The gift

This is the gift that all the 750 children in the various schools will get this Christmas, a warm sweater, candy, a coloring book, a pen, crayons, stickers, and a Christmas card. We gave the children a warm sweater last year as well, but they are all worn out by now, since it gets cold up in the mountains.

The first gifts on the way

A local Bible school team is already bringing the first patch of gifts out to the schools in the rural villages. They will spend about a week before they reach the first village, just in time for Christmas! The team is all excited about being part of the distribution. Some of them went last year as well, and they know how happy the children will be when they get their own presents.

The teachers

The 2012 diary to the left in the picture is for the teachers. We often think about the kids, but so often forget to honor and appreciate the teachers. This Christmas the teachers will feel appreciated as they get a rare quality diary for 2012.

Children at risk

The Christmas season is coming up and it is time to start the Christmas shopping. Families Together will also this year give Christmas gifts to all the childen on the 22 schools that we have started. This year 750 children receives education through Families Together. These children live long into the mountains towards India, and without the school they are at risk of being sent to children homes in the cities for education.

Give a child something extra for Christmas

For only 5 US Dollars you can give a child in a small village somewhere in the mountains of Myanmar a Christmas gift. 5 dollars is not a lot, but it will probably be the only gift that the children will gett his Christmas. The villages are extremly poor, and it is difficult enough to get food on the table. A small Christmas gift will be a big encouragement for the children, and also a good opportunity for us to think about the children in the world that are not as fortunate as our children.

What about the rest of the year?

Any profit from the Christmas Project will be used to maintain the schools that Families Together have started. It is of course possible to give the rest of the year as well. 8 US Dollars is enough to cover school expenses, salaries, yearly seminars for teachers, and all other costs. Eight a month.

Click here to find out how you can give a Christmas gift to these children.

Ngun Chin Rin (no. 2 from the right) is seven years old and live in a small village in the Chin Hills of Myanmar. She is an eager second grader and last year at the closing ceremony of her school, she received the price for being “Best student of the year.”

Village school

Up until last school year her siblings and she had to go to pre-school/school in India because there was no opportunity in their own village. But when they heard that the village had managed to start their own school with help from Families Together, they came back with their parents. In the village the parents can be a part of their children’s upbringing and education. Their family can now be at the place where Ngun Chin Rin and her siblings receive the love and security they need to develop the way they are supposed to. They have a chance to pass on their culture, language and traditions.

School in a safe place

Ngun Chin Rin’s younger siblings attend this pre-school in the village. Families Together is blessed to be a part of making it possible for these children to have a family to return to at the end of their school day instead of having to live in an institution in the city. You can be part of making this possible for more families! Give to Families Together.

New supporters

As Families Together is growing into new villages we see the need to increase our regular support. Up until now a big portion of our income has come from other organisations wanting to support rural education in Myanmar. We will continue these realtionships, but are looking at strengthening the support base of individual donors.

200 individual supporters by the end of 2011

Our goal is to have 200 individual supports by the end of 2011. There is no fixed amount, but in average we need eight dollars a month to send a child to school in his own village. You choose yourself if you would like to give monthly, quarterly, or only once a year. Help a family in Myanmar today! Click here to find out how to be a regular supporter of Families Together.

Difficult roads

The schools that Families Together support are far from the cities. From Yangon it takes three days on bus before the roads are to small for cars to drive on. Earlier we have walked, hired horses, or hired motorbikes these trails into to project villages. But now we have bought a motorbike that we can use from where the bus stops.

Kenbo 125

Even though we now have Kenbo 125, it doesn’t make the travel any less dangerous. The trails are steep and curvy, and landslides are common. In March Andrew fell down one of those landslides and it was a miracle that he and the motorbike was not hurt. After that he was reluctant to continue, but he made it with some help from experienced local motorbike drivers.

Number of preschools supported: 14

Number of Primary schools supported: 4

Number of villages: 15

Total preschool children: 416

Total Primary school children: 185

Total students: 601

Total teachers with a salary: 46

Total admin with a salary: 4

Total income: 53,099 USD

Total expenses: 55,808 USD

For only 7.74 USD a month can a child get education in his/her own rural village while staying together with the family. In comparison, a child living in a children home in Yangon needs more than 50 USD a month.

The pie-chart underneath shows how the expenses have been used. Next school year we will be expanding with two more preschools and one more Primary school. Families Together would like to thank all the donors for making this possible.

