San’s ear smelled like a dead fish. At the orphanage where he lived, a bully had shot him in the ear with a BB gun. The plastic bullet became lodged inside his ear canal. As a result, San couldn’t hear very well, but he was afraid to tell anyone.

For many people around the world, COVID-19 has been a serious inconvenience. But if you're a street child in Yangon, Myanmar, the economic effects of COVID-19 could mean the end of your life.

I want to tell you about the young girl in Myanmar who felt she had no choice but to give her newborn daughter to an orphanage. Her story hits home for me because my wife and I just welcomed our third child into our family. When I hold my son in my arms and look into his sweet, innocent face, I’m horrified at the thought of abandoning him to be raised in an institution!

“I searched for more than a year...and you were the only one I could find,” Naw Jar told me between bites during lunch in Yangon, Myanmar.

Marn Shel Nu and her son greeted me at the door. I didn't need a DNA test to see they were related. We removed our sandals, a Myanmar tradition, before entering their small wooden hut. After introducing myself, I asked Marn Shel Nu to tell me her story.