ABC Foundation, orphan caregiver in Sittwe, says donations have dried up amid Covid third wave

By DMG 09 Aug 2021

DMG Newsroom
9 August 2021, Sittwe 

The ABC Foundation in the Arakan State capital Sittwe is struggling to provide enough food and healthcare for orphans as the number of donors has decreased during the ongoing third wave of Covid-19, according to foundation officials. 

The foundation looks after 59 orphans of different ages from infants to 14 years old, and it is in need of more donations for the orphans, said the administrator of the ABC Foundation, U La Min Kyaw Thu. 

“The death toll and infection rate during the third wave is high. So, the foundation is under lockdown as in the first and second waves of Covid-19. However, the donations for the orphans are significantly lower now,” he said. 

“Before Covid-19, there were donors every day and we received up to about 300,000 kyats a day. There are few donors now and we do not receive a kyat,” he said. 

The foundation spends donated funds on food, clothing, and education and healthcare for the orphans. 

The foundation has 22 staff to take care of the 59 orphans, and it costs more than K9 million a month for foundation expenditures, including food, clothes and healthcare for the children, as well as staff salaries, U La Min Kyaw Thu said. 

“If Covid-19 continues to break out over the long run, there will be difficulties for the children and staff,” he added. 

Another foundation official said some donors who pledged to contribute to the foundation have not been able to come and donate due to the current situation with Covid-19. 

The ABC Foundation was established in 2010 in Sittwe’s Mingan ward.