What is your definition of life?

What is your definition of life?

Various people have given the definition of life:

Life is a struggle.

Life is learning.

Life is communication

Life is a busy world.

You may have seen different lifestyles in different cultures and situations so maybe you can help me to define the life of this family:

A widow has survived with seven children after her husband passed away in 2018. She needs income to support her family and that is why she has always traveled to another area to get a job. Seven children have been surviving without their mother between 7 to 15 days every month as their mother needs to work far from home. We cannot imagine the situation of the seven children who were living together, as the older one is 16 years old and the youngest one is almost two years old. They need to support, take care, feed and protect each other in a small cottage on an island in the middle of the Mekong River. The seven children were very thin with a lack of nutrition and also dehydrated. Four children in this family go to school so they need to travel by boat every day to attend the classes because the island has no school.

(Family’s land.)

If you were this mother, what would you do in this situation?

Unfortunately, on Dec 12, 2019, while the mother was working in another area, she got a call from her neighbor to inform her that her house was burning. Thankfully all her children had been saved safely. However, all the household materials were consumed by the fire, including her harvested products. Reduced from a small cottage to a simple platform covered by a thin blue tarpaulin, I cannot imagine the picture of the seven children sleeping there. The need for shelter, hygiene, health, foods, income generation, and security are the outcomes of our assessment. The primary need of this family is shelter and the upcoming rainy season will be a big challenge for this family in a few months.

(Family’s home after the fire.)

What would life mean to you, under this small tarpaulin?

Through good cooperation with the authorities, M’lup Russey Organization was requested by the Provincial Officer of Social Affairs Veteran and Youth (PoSVY) to intervene in this crisis case. M’lup Russey Organization provided the emergency provisions to this family and did an assessment and resource mapping to identify the needs and potential solutions. The longer-term need afterward is income generation in order to secure the children from their vulnerable situation. Case Management meeting has been held with PoSVY and they have gathered the relevant stakeholders to support this family. M’lup Russey staff Mr. KHIN Sina said,

“I am committed to helping this family until they get a house and decrease the vulnerable situation of these seven children”.

After the Case Conference meeting, all the relevant stakeholders visited the situation of this family and this is a good sign for this family and M’lup Russey Organization has reinforced the importance of house building with local authorities and relevant stakeholders.

(Case conference meeting.)

How does your definition of life compare with this family? The same world, the same country, and the same province is your life situation different from theirs – Why?

M’lup Russey Organization is trying to help this family to experience a better life’s definition by gathering the resources to support their needs to fulfill M’lup Russey’s vision to see the children live together with their family happily without separation.