During our month in Malaysia, one of our primary ministries
was working in Burmese refugee schools supported by the UN. I absolutely love
the Burmese people and it was a joy and honor to work alongside the Burmese
teachers this month. I will never forget the sweet faces and amazing spirits of
the children I was able to teach and love on. After hearing many of their
stories I can’t help but love them even more. Their courage and hope in the
face of adversity and heartache astounds me. As a going away present at one of
the schools, the teachers gave us a little booklet the kids had put together
for fundraising means. It includes artwork and stories from the refugee
children. I was sitting there trying to get through the stories and having the
most difficult time. My eyes kept welling up with tears and I would have to put
it down. For some reason I kept trying though. When I got in the car I picked
up the book again but could only get through a few more stories. Each one broke
my heart.
I can’t share all the stories with you, but I knew that I
had to give you a closer look into the lives of these children. I have changed
the names, but here are just two stories from kids at the school where I
taught.
John, 12 years old
“There are eight people in my family. I have three young
sister. We had many problems in Myanmar and had no freedom. My father died
because soldiers tortured him. They accused him of being a spy from the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA). My mother also died and I lived with my aunty and
adoptive mother. My adoptive father ran away when soldiers tried to arrest him.
They arrested my adoptive mother who was five months pregnant. They abused and
tortured her until she lost her pregnancy. One of the army battalion came to
our village and they beat up people whom they were suspicious of. We have seen
soldiers persecuting people and killing them. We were afraid that they may
arrest us so we ran away from our country. The way I came to Malaysia was very
difficult. We often had nothing to eat or drink. We came to Malaysia because my
adoptive father fled here. My adoptive mother was in a lot of pain and unwell
all the time. I want to get human rights for Myanmar people so they will not be
discriminated. I want to be free from a miserable life. I pray to God that I
won’t have to face such a broken situation again…”
Sarah, 13 years old
In Myanmar I lived with my parents, sister and brother. My
parents were farmers. My sister sold vegetables in the market. My brother and I
were students. My parents were getting old and my sister was the only person in
the family earning income. One day soldiers from the village raped my sister. So
she was afraid to stay and ran away from the village. During that time solders
often searched for our sister, they beat my father and asked about her. My dad
had medical treatment for one week and my mom needed to look after him. So my
eldest brother became the sole bread winner for the family. We sometimes only
ate porridge with vegetables. Our life was a struggle in Myanmar. At that time
our village leader threatened our parents that if he didn’t find our sister
he’ll arrest me and my brother. So my brother, sister and I ran away from
Myanmar my car, foot, and by boat. We haven’t had contact with our parents
since then. In Malaysia our life is still a struggle. Now we pray for our
parents and we hope that one day we will meet again.
Some of the kids at one of the refugee schools
