"A boy was beaten with a knife!"

I was at our bakery yesterday and a man approaches me and says, "we have a boy who was beaten by his father with a knife and we need help!". I along with Fa, the nicest lady who speaks Burmese and English, went back to where the boy was. He was with Jim, a friend of mine who was visiting town from his children's home in the jungle. The 14 year old boy and his mother (who had tracked him down after he ran away) were sitting with Jim. She said, " My husband gets drunk every night and beats all of the kids even our 2 year old". The woman went on to say she has been married for 23 years, had 7 children, 3 of which had died. She did not want to leave him.

The boy just wants to study. He went to the head of the community for help, but according to his mother and Fa, everyone in the community beats their wives and this 14 year old boy is the only one at this age who goes to school. It turns out he is the lucky one!

I contacted an NGO to try to get some support for the community and it may help but it seems there is little likelihood that this boys life will improve any time soon. It is a strange world sometimes.