In Myanmar, as in many countries around the world, no buffalo means no rice harvest. Asian buffaloes are indispensable tools for the plowing and harvesting of rice fields, and even bringing the rice to market.

At Life Concern Orphanage, they received a buffalo blessing. Their buffalo recently gave birth to a very cute baby buffalo! Once full grown, they can either sell it for income or keep it to take over for “mom” when she gets too old to work.

For the children,

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

Joney of Life Concern Orphanage just started a brick-making business to earn supplemental income.

A total of 94 orphanage directors and future foster parents in Myanmar attended an intensive six-day business training seminar this past month. They learned basic principles about how to operate a successful, God-honoring business. We were very encouraged to receive raving reports from many of the directors. Here are a couple of them:

It is mentioned in the Bible that God hate laziness and love those who work hard. God wants us to be trust worthy and cleanliness in work…. God want us to help others. We have to have the heart to give others generosity, patience, and humility are the proof of blessing our ministry. I believe these would be the best help we should implement in our future ministry and i have great expectation. Thank you. -Daniel of Bethel Orphanage

I do really appreciate for [Focused Business School] seminar last January. It was very life-transforming to me and for my family. It will help me to do business wisely and spend money meaningfully. -Robert Cung of HCH orphanage

With this training, and Opportunity Loans from Heaven’s Family, we believe that the directors will have the tools they need to become self-sufficient one day.

To improve our orphan’s lives,

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

Though fake, it is still fun to get your picture taken with some paper pandas!

For children in Myanmar, education is usually the highest priority—and seen as their only hope for escaping poverty. In addition to their normal school classes, teachers encourage children to sign up for the extra credit classes. If they fail final exams, they often have to repeat the entire grade. Thus, with having to study hard and do their daily chores, the children have little time left for play.

So, when the children of Life Concern Orphanage received a much-needed break from their school work, they hurried with excitement to the park. There they found paper pandas and, as everyone knows, you must have your picture taken with paper pandas! They also had great fun exploring and playing on the park’s playground equipment.

For the children,

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

A day at the park: Younger children enjoyed a different type of seesaw, and some older kids explored some fake caves (perhaps that’s where the fake pandas came from?)

Noah is keeping watch over the last five remaining pigs.

Orphan’s Tear provided a small-business startup loan to Life Concern Orphanage in Yangon, Myanmar, seven months ago. They used the loan to purchase eight piglets so that they could start a pig business.

The once-little pigs are now almost full-grown and ready to sell. Three have already been sold, and within the next fews weeks they hope to sell the remaining five. After they repay their loan, they will use their profits to provide for many of the needs of the children, making the orphanage more self-sustaining. They will also use some of the money to buy more piglets so that they can start the business cycle all over again!

And here’s the best thing…the repaid funds will then be loaned to another orphanage to help them start a business as well!

Thank you for helping to make a difference in the lives of orphans!

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

Life Concern Orphanage with their new guitar.

Devotions and singing are a part of the daily routine at Life Concern Orphanage in Yangon, Myanmar. So when their old guitar became so dilapidated that it was no longer usable, the director asked if Orphan’s Tear could help them purchase a new one.

With the help of two generous people who gave to the Orphan’s Tear Special Projects Fund, Joney, the orphanage director, bought a good quality new guitar for his children for only $100. He sent me the above photo and the text below.

Please convey my thank and gratitude to the one who sponsored us that their sacrificial support be very meaningful for us. We praise the Lord with this musical instrument and to God be the glory and honor forever and ever!

On behalf of the orphans,

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

“Well” done! Happy children at Life Concern Orphanage’s new well—one that will last them for a long time.

