Monastery in Mandalay sees surge in 'conflict-orphans'
The number of orphans at a monastery in Mandalay's Pyin Oo Lwin Township has risen by more than 25 per cent since last year, with the total number of children under its care reaching 2016, monks at Doe Pin Aung monastery said.
Most are from conflict zones in Kachin and northern Shan states, or children who had been rescued before being trafficked to China, monks said. Most are also ethnic minorities, including Shan, Kachin, Pa Luang, Lasu, Pa Ai, Dhanu and Kayin.
Last year there were 1,648 orphans at the monastery and now there are 2,016.
The monastery’s abbot said it took in 30 orphans when it opened in 1990, but the number surged after Cyclone Nargis hit the country in May 2008.
“Last year and this year, hundreds more children have arrived,” the abbot said, adding: “Most are escaping conflict zones or attempts to traffick them into China.”
He said the orphans arrived in many ways: sometimes taken there by adults and in other cases arriving along. In one rare case, a mother had sold her infant for Ks 30,000 (about US$30) to a broker who intended to resell the child in China. Someone intervened and brought the infant to the monastery, asking the monks to take care of the child.
School-age children from the monastery are enrolled at government schools and many have graduated from military universities, technology institutes and other universities, the abbot said. More than 200 have graduated from universities, he added.
