Hope Boarding School

We believe that without a good education it is nearly impossible for a child to escape the devastating chains of extreme poverty. Therefore, one of our very first goals was to establish a home in Yangon where children from poor families from the rural northwest could live and study in a safe, loving, and healthy Christian environment. Hope Boarding School (HBS) was established in March 2010.

The Story of Hope Boarding School

In February 2010 we purchased an abandoned, ramshackle, two-story building in a very poor section of North Dagon Township and began renovating it to the best of our abilities and available funds, which were quite limited.

Then in April and May, twenty-five children from rural northwest Myanmar were selected by Palal and Kikim, working in close collaboration with pastors, elders, and families from many different villages. These children, ages eight to seventeen, traveled for two days by bus down to the big city of Yangon, ready to begin the school year in June.

Most had never been out of their villages before, and hardly any of them spoke the required national language of Burmese. It wasn’t long before they were all suffering from culture shock and a lot of homesickness. But one thing they all had in common: they were determined to succeed.

Unfortunately, a few were not able to make the difficult transition and had to return home. But most stayed, and many were very successful in their studies, earning top marks and positions in their grades. A few of them were able to pass the extremely difficult high school matriculation exams and have gone on to University. However, regardless of whether or not they were able to pass the final exams, all of them are miles ahead of their peers back in the villages.

Since 2010 many more children have come to HBS. Now the enrollment is fifty students, and their reputation among the teachers at their government schools and in the neighborhood is excellent.

The old building has been renovated several times, and a new, four-story building was constructed on the adjacent lot. This new building houses the girls’ dormitory, the home of Palal and Kikim, a study and office area, and a multi-purpose room that is used for worship services and other group activities.

The Present

The students at Hope Boarding School are supported with the generous monthly donations of their sponsors. A monthly sponsorship for an HBS student is still just $50.00 per month. This amount, which has not increased since the beginning in 2010, covers almost all of the needs of the students. This includes food, clothing, medical care, school uniforms and fees, private tuition classes, and more.

We have been able to keep the sponsorship amount level thanks to the many wonderful people who regularly donate to our General Fund, and to a monthly grant provided by International Disaster Emergency Services, Inc. from their H.O.T. Program (Harvest of Talents for World Hunger).

The Future

We plan to continue operating HBS as long as the Lord continues to provide the necessary funds. We may, at some point in the future, move the campus to northwest Myanmar where the students will be closer to their villages and where costs are much lower. (Yangon is a very expensive place to live.) We cannot grow the campus at our current location because property values in North Dagon have skyrocketed to the point where it is no longer affordable. It would be nice to have land where the children can run and play, and to have room for even more children. However, this is still just a dream and there are no firm plans in place.

Sponsors Needed!

Each year some HBS students return home and new children come to take their place. Sometimes a sponsor will agree to continue their support with the new student. Sometimes, however, sponsors need to drop their support for various reasons. When this happens we need to recruit a new sponsor.

Are you interested in changing the life of a poor child and rescuing them out of extreme poverty by sponsoring them at Hope Boarding School? If so, we encourage you to contact us and let us know. We will supply you with photographs, stories, and more. You will be able to exchange cards and letters with your sponsored student, and even send them a gift at Christmas if you so desire. Your sponsorship really will change the life of a child, both now and for all eternity!

Mr Thang Len Mang: A Case Study

Mr. Thang Len Mang (Ma Mang) came to Hope Boarding School in 2010 from Tingkaya Village, one of the poorest in northwest Myanmar. It is a small farming village consisting of a couple dozen families, and everyone in the village lives in extreme poverty; family income averages less than one dollar per day.

He was a very quiet, somewhat shy boy, but very serious about his studies, and very respectful. However, when he did interact with others he always wore a huge smile. Everyone at HBS quickly came to love Ma Mang.

In December of 2010 we noticed that he was not feeling well. He quickly became tired out, and he was beginning to lag in his studies. Dr. Nehkholal took him to several doctors, and finally he was diagnosed with leukemia and was not given a good prognosis.

Many people suggested that Ma Mang be sent back to his village, as cancer treatment is very expensive. His family, of course, had no way to pay for hospitalization and treatment and, even if they did, there is no place in northwest Myanmar where he could get treatment for leukemia.

The MyHope board members discussed the situation, and of course Ma Mang’s sponsoring family was made aware of his condition. We all unanimously agreed that he should remain in Yangon at HBS where he could get treatment, and we would all do what we could to raise funds to cover the costs.

His father and mother were very happy, and several times they came down from their remote village (a dangerous, three-day trip) to visit him in the hospital and at HBS. Of course we helped pay for their travel expenses and food.

Mr. Thang Len Mang was not expected to live much longer. The doctors said it would be
anywhere from six months to a year, and so he began chemotherapy treatments at the cancer ward of Yangon General Hospital. We all began praying for Ma Mang to be healed, and sent prayer requests all around the world.

