Hello our brothers and sisters in Christ and Friends!
We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy new year!
Florence and teams.
Christmas Update
Hello Brothers and Sister in Christ and Friends!
How are you all? By the Grace of God, the Supporting Heart Teams and our Children are all good: safe, healthy, and happy. Covid -19 has spread all around the world, and while our boarder with Thailand has been closed since MARCH, our God is faithful and he has not left us alone. Let’s fight together because this is how we will win the battles and the WAR.
Supporting Heart Social Association was registered in January as a legal Association in Myanmar and we bought new land in August. With our children's help, we have been clearing and leveling the land and building a perimeter wall. Thank you so much for your support.
As we are nearing Christmas and for many of us celebrating the birth of our Lord plus coming to the end of this year 2020, we believe that the gift of our new land is the beginning of a new season for 2021 by building our foundation on the ceiling that lung Frank left us (He is doing well and we are constantly in touch). To equip us to serve the local community better by being living examples of the scripture, representing and sharing the unconditional love of our Lord Jesus. In the communities we serve, the perishing, broken, forgotten, abused, addicted, trafficked, it is highly possible the way we live our lives may be the only Bible some people have seen and we have the honor of bringing the light of Jesus Christ to those who want to receive, and those that don't we still serve, for His love is unconditional. It will give hope to the children who do not have homes and have been abused physically, psychologically, and spiritually. It will give them all a chance of a new life through unconditional love, vocational training, and those that want Bible training.
We are now praying for the funding that will allow us to start to build on the land, starting in Febuary2021. Approximate funds needed, 6 Million THB, US$200,000, AUS$270,000. If you feel lead to contribute or fundraise, one-off or regular donations, please use our usual channels marking your donation Land & Build. Thank You.
( New land project filling the land and building the wall and children are helping)
During September in Tachileik, many people were infected by the Diphtheria virus and became sick, however, our safe house children stayed healthy because they got three doses of the vaccine. The government provided the vaccine for free for those children under 15 years old while those over 15 years old were injected at a nearby clinic and had to pay. September, October and November the team and our children worked on the new land by clearing the area and building the wall. Every morning Christina and Florence teach, English, Maths, and Grammar to our children, and 5 of our children are learning via online classes the beginning of Thai and Chinese for business and computer skills. In the afternoon we went to work on our new land, our children's EXTRA TUITION outside of school, to help clear it, construction of the wall, as well as planting vegetables, catching small fish, and feeding our pigs and chickens. All part of learning life skills, and responsibility, but they had a lot of fun, too.
(Children learning online class with computer and some are studying at safe house)
(Children are planting own vegetable and fruit tree, feed the pigs)
In the last week of November, Tachileik suffered from a second wave of Covid-19. In the only hospital, there were not enough rooms for patients, and the doctors and nurses were overwhelmed. The city is locked down now. Because the boarders have been closed since March, supplies are scarce, prices have greatly increased and people who were working have lost their jobs and no longer have any money. Crime has greatly increased, every night houses are broken into and things and food are stolen. Here at our Safe House, a thief came in twice and the second time we caught him. It is not safe even in our own homes.
When possible we continue to serve within our community. December 1st Worlds Aids Day our children and the SH team wrote Bible verses and put them into the food boxes to the street family at the cemetery. “They will know we are Christian by our love."
(Supporting Heart Teams and children are cooking food and gave to the street family at cemetery)
As we draw near the end of 2020, and prepare for a New Year and Season all of us at SH want to thank you for your continual support, we could not do what we do without you, You are our HEROS. We pray for you every week and hope our partnership continues for years to come.
Blessing and Thank you.
Florence and Teams
Just a little reminder of what your support has achieved.
Wasanna wanting to die, given up on life. Wasanna Nov2020.THANK YOU.
Jeremiah before and after now in Safe House. THANK YOU.
( Mi Si was begged on the boarder and Now in School got Top1. THANK YOU.)
(LowPhar was on the street before and he got No.1 in district for Myanmar Karate,now in Safe House. THANK YOU.)
Update of wasanna
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Supports, and family.
A follow up on our precious Wasana.
