BURMA (12/11)
The three house parents who care for the two homes in north-western Burma are aged just 23, 24 and 25 years. There is a very good hands-on committee of older people behind these three young leaders. Their support causes this project to be high quality. The ten girls there live in a room that measures about the same size as my bedroom. Their 25-year old house mum lives in the adjacent room which has a floor area not much larger than a coffin! But they are all happy and content and keen to take more girls in.
Some of the ten boys recounted their experiences of trying to escape forced recruitment as child soldiers. We had other boys who were going to live at the home too but they got press ganged into the army before we could get them.
Certainly we will expand the size of these two homes. We purchased this property back in early 2011. With expansion (at a cost of about US$4,500) we could accommodate double the number of kids.
NEPAL (12/11)
Pawan, Dhiraj and Peter – 2007
2012 is going to see a bumper crop of our Nepali boys (living in Kathmandu) going off to university. Infact there will be five new recruits on their way. These three little cuties are all about to go off to university! The photo was taken nearly 5 years ago. Dhiraj, the boy wearing the Mickey Mouse shirt (he thought it was pretty cool at the time) wants to be a civil engineer. When I visited the home last week Dhiraj had grown 2 feet, had curly hair, stubble and was chief cook! His mate, Pawan (standing left in the photo) has a short #1 haircut and could now grow a beard. He too wants to be an engineer.
For all you people that have been supporting this home for years this of course means one thing,..we are getting old!
As we seek to develop smart and educated leadership for Nepal the advancement of the boys is great news but the necessary finances involved will be somewhat burdensome to raise. Yes, a little sponsorship campaign will have to commence shortly!
BURMA (10/11)
Our Shan girls building construction project is nearly completed. The house is great! I am sure that we can fit in 30 girls. We had to sneak in and check it out at night time. To see some photos of the new house plus some update photos from our reent trip, just click on to our Gallery page.
Our Yangon girls have just been told that they have to relocate from their tiny downtown apartment because of leaking in the roof. Apparently the local municipality ordered their landlord to shut down her premises. When I was there I did ask about the big wet stains on the ceiling but nobody seemed worried. Considering where the kids have come from this is no surprise.
THAILAND (10/11)
I am friendly, you can trust me.
And now from the Yeah Right Mate We Believe You files … you have heard about the big flooding in central and northern Thailand? Hundreds of people have been killed and billions of dollars lost. It has however bought liberty to some… in the north 100 crocodiles escaped from the local croc farm. “Please do not panic,” said Mr Thirapat of the Thai Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, “The crocodiles are not fierce like those living in the wild. On the contrary, they are rather scared of people,” as he sought to calm fears that the animals may attack people. Ummmm yeah, okay.
Also in Thailand, do you remember how we are wanting to set up a new work in the deep south where a violent Muslim insurgency is occurring? (To learn more, click here) We have been talking about this for some years now! Yes we are still planning to plant a new work there, our intentions have not changed.
Recently when I was there one of my board members told me how a huge car bomb went off opposite his shop/house blowing out a large part of the whole block across the road from him. A number of people were killed. Another time a car bomb went off just 20 metres down the road from him.
We are still trying to track down some Thai folk who will run our homes down there. People from outside the deep south do not want to live anywhere near where these dangers are taking place which probably is not that surprising really. Nevertheless the need is considerable.
THAILAND (6/11)
During May 2011 we accepted another six boys and six girls into our two Thai homes, Home of a New Dawn Boys’ Home and Esther House Girls’ Home. We now full time care for a total of forty-one young people. Over the years we have seen the Thai economy rise so markedly that our “poor” young people now are nothing like how they once were twenty years ago. Back in those days some of our teenagers used to eat dirt while others ate beetles living in water buffalo pooh.
Because of the rise in living standards we now make our young people sit an entrance exam. It is very tough. Most of the kids do not pass it but it does help us to assess whether they are initially academically strong enough to be with us.
Yam Gurung has done well as a Ghurkha solider guarding Singaporean VIP’s. He reports that he has now been promoted to corporal. The really great thing about having put Yam through high school is that he now earns a comparatively very good salary. As a result of this, he is able to put his sister (who also lives at out home) through university. Hence assisting one child has caused his family to probably drift up two socio-economic levels.
BURMA (6/11)
In the Shan State construction of our girls home is well underway. Our new home will be able to care for at least 20 girls. It will be two stories. Construction needs to be completed by the end of September 2011.
Also in Burma, we have chosen six new girls from the tsunami ravaged Irrawaddy region to come and stay with us at our Yangon based Women With Vision home. These girls are such little cuties and we see it as a privelege to be able to not only care for them but also to mentor them on into adulthood.
