![]() ![]() “I’ve seen her improve since coming here. Thu Zar’s teacher says that she is also likely to go. Last year, the top students got a chance to go to a new government-run middle school near the camp. There are 115 children living in the camp who study at the learning centre. Please watch out for leeches,” they chant, raising their voices above the hammering of rain on the roof. A teacher writes Myanmar language on a blackboard, and Thu Zar and the other girls read it out: “The man is building a hut. Girls sit on one side of the classroom and boys on the other. She attends non-formal primary education at a temporary learning centre in the camp, supported by UNICEF and run by the Lutherian World Federation.ĭespite the heavy rain falling outside, the children concentrate on their studies. Luckily for Thu Zar, there is a way for her to continue her studies. I don’t think we will ever be able to go back home.” © UNICEF Myanmar/2015/ThameThu Zar (right) with her family at home in Thea Chaung camp We’re safe here, but we cannot travel beyond the market. We get handouts of rice, beans and oil from WFP. But it’s not enough to live on or pay for health care. “I still do some mechanic work here,” her father adds. My father owned a mechanic workshop and made a good living. “We lived close to school, and I could go every day. “I preferred living in the village,” Thu Zar says. It’s raining and the ground between the houses is wet and muddy. It is one of many such homes, tightly packed together. Thu Zar sits with her father, Hla Kyaw, on the porch of their small house, built with wood, bamboo and part of an old tent from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. Without access to health care, her mother passed away. Thu Zar was one of the brightest girls in her class, but she could no longer go to school. They left behind a successful business and ended up dependent on food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP). In 2012, her family fled their home in Ahnauk San Pya village. ![]() Thu Zar Moe, 12, lives with her father and four siblings at Thea Chaung displacement camp near Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State. Children from both sides – in camps and in villages – have felt the impact on their education. ![]() The floods that hit Myanmar this year have exacerbated these problems, with no regard for the lines that divide communities. This displaced many Muslim communities who were relocated to controlled camps. Already marked by a high rate of poverty, the situation in Rakhine deteriorated in 2012 following the outbreak of violence between majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities. It suffers from complex humanitarian needs and unaddressed development needs. Rakhine State is one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Myanmar. ![]()
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