A Dream That Did Not Die

20 January, 2021
Karen State, Burma

“I want to be a nurse, that was my mothers dream for me”, said 16 year old Naw Neela Oo, who’s name means Sapphire. Her mother was gunned down by the Burma Army in Po La Hta village, Dwe Lo township, Papun district, Karen State, Burma 16 July, 2020. We had reported on this murder last year but I had not met the family yet. This was now January 2021 and she had come with her father and two younger brothers to our Good Life Club (GLC) and medical program in the jungle. The Burma Army has increased it attacks this year and during this week killed another civilian and shelled three villages driving over 700 people from their homes. Now many of these displaced people as well as others from different villages were with us to receive help, hope and love.

After the GLC program was over, Naw Neela Oo, her father and two brothers age 9 and 12, came to speak with us. Her father described how difficult it was to be without his wife and how his daughter had to leave school to take care of the boys while he tried to find food for the family. With a poise of a much older woman, Naw Neela Oo said, “My mother wanted me to be a nurse, that was her dream for me. But now the dream is gone with my mothers death. Our mother was killed by the Burma Army on July 16, 2020 at our village of Po La Hta. Now my mother and her dream and my dream are all gone. “ A tear rolled down her face and he said, “I miss my mother so much, we all miss our mother. Why did the Burma soldiers kill her? We found her body with two gunshots in the back of her head one in her back. The Burma Army murdered her. What am I to do? My mothers dream was for me to be a nurse and that’s what I wanted to do but now it’s impossible. To help our family survive I have to take care of my brothers. I’ll do my best to help my father and my brothers and I will never forget my mother.”

We listened, prayed with and talked with her, her father and her brothers and promised we would help. Her father said, “Please take my daughter, I give her to you to give her a chance. She has a dream and my wife had a dream. I give you my daughter so she has a chance for that dream to come true. ”

We came up with a plan to help her father and brothers and enable her to finish high school in a school near our camp. Then we will enroll her in our Jungle School of Medicine so that she can study to be a medic and in the future a nurse.

She smiled and said “Yes I would like that very much. I am so happy. It is like a dream, thank you so much.”

We prayed together and we thanked God that in the mist of tragedy something good could happen.

Thank you all for being part of Naw Neela Oo’s life and enabling us to help people like her and her family. Thank you Jesus for Your help,

God bless you all and love,

Dave, family and FBR