BURMA (5/11)
We have just commenced our new work to the children of the Wild Wa people. The latest news is … two boys aged about 13 years who were already conscripted into the United Wa State Army and living in the army camp ran off. They went AWOL form the army camp. Their superiors were out trying to find them when our contact came across them. They are pretty clever little fellows who had no desire whatsoever for a life of child soldiery and drug running! Now they live far away at our safe house and will have the opportunity to study to a high level.
The "ugly house" has been revamped with a new roof and new walls.
The “ugly house” on our Northwestern Burma boy’s and girls’ property has had a radical makeover. It is now ready to house fifteen kids. Did you know that of our twenty kids living there, three have now progressed on into university study? Fantastic, especially so considering that both boys and girls were at-risk to becoming child soldiers.
We found out recently that our 16 year old Shan daughter who gained entry into medical school infact came exactly 27th out of 2.17million candidates who sat the Burmese National High School Government Board Exams. Not a bad result.
Six more girls have been accepted into our Yangon girls’ home, Women with Vision. Thanks so much to a nice bunch of Australians who have so whole heartedly offered to support these kids. We now number twelve girls in the home. When our first six raw recruits came to live with us they had to be sat down in a bucket of warm water and scrubbed from head to toe and much of their hair cut off. They did not know how to use a squat toilet nor how to live in a house higher than one storey!
THAILAND (4/11)
Bian, our Thai daughter who is studying leadership in Cambodia has almost completed her theoretical stage of education and is preparing to travel through various areas in Cambodia and even on into China. Her course has largely been taught via English language. She must surely be the poorest student at the school but Bian is a girl who has high dreams and a pragmatism that could lead her to attaining those dreams.
Love is in the air in Khon Kaen, Thailand. One of our Thai girls, Lily who was mentioned in the story of her brother, Santi Watiroirum is getting married at the end of the year. The lucky guy is a young fellow named Jamie Somerville who is a full-time primary school teacher in Thailand and a voluntary worker within the youth work there.
NORTHWESTERN BURMA HOMES (1/11)
Hey check out our latest acquisition. We have two homes sitting on one piece of land. The main house can fit 25 teenagers and the ugly old 2-storey place (which will get renovated!) will fit 15 kids. It cost NZ$40,000 to purchase the property (including the renovation of the ugly house).
Our Main House
Go to our Empower Asia Facebook page to look at a further half-dozen photos. We are sure that you would love to stay in the second of our 2 homes – the ugly one. So check it out on Facebook.
At present we have 20 kids in our home(s) there but now, having purchased this property we will have the option of taking an additional 20 teenagers.
EXAMS ARE GOOD (10/10)
Having just sat the Burmese National High School Government Board Exams, which an estimated 92% fail, one of our girls has just got into Medical School! This year 2.17 million people sat the government exam. Our girl came …wait for it … 27th in the whole country. Wow we feel so proud!! Isn’t she just fantastic! Her family earns a wage of $12/week plus some free food. And yet she just got into Medical School. Our people there are so so excited.
In Burma, doctors have instant respect and status. This is surely what our work is about – developing leaders.
The news get better too because her two compadres at the girls’ house were also successful with the Burmese National High School Government Board Exams and have since gained entrance into university. They will continue staying on at our girls’ house and help out there and study at the same time.
We still need to raise a total of about NZ$1600/year for the three of them. It’s nothing in comparison to the positive magnitude of the outcome. Could this be something that you may wish to support?
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The three house parents who care for the two homes in north-western Burma are aged just 23, 24 and 25 years. There is a very good hands-on committee of older people behind these three young leaders. Their support causes this project to be high quality. The ten girls there live in a room that measures about the same size as my bedroom. Their 25-year old house mum lives in the adjacent room which has a floor area not much larger than a coffin! But they are all happy and content and keen to take more girls in.
Some of the ten boys recounted their experiences of trying to escape forced recruitment as child soldiers. We had other boys who were going to live at the home too but they got press ganged into the army before we could get them.
Certainly we will expand the size of these two homes. We purchased this property back in early 2011. With expansion (at a cost of about US$4,500) we could accommodate double the number of kids.
Number of Nepal boys to be at uni
2012 is going to see a bumper crop of our Nepali boys based in Kathmandu going off to university. Infact there will be five new recruits on their way. These three little cuties are all about to go off to university! The photo was taken nearly 5 years ago. Dhiraj, the boy wearing the Mickey Mouse shirt (he thought it was pretty cool at the time) wants to be a civil engineer. When I visited the home last week Dhiraj had grown 2 feet, had curly hair, stubble and was chief cook! His mate, Pawan (standing left in the photo) has a short #1 haircut and could now grow a beard. He too wants to be an engineer. For all you people that have been supporting this home for years this of course means one thing,..you are getting old!
As we seek to develop smart and educated leadership for Nepal the advancement of the boys is great news but the necessary finances involved will be somewhat burdensome to raise. Yes, a little sponsorship campaign will have to commence shortly!
