Aye Yeik Mon literally means the holy shelter, which has been serving as a girls’ orphanage for more than half a century in Mandalay.

It currently provides housing and assistance for more than 120 girls. From new toilets, a new roof, renovation of the kitchen and dining hall, new beds and bedding and a new playground, working together since 2011 has slowly transformed this once deteriorating compound into a safe comfortable home for these girls.

In Aye Yeik Mon orphanage, the girls had been using two types of water. One comes from the red canal by the orphanage compound and the water is stored at the communal tank paved with bricks. The kids use that water for bathing. In the rainy season, the canal water is dirty from the rain and sometimes the kids have scabies and skin rashes from bacteria contaminated water. Another type of water comes from the tap provided by the government. That tap water is piped to steel tanks for drinking. Upon examination, it was found the water is hard and not good enough to drink. Grand Circle Foundation funded the installation of a purification system which resulted in clean water to both drink and bathe in. The girls no longer suffer from either skin irritations or gastrointestinal issues, improving the quality of life in terms of better health.

And like children everywhere, sometimes clean water is meant just for fun.

Every child should have a safe place to play. However, the wooden slide and swings at Aye Yeik Mon had become run down and were no longer in good condition. Through a donation from Grand Circle Foundation, the orphanage was able to install brightly colored steel frame swings, slides and basketball nets.

Read more about our latest project here.

With the advent of political unrest, food scarcity became a concern, when we were able to to get funds to the orphanage they were able to purchase several months worth of staples as a safety measure.