Newsletter August 2021
Dear Friends of SANNI Foundation
There are three aspects of operating the SANNI Foundation that I believe as absolutely paramount; committing 100% of all funds donated directly into our projects, full transparency of our workings, and never forget the “human side”.
During this time of crisis in both Myanmar and India, it is easy to focus on the numbers and results of our projects, but we also must not forget the “human side”, the real-life experiences of or projects. This also includes our staff whose determination and skill, in often difficult environments, are remarkable.
In this newsletter I would like to shine a light onto some on some of our staff so you can understand not only their impressive skills but a reminder of the hard work it takes to support some of the most vulnerable and impoverished communities in Myanmar and India.
Kind Regards,
Susanne Schroff
Some of the staff from SANNI’s Shoppi – a supermarket helping fund our projects in India
Meet Ms. Valsala from India
Ms. Valsala is SANNI’s senior teacher at our care home for HIV+ children at St John’s, India. She has been with us since SANNI was founded in 2010 and is an invaluable asset to our project. Before she joined us, she was a community leader and elected member of the local government where she become involved in the community response to the HIV epidemic. She saw the discrimination innocent children faced having been born with HIV and decided to change her career and focus on these children and joined our St John’s project.
At school, she teaches science, history and Malayalam (the local language) as well as extracurricular classes like yoga and sewing. She says the hardest part of the job is helping the children become more independent as they grow older.
“It has been the pride of my life to work here, I have seen dozens of children grow from scared, uneducated and unhealthy children into impressive and powerful adults”
Introducing Esther Hnem Tin Sung from Myanmar
Esther comes from Chin in north Myanmar and moved to Yangon to work as a schoolteacher. After a couple of years, she noticed many children were not going to school and how children whose parents who did not have the opportunity of education or employment would often have the same fate. Deciding to try and do something about this, she joined SANNI’s Child Sponsorship team as our Project Manager in early 2020.
“I grew up in a town in the mountains and was lucky enough to have a good education and get a good job to support myself. But the more I work, the more I realise this is not common, but it should be a universal right! I love my job; it’s rewarding and to watch each child progress is the greatest gift. But it is also hard work and often emotionally difficult. Wearing full PPE in Myanmar’s heat is very tiring, and ever since the coup what used to be simple tasks like organising food packages for the children has become very complicated. But I don’t want to work in anywhere else and it’s never hard to remember why I want to go to work each day”
Help change a life
For less than 1 CHF a day, you can sponsor a child in Myanmar and join our mission. A sponsorship – or a one time payment in our children’s fond – provides a child living in poverty with nutritional, educational, household and hygiene support as well as special tuition and vocational training when they’re older.
