Myanmar, Asia
View report dated: June 15, 2015
View report dated: April 17, 2019
View report dated: August 17, 2023
Report Date: October 23, 2019
Samuel has been busy with the Peace Home and other responsibilities, and as usual there was much to see and hear on this visit.
He has continued to preach around the country and has been involved in several other activities in the local area aimed at helping local families and others supporting extra children from disadvantaged areas become more self-sustaining.
Issues with the dairy cows has seen them relocated to newly built stalls inside the Peace Home grounds, and the dairy farm shelter is now being utilised for raising a small herd of buffalo.
The trial of raising goats for the restaurant trade has been finished and in their place a large covered area has been built out over one of the fish ponds where hundreds of chickens are being raised instead.
The gardens at the Peace Home have been extended and replanted, with some of the Foundations for Farming principles in evidence.
Also noticeable were several dozen bicycles that Samuel has been able to source from a national program that has made ex-rental bikes from overseas available to worthy causes for free.
The number of children at the Peace Home has remained about the 100 mark, and slightly increased in the transition house that Samuel rents in Yangon.
While I was able to visit the house again I met only a few students and most were either at their studies or working. The growing number of young people finishing high school and moving out into the workforce is increasing and there are few jobs for those without some kind of tertiary or vocational training. It seems that there is very little in terms of on-the-job or in-service training provided, and the need for expensive (compared to initial wages) education means that better jobs are kept beyond the reach of those without the family backing to get them.
The loan program continues to function though I was not able to personally visit those involved on this trip.
Mary
While living at the Peace Home Mary graduated from high school and then moved to the transition house in Yangon where she undertook a nursing training program. The training program was not available in Hmawbi, and the cost of the bus and time to commute into Yangon would have made it impossible to get the training she needed.
She has been working as a nurse for the last two years and is now, alongside her work, taking a Japanese language course. She hopes to go to Japan to work once her language skills are good enough.
Priscilla
Her family comes from a poor area in northern Myanmar and 12 years ago her and her younger sibling came to live with Samuel to give them the opportunity for an education.
Priscilla finished high school in Hmawbi and for the last few years has been living in the transition house in Yangon while she studies computer engineering. She is hoping to get a job in the growing computer industry but cannot find work until she has completed several certification courses, all of which mean an additional cost which has so far been met by Samuel and Mercy.
She is very grateful to the opportunities that Samuel and Mercy have provided for her!
Samuel’s leadership has continued to grow in the Hmawbi area where he seems to enjoy good relations with local community leaders and people in general.
On this trip I visited a local community of (mostly) pastors who are living in a community setting on land provided by a local NGO Samuel is involved with. He is actively involved at a board level and personally in helping them work toward self-sufficiency to provide for their families and other young charges.
As has been outlined above, the core of the Peace Home is continuing to be developed, with the extension into vocational and higher learning through the transitional town house.
The living costs in Myanmar have slowed their rate of increase but rents and property prices remain high and growing.
Civil unrest in many of the outlying provinces have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and the internal migration of people, particularly children who are regularly sent to live with persons like Samuel and Mercy (and many in their network) are only likely to increase.
The cost of moving these children through school (education is free but delivered at a level that effectively requires extra paid classes to graduate) to a sufficient level to step them out of subsistence living is an increasing burden on Samuel as more of his students graduate.
Praise
1) The continued growth of the Peace Home and provision for them.
2) The success of the various enterprises that help provide income and materials for the Peace Home.
Prayer
1) For a way to meet the rising costs and increasing number of graduated students who need opportunities to get vocational training.
2) For safety in travelling and good health for the students – influenza has been a significant problem of late, particularly in a close environment like the Peace Home.
As always, it was both lovely to see Samuel and Mercy again and humbling to see what they are achieving in a difficult environment. Their heart for the children that they have effectively raised alongside their own is clear, and extends beyond the home.
While recent law changes have been made that threaten Christianity in Myanmar society the next steps toward making them a tangible reality have not yet been made. While evangelical Christianity makes up about 5% of the population there are encouraging signs that churches around Myanmar are reaching both Buddhist and Muslim majorities.
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