First I need to apologise for the lack of follow up on Wasana. A lot has happened since then. My retirement, the handover, SH buying land, preparing the land, raising the height of the land by filling it, and erecting a wall around it. Plus, the monsoon season, Corvid-19, boarder and schools still closed. Florence and the team are doing well and we are in regular contact.
In our last email in March Wasana was progressing well, thanks to your generous donations we were able to arrange transport to attend physiotherapy four to five days a week. The very caring physio department at the hospital went beyond their duty to attend to Wasana. We are eternally grateful to them and she has been progressing well with the continuous treatment.
HOWEVER:
A lot has happened since March. The boarder between our two countries closed, due to the CORVID-19 virus and still remains closed. At the end of March the physio department that Wasana attended closed due to the CORVID-19 virus. There were also various lockdowns and stay at home restrictions in operations over several months. This meant Wasana had no physio treatment or visit from medical teams or us until some restrictions were lifted at the end of June.
The beginning of July was Rai and my first visit to Wascana since March, while she looked well, due to no physio or follow up a lot of the progress made had been lost. Rai and I visited the hospital's physios department and tried to arrange four or five days of physio sessions again. Unfortunately due to the three months closedown they had a very large backlog and could only fit her in two times a month. We set this up and were fortunate to be able to continue with the same transport arrangements.
After a lengthy chat with the physiotherapist, we came up with the idea that it was possible for Wasana to have private treatment at home and arranged a one month trial of one day a week. It worked so well that in August we increased it to twice a week. It has made such a difference in her life. The cost per session of physio at home is 600B, 4800B a month, US$160, and AUS$220.
During our home visits to Wasana in October, we noticed a big change in her health. She was once again deteriorating and despite our encouragement and prayers was again giving up on life. We had our suspicions that maybe she was again being mistreated, which was later confirmed by a nurse. It would not be correct for me to go into details. We immediately began a search to find an alternative temporary home for her. This proved very difficult, with her needing 24/7 care, speach therephy, HIV/AIDS, still on TB medication, and paralyzed down the right side of her body.
Thanks to a couple of recommendations we found a suitable Care Home that was prepared to take her. I made a total of five unannounced visits with various people before I was satisfied that they would give her not only the professional care but the love, encouragement, and development that she needed. The only downside is the cost of 17,000B per mth, US$565 & A$772. plus usables,i.e. pampers, gloves, etc. Once again we stand in FAITH for funding. If anyone feels led to help support her please use the usual Supporting Heart banking details, marking your donation HIV/AIDS.
The good news is Wasana is extremely happy and enjoying her new home as you can see from the photos.
Thank you all for your support. It is because of your support that Wasana didn't die, you gave her the encouragement to want to live and for hope to be able to have use of her limbs and talk once again.
THANK YOU.
Physio at hospital
Rai's and Frank's on home visit
Physio at home
Going to new home,new care and physio leg muscle
Now and before
Lung Frank's letter
Dear Friends, Supporters, and Family, I am surprised how quickly time passes by! In September we will celebrate 12 years since we opened the Drop-in-Centre in MaeSai, Thailand. The Lord commanded me! He said, “You open it and run it My way.” From day one, that is what we tried to do. We shared the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father with everyone who came in. Daily between 60 and 80 kids would enter our doors! Florence was there with me from that first day! A short time later Arjah came and then Christina, Florence’s sister, and then Pastor Jonathan, her dad. What a great team! Then the Lord gave us a new command. “Send some of the children to school,” He said. I replied, “We’ve tried that Lord. No one will accept them! They don’t have IDs; it’s like they don’t even exist!” The Lord simply repeated His command, “Send some of the children to school.” That year Supporting Heart sent 31 children to school. We took them off the street and sent them to school in their own country! It was a MIRACLE! Today with your help as sponsors, Supporting Heart is sending over 100 kids to school! In 2010, the Lord spoke to Florence and Arjah about opening a Safe House for street children at risk. Today they have 17 ex-street children living with them in the safe house. These children aren’t just studying! They are excelling both in their school studies and in their relationship with the Lord. The success of the Safe House comes from our focus on Kingdom and Family! Always staying connected with the Lord and remembering to run His Ministry His way! None of us have ever claimed Supporting Heart as our own ministry! It has always been His Ministry