Metta Yeik orphanage in need of bed-related supplies for children

By DMG 22 Dec 2020

Hnin Nwe and Myo Thiri Kyaw | DMG
22 December 2020, Sittwe

The recently opened Metta Yeik orphanage in Myebon Township’s Kanhtaunggyi town, Arakan State, for orphans who have lost parents during armed conflict, is in dire need of bed-related supplies such as pillows and blankets.

Orphans will be placed at the orphanage as of December 22, but there are not sufficient pillows and blankets for the children, Ko Maung Cherry, the information in-charge of the orphanage construction committee told DMG.

“We are preparing for the children with the funds donors provide. We have not received help from any organisations so far. We do not have enough food, but we will buy [provisions] on credit,” he said.

A total of 50 children between 7 and 15 years old are registered currently, and they are orphans from Minbya, Mrauk-U, Ann, Myebon and Rathedaung townships.

Ko Maung Cherry asked civil society organisations to provide help for the orphans’ long-term accommodation and food, as well as their education.

“I’d like to request organisations to provide financial aid or food for every month,” he said.

U Khaing Kaung San, director of the Wan Lark Foundation, said he would visit the orphanage himself before determining how the foundation could be of assistance.

“I do not know anything about the orphanage at the moment. I will go and observe the situation there and the number of children so that I might provide the required help,” U Khaing Kaung San said.

As of November 2, the number of IDPs in Arakan State was reported at more than 236,000 due to the armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army over the past two years. But about a month later, that number was down to some 190,000 as many IDPs have returned home recently with stability improving in their areas, according to data compiled by the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC).