Hostel
This year we are opening a Hostel and School facility for the 4th Year Primary School Graduates from our school inside Burma. We have found a suitable building to lease in a Thai village very near the river crossing into Burma.
These children come from the poorest farm laboring families and previously could only receive 4 years of primary education. After this, these 10 -12 year olds would begin laboring on farms, plowing, planting and harvesting or perhaps, cutting bamboo and collecting leaves for housing. And they would be the more fortunate. For others, the future is precarious, marked with danger – they become CHILDREN AT RISK. They can be seconded by the army to train as soldiers, or used as porters – this often results in an early death. Or the other great danger; CHILD TRAFFIKKING.
These children have no identity papers or legal status; their births are not recorded or exact dates even remembered by parents. When children are enrolled at our Burma school, birthdates are often made up; some children hadn’t even been given a name, just called son or daughter.
It is by Grace that we have received permission to bring these young people across the river out of a war zone, out of the poverty of subsistence living, and into the safety of a hostel in Thailand. As we continue their education, we believe that through loving care and further education, we can change these children’s lives, giving them value and hope, and through them, bring change for their families, communities and country.
It is through our sponsorship program that we have been able to begin this new adventure……