and we plan to keep it that way! That said, I have to admit some mistakes have been made. We know we are not perfect! We do our best, we keep our focus, and we remain one big family. Florence and Arjah are mum and dad, Christina is auntie, Jonathan and I are grandads and the children are brothers and sisters. This is not a Children’s Home. It is a genuine loving Christian family environment! For the past several years Florence and Arjah have been running Supporting Heart with the Lord’s guidance. It is what they were trained to do. I have been the rudder of the ship, making course corrections when and if necessary. I have been their coach! What I’ve seen from them is very encouraging to me! Watching them work and watching them seek the Lord as they are working hasconvinced me that this is the right time for me to step aside. It is the right time to hand everything over to this younger generation, and I will step aside at the end of this month, July. It is still the Lord’s Ministry! That part will never change. I believe the Lord will lead them into a new season! For me, it is time to focus on my health and that is my plan. Yes, I am stepping down and letting the younger generation lead the family. But I am not leaving the family! They are still and will always be my family! Please stay connected with them! Pray for them and continue to encourage them as you have encouraged me! I pray that you will continue to support them and help find new sponsors for them! Remember you are a very important part of His Ministry! They are the hands and feet on the ground, but you are the prayer warriors continually plowing that ground making it fertile. Keep doing your part as the Lord leads both you and them! For now there will be no difference in the banking arrangements. As the money comes in, I will send it to them meaning I will no longer be accountable for Supporting Heart Health and Social Association. The team will continue with their current accounting firm as they want to be transparent in all their financial dealings. I want to thank you for your trust, friendship and support over the years. Supporting Heart, now Supporting Heart Health and Social Association, could not have survived without your partnership. Florence and Arjah need that same partnership from you so they can continue their work in the future. I will continue serving the HIV/AIDS community locally. This will be separate from Supporting Heart Health and Social Association. A follow up on Wasana will follow soon. My years in Thailand have brought me pleasure beyond belief! The joy of seeing changed lives for so many children. You have helped rescue them! You have opened the doors to their dreams!
THANK YOU!
Love in Jesus
Darunee & Frank. REMEMBER: We fight from the victory not for it. Together for the harvest
New letter of supporting heart
Hello sisters and brother in Christ and sponsors!
I am Florence and greeting you all. I have worked with our Lords ministry Supporting Heart ministry since 2008 and my life was changed because of children’s life. Now with our Gods guidances I take over from Lung Frank place because of his health not good and he retire. He can relax and enjoy our family life together.
This is new step and challenge for me to lead the ministry, I need your pray, support and help. Here Arjah, Christina, Lugi and his wife, Lydia, Pastor Jonathan and MoeMoe will work alongside with the ministry. We are training young generation LuGi and his wife, Lydia and MoeMoe who are from street and been trafficking.
Also thank you much for the past your supported and prayer, our team and I believe you all will continue to support God's Ministry and us in the future. Without you all ministry can’t going and we are fighting together for His kingdom.
Also I want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart to Lung Frank what he had done for the ministry, love, care, training and empower us. He empowered next generation and now is my time to start empower next generation to lead the ministry in the future and not my ministry or your ministry is our Lords for His kingdom.
I am open to everyone for your suggestions, prayer support and help us here in Myanmar.
May God Bless You All!
Florence and Teams.
January News
NEWS FLASH
Hello Sisters and brothers in Christ and Family!
We want to thank you for your response to the special appeal for Wasana. You are fantastic and we are grateful. We have to date received donations totaling US$1000 and AUS$400. That is more than the amount we need to organise a month's physio and care for Wasana while we try to build up her strength.We really need another two
months funding to do the job properly and ease the ultimate burden on Florence
and the children. It also gives us more time to find Wasana's permanent home
which is a much better outcome.
On Monday SH will visit thehospital and local health centre to try and encourage them to do more, then chat with the Physio department on Wasana's treatment plan and follow up with a home visit to Wasana and Grandma to pass on the good news. One small error in the last transmission - Patricia said Supporting Heart would take Wasana in February. We can only take her when she can walk because of Immigration issues. That should be a few months after her rehab starts. We'll keep you informed on her progress and the appeal.
Blessings and thank you again!
