Happy to still be at home.

“Please don’t leave me, Mom!”

I can only imagine how brave Lian Khan Cin had to be as his mother talked to him about her decision to bring him to Love in Action Orphanage. After the death of Lian’s father, the $4-a-day she earned running a tiny road-side shop just couldn’t adequately provide for Lian’s needs.

And she wasn’t the only parent/guardian bringing his or her child to Love in Action that month—11 others did too. All told similar hardship stories, and how they wanted their children to receive the education they were too poor to provide.

Mawi-a, the director of Love in Action Orphanage, refused to accept Lian—or any other children—however, much to their parents’ dismay. Mawi-a’s heart broke to hear their stories, but he knew that his orphanage was not the solution to their problem…and that Lian, like the others, needed the love and attention of his mother.

But Mawi-a wanted to help, so he invited all the parents, or other guardians like uncles, aunts, and grandparents, to a mini-conference at his orphanage.

Giving hope and family-friendly options to families at the mini-conference

At that conference Mawi-a explained that their children would be much better off emotionally and physically living with them, their families, than at an orphanage. They were quick to remind Mawi-a, however, how important it was for their children to receive a good education—a blessing they could only get, they repeated, living at his orphanage.

Mawi-a then countered their complaints with an offer. He could teach them the basics of how to run a small business and, with the help of Orphan’s Tear, he could loan each family $300 to start their own. That way they could earn enough income to provide for their children and send them to school. Gloom quickly turned to joy; worried faces melted into smiles.

Would you consider joining me in providing loans to each of those 12 families so their children can stay with them?

You can check out all the children available on our Special Projects page.

I’m so happy that we can offer family-friendly alternatives for orphans and other children, such as kinship care.

Elisabeth Walker
Director of Orphan’s Tear