In the past two years, events catapulted Myanmar (Burma) to the forefront of world attention, as coverage of the “Saffron Revolution” protests and Cyclone Nargis shined light on a country suffering from extreme poverty and conflict. As the Christian Science Monitor observed in a September 20, 2007 article

“While Burma was once so productive that it was known as Asia’s rice bowl, today nearly a third of Burmese are chronically malnourished or physically underdeveloped, according to the World Food Program. The per capita income is around $175, among the lowest in Asia-even below neighboring Bangladesh. Ninety percent of the population lives at or below the poverty line.”

In its 2007-2008 Human Development Index the UNDP ranked Burma 132 out of 177 countries, taking into account life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrollment, and GDP per capita.
• According to the U.S. Campaign for Burma, “in 2004, only 85.1% of Burmese children are enrolled in primary school, down from 97.8% in 1991.” Financial hardships and safety concerns lead to only 34% enrollment rates in secondary schools, leading many to “trek through the jungle to the refugee camps on the Thai border for education.”
• A June 2009 U.S. State Department report on human trafficking noted Burma as a “source country” for trafficking for sexual and other forced labor and a “destination country for child sex tourism.”
• Human Rights Watch identified Burma in 2002 as having “the largest number of child soldiers in the world,” with both the national army and opposition groups contributing to the dilemma.

As Burma’s devastated condition critically impacts the younger generation, long-term stability is put at severe risk. Fortunately, organizations are responding with programs emphasizing local empowerment and educational support to give children a future.
The Genesis Network’s own New Hope is one of these initiatives. Active along the Burmese-Thai border, New Hope provides social, medical, and educational support including school construction. It emphasizes an approach that develops “children’s emotional strength and wisdom along with their physical strength. “ Its Three Pagodas Pass project hopes among its goals to provide schooling to over 60 orphans per year and social support services to over 300, targeting an area of the country that has long been a center of political and ethnic conflict.

Though there is much work to be done, social and educational programs such as New Hope indicate the possibility of change for the future. Through building up local communities and giving children an opportunity to learn, organizers set the groundwork for an end to the cycle of poverty and create the opportunity for progress. As New Hope emphasizes, “the future can…likewise be changed-one mind at a time.”