Supporting Heart (Sai Jai Yai Rak) Mae Sai & Tachilek Boarder Communities Projects. (Under the umbrella of T-AMF. Thai –Akha Ministries Foundation.)
Hello, to all Supporting Hearts. I am Bruce Kennedy.
I have been a donor over many years and am one of a group of Chiangrai supporters concerned about the unmet needs of children in the border areas.
Supporting Heart is doing all the right things to enable desperately poor children in Tachilek, Myanmar to get a basic education. The problem is that their hearts are bigger than their wallets.
Paul Hancock, Patricia Solar and I met with the NGO’s founder Frank Smith and its project director Florence Sang Hkan to explore ways to make fund raising more effective and sustainable.
We are convinced that generous, caring donors are out there. The challenge is to reach them with a message that will touch their hearts.
Anna and her mom, Anna in her new home
Anna is age five. Her father died a few months ago. Her mother, Sally was caught selling amphetamines which was her sole way of supporting Anna and herself. Now she has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Sally’s friend, Jasmine volunteered to take in Anna. However Jasmine has five young children. As the photos show, her one room home is a squeeze already.
Florence at Jasmine's house, Jasmine's eldest boy in the kitchen, the toilet block
In appreciation, Supporting Heart is providing the family with some rice/food and has enrolled Anna into school and in SH's tuition support program.
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Anna's new family and the bedroom for Jasmine and her 5 kids
Jasmine's situation is as precarious as Sally's. Supporting Heart is familiar with this scenario and knows that Anna's future and safety are only temporarily secure in these desperate circumstances.
We suspect Anna is ripe for trafficking. The obvious solution is to take her into the safe house but as we saw from the previous report, the safe house is already packed with 17 kids including adolescent boys and girls in unsafe proximity.
Bedroom in the current Safe house one for boys room
Bedroom one for girls
Recently Supporting Hearts got a commitment from an American donor for that will enable Supporting Heart to buy land and begin creating an infrastructure to properly house the kids.
However more will be needed for the buildings and thereafter to support the operating costs. The future of so many vulnerable children like Anna depends on the generosity of people like you!
Bruce Kennedy
Donor and Supporter
FRIENDS OF SUPPORTING HEART
There are developments at Supporting Heart. Florence's difficult delivery and Frank's ill health have highlighted the toll that the constant financial worry takes on these dedicated staff members.
You might have noticed a change in our communications. Supporting Heart needs more donors and regular donations to support these kids. We'll be adding some direct fundraising requests and we hope that our friends out there will spread the news to some new people who can donate just $25 per month on a regular basis.
This project needs ongoing support.
WILL YOU GIVE $25 A MONTH?
This is a screenshot of our donations page at http://www.supportingheart.org. The payments are processed via Paypal but you don't need a Paypal account to donate. Please click (the website link above) now and set up a small monthly donation.
This is a photo so the links are not live. Go to the website address above or click the donate button on the first page.
The Supporting Heart Team
Darunee & Frank