Before the conflict, I was working as a farmer and living together with my wife and our two sons in our home village in Kachin State. We had already lost our youngest son in January 2018 to throat cancer at 19 years of age.
One day, they started firing big weapons at our village. As we tried to run away, a shell bomb landed near our home. I had wounds to my head and legs and one of my sons was hurt badly. We don’t know how many hours we were running in the forest till we found the hospital. When we finally arrived, my son did not survive long. We had no time to prepare him for burial, so I had to wrap him in plastic and bury him at night. He was 21.
That day, 300-400 people escaped from our village. Many families were separated. We weren’t the only family to lose someone that night. For one month we lived in the forest with little food in the pouring rain.
We all relocated to Jaw Masat Church in May 2018, living there for 8+ months before a new IDP camp was built. Finding work was difficult due to my injuries so we struggled for income.
Soon, we heard about the SCAIDP project in ADRA Myanmar and how they supported those with disabilities. With my disabilities, I received 10,000 kyats each month and 55,000 kyats for household cash assistance.
When we arrived in the camp, ADRA held WASH and gender sessions where we gained a lot of knowledge. There are 660 people living in this camp, and we now have access to safe toilets and washing areas.
The SCAIDP V project is funded by Global Affairs Canada and ADRA Canada. It supports 48 IDP camps in Kachin and Shan States to improve WASH practices/facilities and provide cash assistance.
“Thankyou for coming to help our camp. I am very thankful for the help in supporting my family”.
Original Story: Pyae Phyo Lin, ADRA Myanmar
