An eleven-year-old Christian boy is now spending his days studying and playing football in a safe environment, rather than running into the jungle to hide from soldiers and gunfire, a local Barnabas Fund partner in Myanmar told us in August.
“Shein” is just one of 39 Christian children that a Barnabas-supported ministry has helped to escape from war zones or transfer from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the conflict-ravaged south-east Asian country in 2019.
The children are now living in a safe village that has a school where they can study and churches where they can worship. They are making new friends and sharing their testimonies at local churches, said the Barnabas project partner.
In Shein’s home village there is no school or hospital and in the last month he was there, he was forced to flee three times into the jungle to hide from the Myanmar Army that has turned mainly Christian areas into war zones.
“Shein has adjusted to the new life and school well. He has already made many friends and loves the daily devotions and worship,” the Barnabas partner told us.
“Khin”, a ten-year-old boy, was raised by his grandmother in an IDP camp and has only been in the safe village for a few months. Food can be scarce in the camps and schooling often difficult to provide so Khin’s uncle asked the Barnabas-supported ministry to help.
“He wants to study hard to become a medic and his favourite subject is maths,” said the Barnabas partner. “He loves to play soccer with his new friends and loves Jesus very much.”
In 2018, in both Kachin and Shan States, whose populations are predominantly Christian, there were more than 100,000 people living in 169 IDP camps in total, according to UNHCR figures. In May 2019, Barnabas Fund sent a large aid package to help 5,400 Christians who had been forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar during an intense phase of aerial bombardment by the military.
From Barnabas Fund contacts
