Making a Difference
A Single Starfish, by Loren Eisley
"As a man was walking along a beach reflecting on his life, one of his thoughts was that no matter how he tried to make a difference he always seemed to be spitting in to the wind."
Some of our Projects
Pyone Pyone
In a remote area 45 minutes walk away from the nearest road, 5 nuns, 2 teachers and 25 children lived in a small building with a leaking roof and mud floor. During the day they crammed in another 80 children from the local village for free education. They were living at the lowest subsistence level with virtually no income.
SKR built them a new brick building. The charity also pays the teachers’ wages and provides them with school books.
Clinics
Our clinic in E.D is up and running. It comprises a reception and waiting area, 2 treatment rooms (each with 2 beds) and 2 toilets. A doctor holds regular surgeries. The clinic is in one of the poorest communities we work in. As the village has no clean water supply, we have provided a well for the clinic and the community.
We are currently treating about 50 patients a day. Lots of the kids are suffering from malnutrition related diseases.
We plan to run childcare information sessions where parents are given advice on healthcare, hygiene, nutrition and birth control.
Myo Min and Heart Operations
Myo Min is a 9 year old boy suffering from a heart defect, pulmonary hypertension, hepatitis and thalassaemia. When we first met him, he was so ill and malnourished he could hardly stand. He would collapse and regularly bleed from his nose and mouth. After 2 years of care, he is much improved - he can now run and play and is attending school. He was seen by various heart specialists but the diagnosis was that, due to the delay in treatment, he is now inoperable and may not survive beyond his teens.
One of the heart specialists informed us that many other children were dying because they could not afford their operations. SKR has now funded successful heart surgery for over 30 patients.
Centre for Disabled Children
Since helping to fund the Eden Centre (one of the few disability support clinics in Burma) we discovered that many other disabled children are desperate for specialist care.
We have now opened a similar centre for disabled children in another area. They receive expert treatment from fully trained staff.
We are currently teaching 24 children with mental and learning disabilities and 5 children with cerebral palsy are given daily physiotherapy sessions.
With more funding we hope to enlarge the centre to care for at least 80 children.
Nyein Chan Jai Orphanage
SKR supports a couple with 2 children of their own who have taken in 14 homeless children despite not having enough to feed themselves. They live in a dilapidated bamboo house which SKR is repairing. Apart from us, their only source of income comes from selling blankets. These are woven on a loom consisting of four bamboo sticks, using thread which the children meticulously unravel from old clothes.
Pa Ta
We have recently built a school for 200 poor children in a rural village. Its construction was a real community effort, with all the villagers helping out.
This entire project was very generously funded by an individual donor.
E.Y.C Projects
Drew McDowell, a young American, runs three projects for street kids in Phnom Penh. He holds classes in English, computing and health advice. He runs medical and dental surgeries for local children. He also gives financial help to children for education and medical care.
We provide regular funding.
Rural Orphanage Centre
Run by Pol Pean, a young teacher with a passion to help as many children as he can and set in the countryside outside Siem Reap.
They were growing vegetables but in order to increase production they needed a water reservoir. We funded this and they are now growing enough to sell some as well.
They now also raise fish, pigs and ducks.
We have bought them a rice threshing machine. They buy raw rice at low cost and also thresh rice for local villages for a small payment. Our aim is to help them towards self-sufficiency, as the more income they generate, the more children he can take in and prevent from becoming street kids.
This is just a selection of our projects. To read about the others, click here.
