I met a memorable Christian today.  Her name is Nwe Aye.  She is a Sunday School teacher, and has taught for 13 years.

She labors in a village called Ngaung Ywa, that has about 60 houses.  The village is surrounded by fertile farm land where rice and vegetables are grown to be sold in Yangon.  But most mothers still have a hard time feeding their children.

They are landless peasants, with no education and no skills except to work s day laborers.   Nwe Aye said a lot of the husbands abuse alcohol or drugs, leaving their wives to provide.

But Nwe Aye brings hope to the children.   She uses Child Evangelism Fellowship materials and tries to provide a meal, or at least some refreshments, each Sunday. It takes about $20 to provide a meal for the children.  If the money isn’t available, she will buy some candy for $5.

The children perform well in school, because Nwe Aye, a Bible college graduate, encourages them to get the best education they can.

But some stories don’t have a happy ending.  She choked back tears when she told of Esther, a ten year old girl.  Esther performed at the top of her class, but when her mother could no longer afford to keep her in school, they moved away and now both mother and daughter are working to survive.   School days are likely over for this 10 year old.

There’s so much darkness in Myanmar — poverty that I can’t fathom, hopelessness, fear of spirits.  But there’s light too, such as Nwe Aye, helping to shepherd poor children into a safe and better adulthood.