Heaven's Family Magazine
April 2011 Issue

A Home on the Water

Orphan's Tear at Work in Myanmar

Philip Barker, Orphan's Tear Ministry

orphans-home

Love Children’s Home: true waterfront property!

“If I return home, where will all these orphans go?”

That was the dilemma faced by Christopher Biak Lang, missionary from India and director of Love Children’s Home in Myanmar. The church that sent Christopher and his family to Myanmar had just informed him that the church mission fund had dried up; thus he, his wife and their four children should return to India. Christopher, however, had 18 local orphans who were living with him.

Myanmar’s military government does not permit foreign missionaries to work among the nation’s predominantly Buddhist population, so Christopher worked as a boat engine mechanic when he first arrived in Shan State, Myanmar’s least-evangelized region, in 2004. His plan was to first win friends among the Intha people, the largest tribe that lives on and around Inle Lake. His plan didn’t go so well when the Intha discovered he was a Christian, however, and they shunned him and his repair business.

Undaunted, Christopher (pictured at bottom) continued to share the gospel with anyone who would listen. And he also lived the gospel. When he learned about two children who were orphaned, he and his family took them in. He also preached to another tribal group, the Pa-Oh, who live in the surrounding mountains. Among them he met many more orphaned and destitute children. His heart went out to them, but he and his family had no room for any more children. So he prayed.

Three years after his arrival at Inle Lake, Christopher purchased an old bamboo house that, like most homes and businesses on the lake, was elevated on stilts above the water. Soon after, he and his family took in 11 additional orphans.

It was two years later, in January of 2009, when Christopher’s home church instructed him to return to India since they could no longer support his mission work. Christopher, however, was convinced that God sent him as a missionary to the Inle region, so he decided to trust the Lord to meet every need. His faith was sorely tested, but in November of that same year Christopher met some Heaven’s Family staff members who were traveling in his region. After hearing his story, they felt the Lord wanted Heaven’s Family to help.

Today there are 20 orphans who live at Love Children’s Home, and all of them are sponsored through compassionate believers in France. Christopher is praising God for His provision, and he is thankful for all the favor he now enjoys with the local people and the authorities who have witnessed his good work.

The United Kingdom division of Orphan’s Tear is helping Christopher build additional stilted bamboo buildings to provide separate living quarters for boys and girls, as is required by the authorities, and Orphan’s Tear U.S.A. recently provided a boat with an engine to transport all the children to school each day.

orphans-montage

Left: Christopher and family; Right: Love Children’s Home’s new boat

Beyond these things, funds have been provided for a fish farm to help the orphanage become more self-sufficient and to meet government self-sufficiency requirements. The most pressing need now is for $3,000 to purchase enough food for their 20,000 fish fingerlings that in one year’s time can be sold for over $10,000! Your gift to the Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund can help with that worthy venture.

The Bigger Picture:

Through our child-sponsorship program, Heaven’s Family supports over 1,000 children at 53 orphanages around the world. Heaven’s Family U.K. supports five of those orphanages, including Love Children’s Home. Many unsponsored children are waiting at OrphansTear.org. 100% of your $20 monthly sponsorship gift is sent to the orphanage where your child lives.

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This happy little Mexican obviously knows the Lord! — David

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