Frank and Florence
praying
Hello Our Friends and Family in Christ!~
To Our Family, Friends and Supporters in Australia affected by the fires and emergency situations. All at Supporting Heart are praying for your safety and downpours of rain in all needed areas.
Matthew19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “ With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'‘
In His Love!
Florence and Team
December Message
Hello Our Friends and Family in Christ!
This update is about a beautiful young soul who needs prayer as she was abandoned by society and the people who are paid to serve those in need, and left to die.
Unfortunately, stigma still surrounds those who are living with AIDS and are from poor backgrounds even among those who should be caring and serving them.
About July 2019 our SH HIV expert Nong Rai introduced me to Wasana, a beautiful young lady aged in her twenties, orphaned and dying. Wasana was living with an elderly caring couple who, while not related, we refer to as her grandparents.
Wasana was skin and bones. She had given up on life and wanted to die. She was not eating and hadn’t taken her medication for 5 months. She had suffered a stroke and had lost her voice and the use of the right side of her body. I believe Grandma lost the will to care for her and was willing to go along with Wasana’s will. Grandma was finding it all too much. Apart from working fulltime, she was caring for her own young grandson. There was also unexplained bruising on Wasana face and body.
This is where SH came in. My heart opened for this beautiful young soul and I swore I would not let her die unnecessarily and do my best to give her a better quality of life.
After a couple of visits and just showing care and unconditional love we gave her the incentive to live and she promised to begin fighting to do just that. When she started to take her medication again and eat small amounts of light food, she just vomited it up.
Wasana was deteriorating rapidly and needed urgent medical care. Grandma, for whatever reason, would not contact the hospital. My colleague Nong Rai who is a volunteer with the HIV department at our local hospital, used her contacts to get an ambulance for Wasana.
After an examination, the Doctor implied Wasana hadn’t long to live, said "since she can keep liquids down just give her liquids" and started making arrangements to return her home. My colleague did not agree with his decision and not knowing what to do, telephoned me. I asked to speak with the Doctor. After our conversion he agreed to speak with his supervisor. The outcome was that Wasana was admitted, given an X-Ray, was diagnosed with TB as well as AIDS and given treatment.
Thank you Jesus, Wasana has now defeated the death sentence spoken over her, has been discharged and is taking TB medication while recovering. Thanks to our contacts and a very caring local Health Centre nurse, Wasana is recovering, receiving physio treatment and there is hope that with the correct care and attention she can regain the use of her vocal cords, right arm and leg.
However she is back with grandma who has admitted that she cannot look after her. SH, the Health Office and Day Care Centre of our local hospital make regular visits while SH tries hard to find a Loving Home for Wasana, preferable Christian. The problem we have is that the HIV/Aids caring hospice-type of organization no longer exists.
Wasana is still not able to care for herself. She still hasn’t regained the use of her vocal cords or right limbs and needs regular physio. Without it her progress will stall and possibly regress. Grandma has made it clear she cannot look after her and does not want to.
My concern is that we may see a return to the unexplained bruising we saw in the past. We have been in touch with different organizations between Bangkok and Chiang Mai as well as various contacts around the world. We will not give up. We need a loving, caring home for Wasana, not somewhere where she will be placed and forgotten.
I am hoping someone out there will know someone who knows someone who fits the requirements of Wasana’s needs and will agree to care for her. Please contact me at info@supportingheart.org if you have helpful information.
I cannot close without thanking you all for your support and partnering alongside SH throughout 2019 and previous years. Because of you we have been able to change so many lives and give children hope for their future. I pray we will continue to serve together throughout the years to come and that you will help us find fundraisers for the future.
Have a wonderful Christmas, full of His abundant love, blessings and giving.
Thank you.
Please note ministry contact emails:
General information: info@supportingheart.org
Dengue Fever
Hello Our Friend and Family In Christ!
I am Florence from Supporting Heart. You haven't heard from me in a while because I've been very busy.
We know that Supporting Heart depends on your kind donations but in the last few months, we've been working overtime because we are fighting a Dengue fever epidemic in Thailand and Myanmar, plus shortage of staff.
Thailand’s local newspaper says that this is the worst Dengue Fever outbreak in recent years. It said cases have jumped from 38.9 people per 100,000 to 61 people per 100,000. We don’t have this information for Manama however our local hospital is full and not take more patients. Thailand government doing many things to help control Dengue, but Myanmar too poor.