We found out that Ma Mang was a quiet and determined fighter. He lived on, suffering through the agony of epidural injection treatments and the pain caused by the cancer. Through it all, Ma Mang demonstrated unwaivering faith in God and love for his friends. There were times when his condition seemed utterly hopeless and we all prepared for his imminent demise. Then there were times when he seemed completely healed and we all rejoiced with him that he felt so good.

Through all of the ups and downs, his sponsoring family never waivered in their support of him and they always let him know of their love and prayers. Through the loving donations of friends around the world, Ma Mang was always able to get the treatment and medication that he needed.

Finally, in August of 2017, after nearly seven years of struggle, Ma Mang’s condition took a severe turn for the worst. He lost the ability to walk or move around on his own, and he was too weak to even eat on his own. He indicated to Dr. Nehkholal that he would like to go back home to his village to see his extended family and friends again.

We made arrangements for him to fly to Kalaymyo, and then be taken to his grandmother’s home in Bokkan village via an ambulance (about fifty miles north of Kalaymyo). Bokkan is larger than his home village of Tingkaya, and it now had a nice government clinic where he could get some basic care and pain medicine. It was also close enough to Tingkaya that all of his family and friends could visit him there. On Monday, September 4th, 2017, Ma Mang made his final trip back home.

Ma Mang was surrounded by his family and friends for about one month. During that time, even as his body continued to weaken, his spirit remained strong, and he joyfully received visits from Dr Nehkholal and loved to hear any news about Hope Boarding School. Whenever Palal shared with him how people around the world were praying for him and supporting him, his eyes filled with tears and his face would break out in his huge, trademark smile.

On October 15th, Palal was notified by Ma Mang’s family that the time was short. He quickly drove to Bokkan in order to be with Ma Mang at the very end.

Thang Len Mang passed away on October 15th, 2017, at 7:20 PM, surrounded by his loved ones. Palal delivered the funeral service the next day at 1:00 PM, and Ma Mang was laid to rest at 2:00 PM.

We received an outpouring of messages of support and grief from people all around the world who had never met Ma Mang, but were inspired by his strength, his unfailing commitment to God, and his big beautiful smile. We all wept a lot that day.

His friends back at Hope Boarding School held a memorial service for Ma Mang, and there was much weeping there, as well. We all loved him so much!

Why do we share this story of Thang Len Mang?

We tell people that when they sponsor a student at Hope Boarding School, they are changing that child’s life for time and eternity. But they are also changing the world.

That isn’t just a nice-sounding platitude. It is the truth.

It is beyond doubt that had Thang Len Mang never come to Hope Boarding School, he would not have lived past the young age of thirteen years. He would have died a painful death by cancer in a remote village in rural Myanmar, unknown to the rest of the world. His family, most likely, would have gone deep into debt trying to save or just extend his life. The Christians in that little village would have never known of the thousands of fellow believers all around the world that love them and care about them. They might never have known that there are believers on the other side of the globe who are willing to love them, support them in prayer, and even help with their financial difficulties.

When Myanmar Hope began working with the remote tribal villages in northwest Myanmar, we found out that most of them believed that they had been forgotten by God. Even worse, many of them believed that for some reason, their tribe was under God’s curse.

“We heard about America. It sounded to us like Heaven. We heard about ‘God bless America.’ We even heard that God was on your money. We could not believe it, but they told us it was true. Then we looked at our situation, and we wondered why God blessed America but not us. We thought we were under His curse.”

However, as children from these families living in extreme poverty began going to Yangon to live at Hope Boarding School, where they would receive abundant food, good clothing, excellent medical care, a good education, and much more, their thinking began to change.

They all knew that HBS was made possible because of generous love gifts from Christians, like you, in America and elsewhere. They knew that God was at work in the hearts of other believers to bring them hope and help. They began realizing that God had not put them under a curse, and that He really did love them.

Thang Len Mang’s life and situation was well known to most of the rural tribal people with whom we had contact. They saw how we did not abandon him when his medical care became difficult and expensive. They knew that, without the help of believers in the West, he would never have survived even one year back in his village. And as each year passed, their confidence in God and in His love for them increased.

Their Buddhists neighbors were also watching. And they could no longer point at the Christians in derision, or in pity, and claim that their God was impotent to help them or had completely abandoned them.

So, when you sponsor a student at Hope Boarding School, you are doing much more than providing an education for a poor student from rural Myanmar. Yes, you are doing that, but you are also doing so much more. When you help one student, you are helping an entire family. When you help a family, you are helping a village. And when you help a village, you are helping the entire people group.

That people group, the Kuki/Chin of northwest Myanmar, are in turn helping to transform an entire region that has historically been plagued with extreme poverty, disease, ignorance, and hopelessness. As our HBS students graduate from high school, attend university, and take their place in society and in the Church, it is as believing children of God who know that they have been given a great gift. And they know that with that gift comes great responsibility - the responsibility to continue helping their people, to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom, and to manifest the Glory of God in a tangible way to the pagan world that surrounds them.

So, yes, when you sponsor a student at Hope Boarding School, you truly are changing the world, both for time and eternity!