What would it be like to not really know how old you are and have trouble remembering anything about your father? No, you don’t have amnesia; you’re 16 years old and have spent the past 7½ years at a remote children’s home, where you were finally able to start school around age 11. These circumstances are not uncommon for a child who has become part of our community. Take a moment and imagine; place yourself in this child’s shoes.
Saga is typical of a child at risk in our Upper Mekong Basin projects, in places like Myanmar. His dad died when he was months old. By the time he reached 6 years old, his mother had succumbed to tuberculosis. At least, that is the social worker’s best guess.
Children in weakened family structures are at high risk. They die of malnutrition and disease, become indentured slaves of the wealthy, or are conscripted into the military. Saga doesn’t remember much about his earlier years. He has only one thing to say about them: Hunger!
Hunger was like a blazing neon sign in front of little Saga. Village food was usually rice along with either some pounded ginger and mustard green soup or a very flat, fermented, sunbaked bean-cake. Time was measured between working the fields and constant hunger pains. When one of our friends saw Saga on his travels through the region, he thought, “Mercy! He’s such a thin, suffering waif.” Our friend did some background checking and found that Saga was just getting shuffled around the village’s bamboo and thatch homes and had no real place to land. It was probably a simple matter of time before something worse happened to him.
Our friend brought Saga to us over 7 years ago. He has gradually opened up as we’ve loved on him. He’s always been a bit introverted and is a deep thinker. He cares about others, though, and is eager to help…especially the orphaned and impoverished. He can empathize. He’s a polite kid, a hard worker in school, and an awesome young man.
It is your partnership with Project: AK-47 that let’s us continue to fight for these children. They are worth every penny we can send their way. Please go to our site to join our rescue and care campaign today. Please invite your friends!
Many thanks to those of you who are part of our team.