Care for Children
Report February 2009 |
Landsmeer, February 2009 Dear contributor, This is our 7th annual progress report on the activities for our orphanages in Myanmar (Burma).
Care for Children (CfC) Foundation The CfC Foundation supports children in Myanmar, in the surroundings of Nyaungshwe, who grow up under very difficult circumstances. The Foundation provides support with their livelihood, housing and education and in learning a profession. The majority of these children are orphans. The Foundation can do its work through donations of contributors from various countries. Although originally it was the intention to take care only of the girls orphanage, we have since January 2008 also integrated in our Foundation the boys orphanage, which is also located in the small village of Minethouk. Nyaungshwe is the old capital of the southern Shan state, located directly on lake Inle, the second largest lake in Myanmar.
The Foundation has been established by Cor Visser, from Landsmeer in the Netherlands, who lived in Nyaungshwe for 6 months per year since 1995. To our great sorrow Cor suddenly passed away in December 2007 while in Nyaungshwe. We still notice and feel the loss of Cor very much, however, the executive committee did succeed to take over Cor’s activities as much as possible in the course of 2008. Every week we call the orphanage father, Mr U Tet Tun, and we have a regular exchange of emails. Our representatives have also travelled several times to Myanmar in the past year. Not only to bring money over there in a safe way, but also to make agreements with the administration of the orphanages about the future.
Visit to Myanmar In 2008, we visited the orphanages twice: first in February and again in November. We covered the February visit in our progress report of February 2008. In November, Robert Schuil and Simon Goede, both members of the executive committee, visited Myanmar. They were accompanied by three other people involved in our foundation, namely Christine Carstens, Annette Hilhorst and Jan Tuitjer. Only Robert had visited the country before. It was a very startling and emotional experience. The population, as far as we could determine, is living in extreme poverty. The roads are in a very bad shape and full of potholes, the houses in the countryside are nearly all shabby shacks. This made a deep impression. But in spite of their poverty the people we have met were all very nice, hospitable and cheerful. The children in the orphanages, about 110 in total, are all doing very well, and they seem to have a far better life than the average child in Myanmar. One day we shared dinner with all the children. The girls and the boys did sing for us and danced, dressed in the traditional attire of their region of origin. An emotional happening ! We also met the four girls who are following a course of study financed by our study grand fund. During our visit we have urged the children who are passing their exams this coming April to continue their education with additional studies. With the staff and the management of the orphanages, we discussed the formation of small businesses, that would generate at some time money for the orphanages. For example, several months from now, we expect to have a few hundred chickens there whose eggs will be sold to the benefit of the orphanages ! We also visited a primary/secondary school for 6- to 17- year old children, among whom are about 100 from our orphanages. The teachers of this school live in small apartments close-by, but many of these apartments are about to collapse. Thanks to the action of the Rotary Landsmeer/Amsterdam-N and the Lionsclub Landsmeer on Queens Day 2008, we could give a donation to the school for the renovation of those apartments. The children from the school are also getting once a year a medical check-up paid for by the school. We also visited a day care centre for children under five years old. Here, a few of our children are being taken care of. Because this crèche has hardly any income, the 4 leaders asked us for financial support. Thanks to a donation of one of our contributors we could help the crèche for 2009. For the years to come we will rely on a friendly organization in Germany. The most important result of this trip was that we could verify that “our“ children in Myanmar are doing well. We also assured the management of the orphanages again that we will continue with our financial support.
Vacation job In November this year, a committee member of the above-mentioned German organization worked free of charge, during three weeks, in the orphanages. She did teach German and English lessons and also computer lessons. Furthermore she organized hikes for the children. Because of this highly successful visit, we will investigate how to organize these types of vacation jobs in the orphanages more often. Plans for this year In 2009 following activities are anticipated:
Finances Because of a few large donations such as revenues from a 40-years wedding anniversary party and from employees of a large international company who donated the value of their Christmas box to our foundation, we had, financially, a very good year. Those extra revenues will be mainly allocated to two projects:
Both projects are extremely important for the future of the children.
Society for Public Welfare assignment The tax department in the Netherlands has designated our Foundation officially as a Society for Public Welfare (ANBI). Therefore, every contributor in the Netherlands can subtract his donations from his income and save income tax. In addition our Foundation does not have to pay taxes on legacies and donations.
Gratitude We are very grateful for all the support we received in 2008 from you and from all other contributors, small and large, private and from businesses, foundations, churches and schools.
More information on our foundation can be found on our website: www.careforchildren.nu
Both projects are extremely important for the future of the children.
The executive committee: Maria Overmars (chairwoman), Simon Goede (secretary/treasurer), Robert Schuil (member) and Hans Kreuger (member).
Landsmeer, February 6 , 2009.
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