next to the boarding house is a good example: it supplies part of the residents' food, cuts the boarding house's running costs, and teaches the children to grow their own. One project, three effects.
Would you rather support one child in particular?
Sponsorship links you to a specific child, whose progress you follow year after year until they can stand on their own feet.