Stories of Hope
GCA’s global team of child protection specialists are working hard to prevent abuse, trafficking, and orphanhood everyday. This work is sometimes difficult and heavy but these Stories of Hope keep us going strong every day. Find more updates on GCA’s Blog here.
Mima’s Success
The Soe family was in crisis. Alcohol and abuse had led to the separation of parents: Khin and Mima, and left their three children split between father and mother. GCA met Mima and quickly learned of her desire for healthy reunification of her marriage and family, and we helped her take steps to safely accomplish her goals.
Isn’t it interesting how sometimes it is through helping others that we help ourselves?
Read on to see how this happened for Mima and her family in the most beautiful way…
Clarity for Naing Lin
We are so excited for you to meet Naing Lin and hear his story of the seemingly simple solution that brought life-changing results. GCA came into Naing Lin’s life when he was barely 13 years old and this intervention likely corrected more than just his vision.
Magdalena’s Plea
“Please don’t take us back to the orphanage!”
This was the cry of six year old Magdalena when she saw the Social Welfare Officer (SWO) approaching her family’s home. GCA had recently facilitated the reunification of Magdalena and her two siblings with their biological parents after they had spent over a year in one of the orphanages in Dar es Salaam.
Leah’s Story
Like many young people living in rural communities, Leah had hopes of someday finding a good job in Dar es Salaam, the country’s largest city. Even though Leah’s family was economically stable, she was pressured by her friends to go with them to find a job in the big city. Knowing her parents wouldn’t want her to leave, she ran away without explanation.
The next eight months were filled with uncertainty and worry for Leah’s family until one fateful day, a phone call changed everything.
Leah’s story has a beautiful ending that is really just the beginning…
Wipa’s Road to Healing
GCA Thailand met Wipa after she and her young child fled domestic violence in Myanmar. The abuse left wounds both visible and invisible, and she knew she needed help to heal. With a young child depending on her, Wipa found determination and strength to seek help and committed herself to the healing process with GCA.
From Surviving to Thriving
This is four year old Kaeo. She lives with her parents near one of GCA’s child protection centers in Mae Sot. Kaeo’s parents work hard to provide for her and desire a hope-filled future for her. GCA’s ECDC expertly provides Kaeo with a safe, enriching environment where she has made the transition from surviving to thriving.
Options for Ma Way
An account of a single mother toiling to meet the needs of herself and her children is unfortunately a story that most everyone at GCA has become familiar with. However, we are acutely aware that each person’s story is not only important, but vital to the restorative narrative that God is writing using the reach of Global Child Advocates.
Witness how Ma Way’s family is finding their footing.
Information Can Change the World
“Thanks to GCA for supporting the training, it changed my perception and decisions on determining children's safety.
Now I can prioritize families over orphanages; Since the training, I have already placed 11 children in safe foster families and this is not the end” says Azza.
Restoring La La’s Family
La La’s story with GCA starts a lot like many others. Married with two small children, her family’s life began with hope and love. Tragically though, her husband became ill and required hospitalization.
GCA helped to restore La La’s family after unspeakable loss.
Othman’s Story - Part One
The Boy
Sitting on a sofa, shirtless, with bright eyes, chocolate skin tone and a body full of scars is a 3-year-old-boy known as Othman; living with a Foster Family in a small community in the southern part of Tanzania.
His left underarm muscles and joints are stiff. He has significant scars on his neck and back. Othman is recovering from burn injuries suffered from falling into hot frying oil.
Othman’s Story - Part Two
Othman’s mother told the GCA social worker, “I am very grateful that GCA is funding my son's surgery. Without the support, we would have to save for a very long time before we could cover all of the costs.”
It quickly became clear to GCA’s social workers that both Othman’s father and mother loved the boy. However, given the hardship in their lives, they could not balance between providing attention to the child and earning money to put food on the table.
GCA’s Global Director shares news from her recent field visits to Thailand and Tanzania in summer 2023.
Through the eyes of a child
Have you ever wondered what it means to a child for us to step in and serve their family? This month’s story might give us a little window into how a child might experience our help.
Due to the ongoing pandemic in Thailand, our early childhood development program has continued to operate with a lot of flexibility. When we have been unable to hold programs at our center, our team moved our program right into local communities.
Our teams show up at just the right time… especially from a child’s point of view! Read on…
“They are my dream family!”
Several boys have been waiting in our care, receiving love and nurture from our transition home team while we have prayed and dreamed for families for each of them. Early this year, one of these boys was placed in his forever family and now another boy is going home too.
His story is beautiful. It’s also hard. It highlights a lot of the challenges in this space all within the short few years he’s been on the planet.
That’s a lot of weight to put on the shoulders of a small boy. Thankfully he did not have to carry that weight alone, nor must he carry it any longer.
