SURVIVING THE STREETS

For nine-year-old Thandar, life has always been a struggle. She lives in a rented 10-square-foot room in Mawlamyine, Myanmar with her older sister and their parents. Every day the family fretted over how they would pay the rent or where their next meal would come from.

Can you imagine a life like that? But that was all they knew.

Adding to the family’s woes was Thandar’s mother, who suffers from a chronic illness. Thandar’s father works as a trishaw driver, and on his meagre income, he could get his wife the medicine she needed while ensuring the family still had a place to live. Food for everyone was not a priority, but the neighbours sometimes helped. In this way, the family was able to get by.

But when COVID-19 reared its ugly head, the family’s fragile situation would start to fall apart.

As the global pandemic hit Myanmar, conditions for Thandar and her family went from bad to worse. Thandar’s father was out of a job. On good days they ate porridge. On bad days, they ate nothing. The health of Thandar’s mother worsened and her father had to mortgage his trishaw to raise money and keep the medicine flowing. “There was no more money for rent,” recalls Thandar sadly.

“I felt so sad. We had nothing to eat and my mother was sick. I did not know what to do.” Faced with a worsening situation, Thandar took a risky gamble. “I sneaked out with my sister and without my parents’ knowledge, we begged for money under the hot sun. I was shy asking for money but we needed it.” It was a heartbreaking situation for any child to face, but Thandar’s desperate action would set off an unexpected chain of events.

When Thandar and her sister were spotted on the streets, their plight was reported to World Vision. Acting quickly, World Vision staff, volunteers and representatives from the authorities visited Thandar’s house and provided them with desperately-needed food. “We got rice, beans, eggs, dry fish, potatoes, onions, garlic and oil,” said Thandar happily.