Every day in Myanmar, children are sent away from their families to live in orphanages. One boy who ended up in an orphanage in Yangon came from a small, rural village. He and his older sister were sent away in the hope that they would receive a better education outside their village.
San
Sadly, as usually happens, this didn’t turn out to be the case. When children are removed from their families and institutionalised, their development is stunted, and they struggle with so many new emotional issues that their education becomes a secondary problem. Both San and his sister struggled immensely in their new school.
In the orphanage where they were placed, San was badly bullied by the older children, and at one point was shot with a BB gun in his ear. San couldn’t hear very well with the plastic bullet lodged in his ear, but was too afraid to tell his caregivers. After a few days, his ear became infected and started to smell bad, like dead fish. As a result of this, he had to go to hospital to get the bullet removed. Fortunately, his hearing wasn’t impaired.
Bullying is a common problem in orphanages, as there are usually too few caregivers for the number of children. Often, older children are given the responsibility of controlling the younger children, and this can easily turn to misuse of power.
Thankfully our social workers were able to reunite San and his sister with their parents. They spent a lot of time with the parents during this reintegration, explaining the disadvantages of orphanages and highlighting the importance of the parental role in a child’s life. The parents warmly welcomed both children back, and told us how much they regretted ever sending them away.
San on the way to see his family
Our social workers visited San and his sister multiple times to check on their progress. When San first saw social workers coming back to visit, he looked nervous because he thought that they had come to take him back to Yangon, and he didn’t want to leave home. He told them how much happier he was living with his family.
San said that on his school holidays he had spent all his time in the village catching fish, watching birds and swimming in the stream. He was much happier, and was enjoy living with his family and friends. Everyone in the village was kind to him, and he was no longer bullied. On top of that he had his parents and relatives around to protect him from anything that frightened him. We are so happy that this family is back together!