Meet Mway Mway
At GCA’s social enterprise, Sojourn Studio, we provide dignified work in Thailand for women from Myanmar. Most often Burmese women experience a very different reality than most Thai women do in their daily lives. Frequently in Thai society, people from Myanmar are viewed as lesser-than and systemic oppression increases their vulnerability ten-fold.
Migrant communities are often targeted by traffickers, loan sharks, and good jobs that pay fair wages are few and far between. Despite all of the odds against them, we have met some of the strongest, most resilient people alive right here within these vulnerable communities.
Women like Mway Mway. Read her story…
An Artisan’s Hope
One of our Sojourn artisans had long-held hopes and dreams for her family. While she didn’t have fond memories of her own childhood, she had deep dreams of being an amazing wife and mom herself.
This amazing mom came to us heartsick. Time after time, her hopes had been deferred, shattered and even destroyed. But through working with Sojourn, we are seeing her longings fulfilled.
No Exit Strategy
How do you help a young woman parent her baby when all she’s known is abandonment and rejection? How do you help her see a new way forward when her past is littered with pain and disappointment?
One day at a time. Meeting one need at a time. It’s not complicated, but it can be difficult.
You kept her safe
Are the youth in your part of the world online a lot more than usual?
It’s a reality everywhere, even in communities in Thailand. The dark side is that online exposure to pornography is at an all-time, measurable high due to quarantine. Because of this, we want to share a critical topic of education that is more important than ever for the future of our children.
Day by Day
Ever wonder what we do in any given day, week, or month? What does it really mean to be a ‘Global Child Advocate’?
As simple as it sounds, what we are doing on any given basis is just this: Pushing for real change while giving real kids a safe home, one day at a time.
To see what that looks like in Thailand, let's pretend you spent one day with us.
One call saved a child
Many of the families in our region rely upon day-work for their livelihood. As the economy ground to a halt, so did their income. This brought one woman to a crippling decision. Before we share the details, and before you rush to a shock of horror, take a moment to imagine what this must feel like.
A young mother found herself pregnant again by a man who wanted nothing to do with her older children since they were not his.
Safe at Last
Lil and Tik grew up in Myanmar with their mom and dad. Life was simple but they were happy together – until the day their mom became very ill. When she passed away, everything changed.
Their father turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with his loss and the girls were on their own to grieve. He quickly spiraled downward and beat both the girls whenever he was drunk. Lil got the worst of his rage.
Family Reunified
When we met a set of siblings many years ago…a couple brothers, a couple sisters, they were caught in a web of trauma that would honestly be difficult to articulate without several visual aids. They needed to be caught. They needed rescue.
Join the Miracle!
When a baby is born with Harlequin Ichthyosis, they require immediate care in an advanced neonatal intensive care unit. At a small free clinic in a Thai border town, this precious newborn was given no hope of survival.
But God had a plan.
Meet Tin Tin Oo
Parents make the best advocates for their children, especially moms like Tin Tin Oo, a courageous mom who is holding her family together, against all odds.
GCA comes alongside moms like her with support, to ensure they can stay together and strong - because together is what kids need the most.
To be continued…
We don’t love that as the title of a story, right? We prefer the Disney ending of “they lived happily ever after.” However, so often the beauty lies in the journey as we walk alongside the most vulnerable.
How could we say no?
“How can we say yes to a child when our future is so unclear, yet how can we say no to a little girl who needs a mom and dad more than anything else?”
No longer afraid
For two years, no one listened.
Isa Lin* spoke up to everyone who might stop the abuse but her father's words were more persuasive.
Divine Prevention
It was just another day on the border when Andrew, who leads our Crisis Prevention Team, noticed two little boys outside a local grocery store.
He felt lead to speak to them. Along with their bags, they carried with them many of the red flags we watch for.
Empowered to Dream
Htay Htay Yee is originally from Myanmar and she knows that the need for trained doctors is huge.
For years, she has dreamed of becoming a doctor yet she had no idea how to actually become one.
Thamee’s Story
Thamee lived with her mother inside Myanmar. She never knew her father. Thamee’s mother needed to work in another city so a couple in her village offered to pay her travel costs in exchange for her daughter.
The mother agreed and Thamee was bought at age 9 for $74 to be a servant in the couple's home.
Determined to Provide
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to work... and then I want to work more!”
This is a beautiful attitude to find here on the Thai-Myanmar border. The desire to provide, educate, and protect one’s family – while understanding the cost – is a big first step in hope-filled forward motion.
She is enough
San San Aye’s son, Tin Lay, was born with a severe disability and before she met our team, she had already decided to give him away.
Her relatives were constantly telling her to do so because she was struggling to get by herself...
Mom on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day celebrations have taken on a special meaning for one little boy in Thailand.
Five-year-old Zaw Win* had lived at our children’s homes since he was 2 weeks old. As part of our commitment to supporting the best interests of children without parental care, a loving foster family was found for Zaw Win*.