We have two months left of the Kick-Off campaign and with great joy we can announce that we already have collected about 11500 US dollars of the 16000 that we are hoping for. The funds from this campaign will be used to start two new pre-schools and one new Primary school in addition to support the already existing schools.

Thank you!

A big thank you to all of you who have already given and to those of you who are about to give. The kick-off campaign will finish May 31. What you give will help children living in remote village get schooling in their own village. Those children, as young as five years old, are living at risk of being sent away to the cities to study in a children’s homes. With a school in their village they get the ability to learn in the environment that is best for their development; together with their families.

Will you help Families Together keep families together? Click here.

Families Together 2011 Kick-Off campaign

Children are still being sent away from their families in Myanmar so that they can go to school in the cities. New children homes are started in Mandalay and Yangon. Local pastors don’t know what to do with all these children. The natural response is to start a children home and start looking for a foreign supporter. Families Together believes differently. We believe the children should stay where they can learn the best – with their families. But for that to happen, there must be an education opportunity for the children in their villages.

This year we are hoping to start more schools in the rural areas of Chin State. The villages are ready; but they need help to be able to give salaries to the teachers and give school materials to the children. Our area consists of 11 villages. This year we want to start 3 pre-schools and 1 primary school. The total number will then be 11 pre-schools and 4 primary schools.

To do this we need more supporters. That’s why we have started the Families Together 2011 Kick-Off campaign. We want to raise 16 000 US dollars by the end of May 2011. The schools start June 1^st.

Click here to find out how you can give to Kick-Off 2011.

The progress bar on the right side bar shows how far we have come.

A long travel for the Christmas Gifts

The team just got back after 4 weeks of Christmas fun in the Chin Hills. One week going there, two weeks travelling from village to village, and one week coming back. They were exhausted, but happy. Happy was also the word for all the children they had seen. From village to village the children were shouting their joy as they received a warm sweater for the cold days and their very first Picture Bible. The Bible has beautiful illustrations and is written in their Chin language, so it was extra precious for the children.

Blessing the villages

The Christmas team helped the teachers in the schools, arranged an academic competition with nice prices, gave out Christmas presents, had open medical clinics, played with the children, and encouraged the villagers. They definitely had their challenges, such us the long walks without proper backpacks, showering publicly in the village shower place (they had to cover the shower with blankets for some of the girls), cold weather, and a language they didn’t understand.

More blessed by giving than receiving

As they were giving all the children and teachers Christmas presents, everyone expressed their thankfulness and joy to the team, but still, what the team received by warm hospitality, the simplicity of life, the smiles, the thank-you’s, and the simple gifts, blessed their hearts more than they were able to give. It’s a bigger blessing to give than to receive.

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone who gave towards the Christmas Project 2010. We received more than 6000 US dollars and we have not yet been able to use it all. What is left will be used for gifts to children living in Children’s Homes here in Yangon.

In this country, why are so many children being sent to orphanages or child-care institutions even if the children have their own parents? Even for real orphans, it is far better to stay with his loving relatives rather than going off to a strange home. Why do even single parents easily justify sending their children away to children homes? (Studies indicate that more than 50 % of children in children’s homes in Yangon have relatives that can care for them.)

What are you willing to risk for a good education?

We can give many reasons. But the most evident reason, as we have talked to many orphanage directors and the parents of sent children, is the parents want their children to get good education and a better worldview. It seems like they are not much concerned for their children’s emotional and behavioural growth. They believe that their children will be educated more, will have a broader and better life-promising worldview. They are totally unaware that the result might very well be just the opposite!

Can’t buy me love

One child-care centre here in Yangon is sponsored by a rich Australian church. They really try hard for the children’s education – they hire good extra teachers, and have used good study guides for more than ten years. Each year some of the children take the final high school exam, but not one child has yet passed! Another woman who has run an orphanage for about 14 years was asked how many of her children had taken the final high school exam so far. She was quiet for a while and said, “more than 25.” “How many have passed the exam?” and she quickly said, “Only one girl.” It is quite clear: An orphanage home is not the solution for the child education.

The blind spot

Not to mention about their spiritual, emotional, social, and ethical growth, even for their intellectual growth we know that an orphanage is not the solution for the child. We are so often tempted to think that just getting school education and living in an urban atmosphere has more value and life-promise than that of a rural atmosphere. The blind spot is that most children do not succeed in the strange homes; they even lose their connection to their families! And then, what do they have?