World Vision Child Rescue supporters are helping to provide vulnerable children in Myanmar with practical support so they don’t have to beg anymore.
“I love my sisters,” says Aung, aged 15. “I was very sad to see my sisters begging in the market.”
Because of extreme poverty, Aung had to watch his little sisters Nyunt, 12, and Phyu, aged eight, go out and beg in their village in southern Myanmar.
As his family’s main breadwinner, the $3.50 a day Aung was earning as a stonemason just wasn’t enough to feed his four younger siblings, his mother and disabled grandmother.
“People call[ed] us little beggars,” said Nyunt. “I was very sad to hear that.”
“My little sister and I beg for the whole day and we got around 1,000-2,000 kyats (about $1.30-2.60).”
Recently, Nyunt and Phyu were able to stop begging, thanks to generous Child Rescue supporters.
Supporters like you are helping to fund a project that equips community members to identify children in crisis in their neighbourhoods and provide them with practical support.
When members of the local Child Protection and Advocacy Group heard about Aung and his sisters, they visited the family and helped them with income alternatives so the girls would no longer have to beg on the street.
With support from the project, the group provided the family with a small amount of money so Aung’s mother could establish a flower-selling business and so Aung could buy a bicycle and start a mobile ice-cream shop.
In addition, the group arranged for Nyunt and Phyu to attend classes at a local Buddhist school and counselled their mother on the importance of education for her children’s future.
“I will not let my children beg on the street anymore,” says Khaing, the children’s mother. “I will work hard to be a good mother for my children and a model family for the neighbours.”
Aung and his sisters are among many vulnerable children in their area who are finding help and hope through nine Child Protection and Advocacy Groups supporters like you have helped to make possible.
Clubs have also been established where children come together to learn about their rights, how to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation, and what to do if they or one of their friends are in trouble.