Child Soldier Rescue

This corner of Southeast Asia is seeing a sharp rise in internally displaced people as conflict intensifies. Among them are nearly 100 vulnerable children aged 6–17 with limited or no family connections.

These are the children Jesus calls us to protect: “’Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God’” (Luke 18:16b). Thank you for partnering with us to serve them through your sacrificial giving and faithful prayers.

Previously, the children were staying in a children’s hostel in a nearby city that was bombed, leading to the loss of several caretakers and teachers. With no place to turn, the local rebel army guided the children to a location under their protection.

In response, community officials took up collections from nearby residents and provided temporary shelter on a soccer field using tarps. However, when the army threatened to conscript the children, officials reached out to our team for help.

Because of your generosity, our national partners are working tirelessly to provide meals, secure appropriate housing, and explore educational opportunities for these children. Your gifts also help volunteers trace relatives to rehome related children.

We ask for your prayers:

• Pray for wisdom and guidance as we work to create stability for these children.
• Ask God to move the community to support these children despite limited resources.
• Pray for local believers offering compassion and courageously sharing the gospel in this challenging situation.
• Ask the Lord to work in the hearts of military commanders as we advocate to keep the children safe from military conscription.

Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to boys and girls in Southeast Asia you have never met but who desperately need you. Their lives and futures are different because of your continued care for them. You are making a difference!

Thank you, again, for your generosity that supports our “Child Soldier Rescue” project in Southeast Asia. We continue to think of you and thank God for your partnership. We’ve provided a few brief updates to summarize 2021. Please lift these situations and needs before the Father as you continue to come alongside us in prayer for the children in our rescue home.

Health and COVID
COVID has torn through the country. Six children at our rescue home have experienced COVID-like symptoms but testing has not been available. The children have now recovered.

Education
Schools have remained closed in 2021, and online classes have been intermittent and challenging due to the sporadic telecom system. Because local teachers are out of work, we have arranged for some of them to come to our rescue home and provide special classes for the children. We also have scheduled times each day for the older children to tutor the younger children from their old textbooks and do their best to keep up with their grade levels.

We are exploring some training programs, like AWANA, which have been modified significantly for Southeast Asia, as another tool we can introduce as supplemental education during this time. If the crisis continues to block education, we may tap satellite schooling through the internet. We have a team member working on setting up an online education program we may be able to utilize. The two biggest challenges with this option are investing in decent technology (it’s hard to buy things right now) and connecting to stable internet (it’s inconsistent at best, even via satellite).

Gospel Activity
Outreach activities were very limited with constant lockdowns and curfews throughout 2021. However, the rescue home has a reputation for being a place of peace and hope, and as a result, outsiders regularly come to visit and ask for prayer during this stressful time. We believe Father is continuing to work through this difficult time to build a witness for Himself throughout the community.

Teenagers
Last year was especially difficult for some of the teenagers to be in constant lockdowns from COVID and military controls, particularly as the space is smaller and it’s hard to keep the education program going. If you would pray for God to breathe life and hope into the emotional and spiritual health of these teenagers, we would be so appreciative. One of their stories is below.

Goldilocks*
“Goldilocks” is the name of one of the young women at the rescue home. At seven years old, she was responsible for taking care of her four younger siblings. She has few memories of her father as he was drafted into military service when she was quite young. Because of that, he was rarely at home and has not been heard from for many years now. When she turned 12, she, too, was conscripted into the local military. While she was in the military, her village was relocated, and she lost touch with her family, only recently re-connecting with her mother.

Since there are no schooling options near her mother’s new village, Goldilocks has decided to stay at the rescue home and continue getting as much education as available. She is now 16 and has assumed the role of big sister with the younger children. Because school remains closed, she teaches them from her old textbooks and holds devotions and prayer time with the younger children each evening.

She has a dream to one day go to training school and become a flight attendant. Pray for Goldilocks, that her faith will grow strong roots, and her life will be a blessing beyond the worth of “gold.”

*name changed

During the COVID situation, the local authorities began rationing food. Prices for commodities such as oil and rice have increased by up to 50%, depending on the supply from China. Nevertheless, the children continue to remain healthy, and God keeps providing for them each month. The homes have had to come in line with some strict regulations that require us to space children out more, which is very atypical for the local culture. In one of the homes, we had to install wash stations and negotiate rigorously with the local government to stay open. 

Because of your generosity as a financial partner, we were able to construct bathroom facilities at the cross-border children’s home. The previous septic tanks often flooded out during the rainy season. This project was an emergency repair, and we are grateful for your support that allowed us to complete this upgrade! 

We are adding chickens in the home as a source of vocational learning for the children and to help with the home’s financial sustainability for the future. We built a henhouse and pen earlier in the year, and we are adding the chickens now. The first goal is food sustainability for the home, but we also hope that some chickens can be sold locally. 

Birth of a Local Initiative 

We are praying about how to support another children’s rescue home in a restricted area. This home would be part of an undercover program run by Christian schoolteachers in a rebel-controlled region. Several of these teachers served in the local armies themselves as children and have joined our network over the last 15 years. They have experienced the gospel in life-changing ways. Currently, they are caring for 11 children in their own homes. If the children are not cared for, they go into the army. 

This program is a local initiative that is so encouraging to our team! These teachers are the next generation of people we have trained who personally are taking up the banner of fighting injustice at great sacrifice. Our team is praying and seeking God’s wisdom about supporting these teachers with periodic love gifts or finding a sustainable way to serve them, but it is not a sponsorship program. 

Schools across Myanmar have been shut down again recently as more COVID cases were discovered. The government announced a new strain of the virus. Though few cases are registered in Myanmar, we assume that many more have the disease because there is little capacity for testing. At this point, we are looking at the possibility of a year or more delay in the children’s education. 

The Gospel Impact 

We want to share the story of our young friends, Sai and Si, former child soldiers who are a great encouragement to us. They were part of our child protection program and have been educated and mentored as evangelists and teachers. They are currently working in an area where the gospel is very restricted. The two are now schoolteachers but feel greatly discouraged from all the persecution. 

What’s next? 

We are searching for several more acres of rice paddy to create long-term sustainability for the home. We are waiting and praying for a great price on a farm of two-to-four acres within walking distance of the children’s home. This acquisition could double our current food capacity and allow some rice to be sold as income to cover other needs. 

We are also exploring how to adjust to the new educational access limitations for the next year. Potentially, we may set up some 5G Wi-Fi access and virtual learning possibilities. 

Join us in prayer. 

• Pray for the caretakers of the rescued children. They bear a great weight of responsibility and pressure from the local authorities. As you can imagine, most of the rescued children have been abused in many ways during their time in the army. The caretakers continue to serve as not only spiritual leaders but daily counselors for the PTSD symptoms that the children regularly exhibit. 
• Pray for the children’s healing from psychological trauma. 
• Pray for church planting efforts that continue to progress in tandem with these rescue homes. 

Thank you for your generosity! 

Your support has been the means God is using to demonstrate gospel love to these children. On their behalf, we thank you for continuing faithfully to join in this work through such sacrificial giving. During economically challenging times like these, we know your gifts could be used to meet more of your own family’s needs, and we are extremely grateful for your generosity and partnership to care for these children who represent some of the “least of these.” Thank you!