Nester, one of the social workers you’re supporting to tell families about the harm orphanages can cause children
“Not My Child!”
You are arming families against orphanage recruiters
Dear Family,
Give us your children. We can do a better job raising them. They’ll have great opportunities.
So went the lies, or some form of them, that have been told to the families of Mayalon village (name changed for security reasons), high in the remote mountains of Myanmar, for many years by orphanage directors hoping to persuade parents to send their children to faraway orphanages. These directors, often pastors of churches as well, were convincing. In this village of about 150 families, 45 of their children currently live in orphanages.
But I’m excited because you are putting a stop to this! Your support enabled the social workers, who earlier this year were already in the vicinity to bring an orphanage-raised child to visit his family as part of the reunification process (see May’s Investment Report), to conduct an awareness-raising seminar. The seminar taught the people of Mayalon village about what really happens to their children when they give them over to orphanage-recruiters.
The attendees in one of the villages who’ve been armed with truth because of you
To see if we’d communicated effectively, we surveyed the people of Mayalon after the meeting. Every single attendee who completed the survey affirmed that they believed orphanages were not good for children! Now armed with this knowledge because of you, the next time an orphanage recruiter comes to their village making false promises and asking for their children, they’ll be able reply “Not my child!” This seminar in Mayalon was one of 9 such seminars that you made possible, impacting over 600 people.
Thank you family for getting this message out in Myanmar! Because of your prayers and loving-generosity, these mothers won’t have broken hearts from missing their sons and daughters. Their children won’t ever know what it’s like to feel as though they are just another mouth to feed at an orphanage. And you won’t have to help reunited these children with their families because you prevented the separation in the first place!
Until all children are in safe and loving families,
Stephen Servant
Director, Orphan’s Tear Ministry
“Children Belong In Families”