The idea of bathing in murky water makes me uncomfortable. The first thing I’d feel squeamish about is wondering what creepy things might be swimming around in there. Then I’d question whether or not showering in such water would even make me clean! Bathing in such water has been a reality at Life Concern Orphanage in Yangon, Myanmar—that is until recently. The orphanage well, their only source of water, was unprotected, allowing debris and dirt to wash in during the rainy season (see photo below). Here is what the director, Joney Van Hup, wrote to us:

This is my humble request to you that the well that we have now is very useful for washing clothes, taking bath, toilets, gardening and washing dishes. But the water is very filthy and muddy. Therefore, I want to repair and put the concrete (ring shape) inside the well in order that the water will be more clean and especially in the rainy season, the outside water will not go into the well.

It didn’t take me long to realize that this was a problem we wanted to help fix! If you have given to Orphan’s Tear’s Special Gifts Fund, you played a part in helping Life Concern Orphanage upgrade their well so that they can draw clean water.

Joney wrote:

As for me and all the kids are fine. I have sent the pictures of the new well you’ve sponsored us. Now, the water is getting better and it’s very useful for us. Thanks for your love and concerned.

The next time I take a shower I’ll be thinking about the children at Life Concern, and won’t take clean water for granted anymore!

Elisabeth Walter
Director, Orphan’s Tear division

The previous well’s protection did not do a very good job!

We received the photo above from the director of Life Concern Orphanage in Myanmar. He labeled it with the bittersweet caption, “Final Greeting of Christmas Pig”!

Dear Friends,

Repairing roads. Visiting the sick and praying for them. Taking vegetables to those without food. Sharing the gospel. These are just some of the activities that your sponsored children have been doing. We have some pretty amazing kids! When you support a child through Orphan’s Tear, not only are you making a difference in the life of a child, you are also impacting a community.

Below are a few of the reports we’ve recently received from our orphanages (in broken English, of course):

Life Concern Orphanage – Cleaning Up the Road

We are please to inform you that we the Life Concern Orphanage kids were involved in the community development activities which is cleaning the road. The kids and the LCM family were enthusiastically involved at that activity. The local authority highly appreciated our deeds. It is our prayer that we the LCM family want to be a blessing for our community. We want to impact our community by a good deeds.

The Life Concern kids repairing a road

Life Orphanage – Visiting and Praying for Sick Neighbors, Sharing Food

On 3rd Jan 2010 Sunday, we attend church worship service at the church on the Rock. I preached the Gospel, all my children has Bible-verse by heart reading Gal. 6:9 than we have group Sing Song Joyfully. We visited to our neighbor two houses who were sick and laying in bed. We pray for them gives strength with the word of God. They are very glad and praise the Lord.

We make garden inside our compound planting onion, various vegetables taking care and watering daily by children. We can eat our own vegetable twice or thrice in a week. We gave them one time each to our neighbor houses of (5) family.

These vegetable are doing more than just feeding orphans… they are being used as a witness to neighbors!

Agape Orphanage – Taking Care of Widows and Neighbors

We have a widow next to our house. She was sick this month. So we went to her house and encouraged her and prayed for her. Sometimes, we share food and clothings to our neighbours and tell them good news about our Lord.

Peace Orphanage – Sharing the Good News

Every Saturdays and whenever they freed from school we went some house to house and used to sell something. Such as soap, vegetable salt, and others. Which we bought from market. In this way we could shared the word of God and our prayer to some people. As they know we are orphans, they also gave us a little profit on our things.

Goshen Orphanage – A Drunk Reformed

Moreover in January, I have Home Crusade to one of a very drunkerd mans house. He got born again in the Holy Spirit of God and now he is always in the Church, leaving back the liquor room……Halleluijah.

El Shaddai Orphanage – Preaching the Gospel to Buddhists

This year Christmas was celebrated with the small gift that we received from our friend. We invite our neigbours who are Buddhist around 50 people.They all could come and fed them with physical food and spiritual food. We preach them the gospel and taught them some christian songs. They all are so excite and they said to us celebrate Christmas for us next year we will listen the word of God once again. May to God be the glory.

