Russell and his wife Ursula had been to Vietnam before but in late 2019 they made a special trip to the country, which led them to helping a school in a remote village.
The couple from Victoria were visiting their sponsored child, 10-year-old Yen, for the first time. They had been sponsoring Yen for six years and had regularly written letters to her through ChildFund’s sponsorship program, but wanted to meet Yen and see for themselves what her life was like.
“We had always planned to visit her because it makes it more real,” Russell says.
“It was very exciting to meet Yen. It was a very nice experience. Her parents were delightful and Yen was delightful – a little shy at first, but after a little while she opened up.”
Russell and Ursula met Yen and her family at Yen’s school, where they were taken aback by the number of students.
“I was a bit surprised that the school had so many children – there were about 500 children – in such a remote place,” Russell says. “It was a big school for a place that was so remote.”
The school was in “good nick”, but Russell and Ursula noticed that the computer room was lacking in resources. “I think they had six or seven computers for a class in the entire school,” Russell says. “Given the children’s economic circumstances, I imagined they wouldn’t have computers at home.”
After returning home to Australia, the couple decided to donate eight computers to Yen’s school.
Mya hides in the corner of her home when
the quarrelling starts.
Her mother and father have been fighting every day for four years, since she was 10 years old. Sometimes her father would come home drunk and beat her mother.
“Their fights became pretty bad when I
was in Grade 8,” Mya says. “When my Dad was drunk, he shouted at everything and
everyone including me, even when I was studying.
“I was scared and couldn’t learn. I was
so depressed.”
A member of ChildFund Myanmar’s child
protection group, which has been established in Mya’s village, heard of Mya’s
situation and referred her to Htet, a case officer with ChildFund’s local
partner Future Light.
For the past three months, Htet has been helping Mya and her parents access counselling. As the sole income earner for his family, Mya’s father works odd jobs and has felt the immense stress to provide for his family and support his daughter’s education. The counselling sessions, however, have helped him understand his drinking problem and the impact it is having on his life and on his family. Since attending the counselling sessions he has significantly reduced his drinking, Mya says.
He no longer beats his wife. Mya says speaking to Htet and her counsellor have helped her relieve her emotional distress and understand that she is not alone in her situation. Mya has also learnt how important it is to continue focusing on her school studies so she can realise her dream of becoming a teacher.
ChildFund’s Myanmar’s child protection projects are supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).