Uncle Franks friends Paul and Bruce are trying to get a Dengue Fever specialist to visit our Safe House and help us prevent more sickness. SH spend to today 42,303B and still have sick children.
If you thinking of making donation, we really need your support now. Also not enough money for next month and rest of year.
In our safe House we had two children very serious and in hospital, Arki and Peter. Peter still there. ArMuaih, Busi and Michu were treated in the clinic and at home, no room in hospital. My mum yesterday now have Dengue, high fever and cannot walk, no room in hospital.
Helena, Joshua, BuJune, Joana, Christina have all been sick and under observation for Dengue. Hannah, Lydia and SaiungNinPwint are being treated at home because hospital full. Esther have been unwell and check up on heart and lung, Doctor think stress.
Now only my dad and two sisters serve in Safe House, so busy. Kii Pii left and doing his own business, Thet Thet working in hotel to support his family, Lugee marred and have two children. Arjah is away on 3 months training back end October. Uncle Frank go UK on Monday for one month.
We really need your support in whatever way you can.
Rome8:28
And we know that all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Florence and Team.
Feb New Letter
Supporting Heart (Sai Jai Yai Rak) Mae Sai & Tachilek Boarder Communities Projects. (Under the umbrella of T-AMF. Thai –Akha Ministries Foundation.)
Hello, to all Supporting Hearts. I am Bruce Kennedy.
I have been a donor over many years and am one of a group of Chiangrai supporters concerned about the unmet needs of children in the border areas.
Supporting Heart is doing all the right things to enable desperately poor children in Tachilek, Myanmar to get a basic education. The problem is that their hearts are bigger than their wallets.
Paul Hancock, Patricia Solar and I met with the NGO’s founder Frank Smith and its project director Florence Sang Hkan to explore ways to make fund raising more effective and sustainable.
We are convinced that generous, caring donors are out there. The challenge is to reach them with a message that will touch their hearts.
Anna and her mom, Anna in her new home
Anna is age five. Her father died a few months ago. Her mother, Sally was caught selling amphetamines which was her sole way of supporting Anna and herself. Now she has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Sally’s friend, Jasmine volunteered to take in Anna. However Jasmine has five young children. As the photos show, her one room home is a squeeze already.
Florence at Jasmine's house, Jasmine's eldest boy in the kitchen, the toilet block
In appreciation, Supporting Heart is providing the family with some rice/food and has enrolled Anna into school and in SH's tuition support program.
.
Anna's new family and the bedroom for Jasmine and her 5 kids
Jasmine's situation is as precarious as Sally's. Supporting Heart is familiar with this scenario and knows that Anna's future and safety are only temporarily secure in these desperate circumstances.
We suspect Anna is ripe for trafficking. The obvious solution is to take her into the safe house but as we saw from the previous report, the safe house is already packed with 17 kids including adolescent boys and girls in unsafe proximity.
Bedroom in the current Safe house one for boys room
Bedroom one for girls
Recently Supporting Hearts got a commitment from an American donor for that will enable Supporting Heart to buy land and begin creating an infrastructure to properly house the kids.
However more will be needed for the buildings and thereafter to support the operating costs. The future of so many vulnerable children like Anna depends on the generosity of people like you!
Bruce Kennedy
Donor and Supporter
FRIENDS OF SUPPORTING HEART
There are developments at Supporting Heart. Florence's difficult delivery and Frank's ill health have highlighted the toll that the constant financial worry takes on these dedicated staff members.
You might have noticed a change in our communications. Supporting Heart needs more donors and regular donations to support these kids. We'll be adding some direct fundraising requests and we hope that our friends out there will spread the news to some new people who can donate just $25 per month on a regular basis.
This project needs ongoing support.
WILL YOU GIVE $25 A MONTH?
This is a screenshot of our donations page at http://www.supportingheart.org. The payments are processed via Paypal but you don't need a Paypal account to donate. Please click (the website link above) now and set up a small monthly donation.
This is a photo so the links are not live. Go to the website address above or click the donate button on the first page.
The Supporting Heart Team
Darunee & Frank