Once Chala fought with the Shan State Army to defend innocent villagers against the Burmese army that was intent on enslaving and killing them. Now he has about 40 children that he is struggling to keep alive. He found them all in the jungle, where he once ran and hid himself before crossing the border into Thailand.

The children crossed on their own. The whereabouts of their parents is at best unknown and it only gets worse from there. But just getting to Thailand from Burma doesn’t guarantee safety. If the police find them they will be deported back to Burma. And if they manage to avoid the police there are still the human traffickers. If a trafficker finds a child without parents, alone, that child will most likely end up as a sex slave in a Bangkok brothel for the rest of their life.

But Chala has taken in 40 of them. He has 15 girls, and 25 boys. He is committed to giving them proper care. He makes sure they go to school, he does his best to make sure they have food and clothing.

Chala is a very resourceful, and energetic guy. Somehow he has managed to provide for these 40 children who are not his own. It can’t be easy.

In some ways the children are better off with him than they would be in a village with their parents. Except for the obvious void that not having parents leaves. With Chala they are getting an education, and citizenship in a country where the government isn’t trying to kill them, which is more than was ever available to them before.

Thanks to the kind donations of many people in August, they were all able to move to a new district where the children will be able to get Thai citizenship papers. There future will be more secure as a result.

It’s the present that they still have to worry about.

It is still a struggle financially to feed them every month. They need to buy mosquito nets to protect against malaria in their new area, they need to buy new school uniforms and a rice cooker. There is rent to pay and drivers to get them to school and back.

Chala has no one to help care for the children. His wife left him, because her parents didn’t think he was providing for them well enough. It is their cultural right to leave.

It costs about $3000 US/month to cover all of their expenses, including wages for workers to help him.

That’s what it would cost for a family of 5 where we live.

Below is a monthly budget for the orphanage. 100 people who pledged $30 a month could do this and take care of these kids. Do you want to be one of them?

Donate now,

or email thecharisproject@swissmail.com to set up a monthly payment.

Tags: aid, Burma, charitable donation, justice, orphan, orphanage, Thailand

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 1:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.