Myanmar (Burma)

Overview
Irrawaddy Faces Project
Humanitarian Medical Aid
Myitkyina Schools
Rural Electrification

Cambodia

Overview
Vocational Education & Microfinance
Forest & Cultural Site
Rehabilitation

bsspi supported schools

• Myitkyina Schools Project
  
• Tang Hpre Mountain Youth

Tang Hpre mountain Youth

Twenty-eight miles north of Myitkyina, two headwaters conjoin to form the mighty Irrawaddy River. Here lies the village of Tang Hpre, a transition point between the wild rugged hills and steep narrow valleys of the far north and the tamer country to the south. A once vibrant village, Tang Hpre has fallen on economic hard times. Many of its former inhabitants have returned to the mountains to scratch a living on “tawngya” – farming rice and vegetables on small steep hillside plots – or to harvest what they can from an overburdened forest. Tang Hpre nonetheless remains a confluence for children who drift down from tiny mountain settlements to study at the local middle and high schools. Father Thomas Gum Rai Aung, Parish Priest of Tang Hpre, has assumed guardianship of some sixty children – boys and girls – whom he shelters on his compound while they attend school. Fifteen of these children are true orphans; the rest are children of parents who remain in the faraway hills. The girls and younger children share living space on the compound with the Sisters of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven Church, Tang Hpre Parish. Boys are housed separately in a badly dilapidated hostel on the church grounds.

BSSPI is helping Father Thomas find sponsors for these children. Contributions to this project will fund food, clothing, school supplies, personal hygiene items, and help support renovation of the boys living quarters. Father Thomas accepts children based on need regardless of religious denomination.