"I Don't Need Help Anymore"
Aye Thi Dar Tun thought she was going to die. She and her family were locked inside their house, all sick with Covid19. The whole group of houses inside the fence around her small housing complex was in quarantine lock down also. No one was allowed to go inside, or out.
“We didn’t know who to call. We didn’t know who to ask for help. Everyone was busy dealing with their own issues so we didn’t get much help. We were just struggling so much.“
“I was exhausted and depressed. I thought that this might be how I die. But my mom was there to encourage me. She helped me to not give up. We encouraged each other. After I got sick, she got sick, and I cared for her. My friends would encourage me whenever we talked on the phone, because that was all that they could do. But, I was really down.”
“I am a single mother of 2 children. My son is 13 and my daughter is 8. My mother is too old to work. She stays home and takes care of my children while I go to work. I was the only one in my family who had a job. But after people in our housing area got sick with Covid19, they didn’t let us leave for months. I had no way to earn money. We just ate whatever we had. If we could we made rice porridge, or boiled eggs. The situation was very bad. I got very thin. We had no money left.”
“Once we were permitted to leave, I went back to work, but it was very difficult to make ends meet. I remember what it was like when I met Saya(Mr.) Saw Thet, from the Family Rescue team. At that time, my job paid only 5,000 baht($136USD) per month. There were some days that I couldn’t go to work because I needed to take care of my family. In those months, I didn’t even get paid the full 5,000 baht. There wasn’t enough money to pay for rent and food, and my children’s school fees. It was a very difficult time.”
“The Family Rescue Team brought us rice, oil, and other groceries. Finally there was enough for us to eat. We didn’t need to buy more food so we were able to save some money. Before that, I was responsible for buying everything we needed, and I didn’t make enough money. So food support was very helpful for me.”
“Now I have some money saved, because of your help. I got a different job also and I’ve recently remarried. My new husband has a job too. Our financial situation is a lot better.”
“Last month I told the Family Rescue team to stop bringing us food support. My family is going to be okay now. I want that food support to go to a family that needs help as badly as I once did. Now I have enough.”
Family Rescue helps families survive long enough to reach a place of strength. In Aye Thi Thar Tun’s case, she was already strong, but the circumstances around Covid19 overwhelmed her, because she had no safety net. You, and your support for her family, helped her to survive, take care of her family, and make it through a crisis to a better, more hopeful future for herself and her children.
We are honored to be your hands and feet.
Carrien is co-founder of The Charis Project, Family Education Curriculum Developer, and mom of 6.
You can get her free mini-course on Making Your Family More Resilient here.