New Eden – Praying, Fasting, and Sharing the Good News

In January from 2-4 we went the place called Camel Mount for fast and pray with 15 children. We spent two days on mount and asking to God how would we step in the year 2010. Also each of us have commitment for the Lord’s work as long as we are in this entire world. The Lord fill with us with His Holy Ghost during the time we stayed on that mount, all of us happy and glad to receive the revelation of God for the future. After coming down from that Camel Mount many activities of Orphanage are changed. The main routine for the Orphanage is as follows:

1.) We have two main worship services, at night and morning. During this services, we prayed for all the people who cares, help, support, guide, love and all the needy i.e., orphans, widows, deaf, blind, ministers, preachers, etc.

2.) After their school, according to their name list, visiting to church member, sick, weak, and comfort them by the word of God and praying for them.

3.) Every weekend all the people have an opportunities to visit member, share the gospel to people as much as they could reach. When the children are sharing the good news people give attention more than other (Adult). Thanks God for that. All the children are decided to share the gospel to the people as long as they are in this world. Praise the Lord for that.

I hope you were blessed as you read those reports.

I’m also happy to report that excellent progress is being made on two orphanage dorms that we have under construction in Myanmar, thanks to contributions to the Dorms for Orphanages Fund and the Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund. God bless everyone who is making those miracles possible, and to every child sponsor!

For the Children,

Charity McDaniel

This month I asked my daughter, Charity, who heads the Orphan’s Tear division of Heaven’s Family, to write the monthly update. Let her know if you think she did a good job!

For the Children,

David

Life Concern Orphanage, in front of their new dormitory, made possible by your gifts

Can you imagine having to cook a meal for 20 hungry people? What if you had to cook a meal for 20 hungry people, but the only thing in the kitchen was an open fire? No refrigerator, no stove, no oven, no microwave, no sink. And the floor is not marble, tile or linoleum, but dirt. And the walls of the kitchen are flimsy bamboo, and the roof is thatch. And did I mention that this is the rainy season? There are probably a few dogs and chickens underfoot to get shelter from the rain. I’m not describing an adventure wilderness vacation with an end in sight, but what is an everyday way of life for most of our orphanages in Myanmar.

Below is a picture of the kitchen of Life Concern Orphanage. Before Cyclone Nargis, this also used to be their dining hall and dorm where all the children slept! It was completely blown over during Cyclone Nargis, and now, thanks to gifts to the Dorms for Orphanages Fund, they have a new place to sleep.

The current kitchen of Life Concern Orphanage

We receive emails all the time from the orphanage directors in Myanmar, requesting that we please build a kitchen for them. Gifts to the Dorms for Orphanages Fund help us answer their prayers.

Yes, You ARE Making a Difference!

You may not think too much about the $20 per child that you give each month to Orphan’s Tear. But let me tell you, to the directors and children of the orphanages you are helping, your $20 per month is a big deal! If the money that we wire each month gets delayed for any reason, we start getting worried emails from overseas. And if someone has to stop sponsorship for any reason, that loss is felt by the orphanage. Below is a thank-you letter from the director of Life Concern Orphanage, and anyone who has given to Orphan’s Tear should feel good as they read it! You are making a difference!

I would like to write a word of thanks to all the donors and prayer partners. It is a good news and we praise God that 99% of our kids (Life Concern Orphanage) passed their final examination in the public school. To God be the glory and honor. Your financial support really made different in the life of the orphans. The kids are more healthier, more educated and much improved in the godly behavior. The kids improved very much in various ways not because of my efforts alone, but because of all the generous donors, prayers partners around the world and of course the grace and mercy of God….. Please continue to help us in prayers and financial support in the future that all these precious kids will be the hope for the new generation in Myanmar.

We do also pray for all the donors and prayer partners every days and night.

Thank You

That is all the news for this month. Thanks to everyone whosponsors a child, everyone who has contributed to the Special Gifts Fund or the Dorms for Orphanages Fund. And because 100% of every gift to Orphan’s Tear is sent overseas to benefit the orphans, thanks to everyone who has given to the general fund of Heaven’s Family, which makes possible the administration of Orphan’s Tear!

For the Children,

Charity

But now, thanks to gifts to the Dorms for Orphanages Fund, their new home is completed!