Myebon Twsp orphanage seeks assistance

By DMG 01 Sep 2021

DMG Newsroom
1 September 2021, Myebon

The Myittar Yeik orphanage, a refuge for children who have lost their parents due to fighting in Arakan State that is located in Kam Htaung Gyi town, Myebon Township, is in need of support.

As the land where the orphanage was built has been donated by a construction company to use free of charge for one year, the orphanage will have to move this upcoming December, said a responsible person from the orphanage.

Although town elders have donated a three-acre plot situated near the entrance of the town in Kam Htaung Gyi’s Myothit ward for the orphanage, the orphanage has faced difficulty as it needs more than K30 million to fill soil at the plot before moving, U Kyaw Soe Naing, chair of Myittar Yeik orphanage organising committee, told DMG.

“We have to move from this place in December. Town elders have donated a place but a stream is situated at the place and it needs around K30 million to K40 million to level the land. It is OK for us to even live in a tent if we have a plot,” said U Kyaw Soe Naing.

He added that because they have faced difficulty moving, they needed donors.

Twenty-one children who lost their parents in fighting have lived at the Myittar Yeik orphanage, and they range in age from kindergarten to 10th standard students.

U Kyaw Soe Naing said currently they have faced difficulty feeding children as donors are mostly inclined to donate to the health sector during the Covid-19 period.

“Wai Hun Aung’s volunteer group donated K6 million aiming to be convenient in monsoon season. We’ve spent this money. There are few donors also. We’ve faced food difficulty and also needed money to move,” he said.

The 21 children in total are from Arakan State’s Buthidaung, Mrauk-U, Myebon and Ann townships, as well as Paletwa Township in Chin State, have lived at the orphanage. They are children who lost their parents in fighting, and some children who lost their mothers during labour on their way to hospital due to road blockades.

Departmental, town elders and civil society groups from Kam Htaung Gyi town cooperated for the establishment of Myittar Yeik orphanage. At the orphanage, besides Arakanese children, other orphans from different races and religions will be accepted, according to the committee.

More than 100,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army in Arakan State have been unable or unwilling to return home despite an informal ceasefire that has held true for about 10 months now.