* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
It was wonderful to see smiles of the primary school students, as they received the EU and Finn Church Aid (FCA) education kits on a sunny day. In the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp of Set Yoe Kya (nearby the Buddhist camps of Sittwe), Western Myanmar, smiles are rare.
It wasn’t an easy job for the teachers to control the excited parents. Parents were anxious for their children waiting among the queuing students for their teachers to call out their names in order to receive their kits.
“I am so tired and I have even lost my voice; however, I am so glad for my students receiving the kits. As IDP students they have to attend classes in a small school, share small spaces and they don’t have enough facilities with peers”, says Than Than Shwe, a 47-year-old teacher from Set Yoe Kya school.
But on the 24th of June, the children were all smiles and looked curious about the kind of items which were inside the enclosed bags, delivered to them by the teachers and staff of Lutheran World Federation (LWF). As the children received their kits, they looked for their family members to come and help carry the heavy kits. Especially 1st grade students’ family members were ready and waiting outside of the school.
