Building a Kitchen and Improving the Young People's Home in Dadalon, Myanmar

Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, many displaced families have entrusted their children to homes so they can be safe and continue their studies. This project aims to renovate the Dadalon home to give 70 displaced young people a safe living environment, suitable study conditions, and a setting that supports their development.

What is the situation?

Since the military coup of 1 February 2021, which overthrew the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency, Myanmar has been living through a major political, economic, and social crisis. The population’s opposition and the repression that followed have displaced 3.8 million people within the country and 1.5 million into neighbouring countries. The country’s level of economic development has fallen back 15 years in five years of war, causing severe hardship in the daily lives of the Burmese people.

In April 2026, the presidential elections were won by the military’s party, which brought the army commander, Min Aung Hlaing, to the presidency. This vote now legitimises the army’s hold on power and marks the beginning of a phase of stabilisation, in which the situation is gradually normalising, though without the fighting and ethnic grievances entirely ceasing.

Families living in the affected areas find refuge in camps for the internally displaced, in villages where security is assured, and in community buildings (parishes, village schools, youth homes) where they are taken in free of charge by the local communities. They must regularly move on, depending on the fighting, and sometimes flee overnight when a place is no longer safe. Parents do not want to drag their young children into this precarious, itinerant life, which is why they prefer to entrust them to boarding homes in regions untouched by the fighting.

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Building a Kitchen and Improving the Young People's Home in Dadalon, Myanmar — A dormitory at the Dadalon home

Why is support needed?

The Dadalon home lies eight kilometres from Pyay, in the Bago West region, right at the entrance to Rakhine State. The girls have no proper dormitory space (no internal partitions, no beds). The supervisor has no suitable space of her own, and is currently housed in the nursery-school building. There are no laundry areas (for drying and storing clothes), so two such spaces are needed, for both the boys and the girls. The kitchen was never really built (bare earth floor, no partitions), nor were the dining hall or the pantry. A staff room for the teachers also needs to be created. Finally, there is no furniture in the kitchen or the study room.

This project will therefore allow the young people to live in conditions suited to welcoming teenagers over the long term. They will have furniture for the study room. The kitchen will be fitted out in a practical and safe way, while the dining hall will be more suitable and more hygienic.

What is the proposed solution?

The ultimate aim is for the boarding students to have accommodation and a safe, decent environment where they feel secure. It is important that they can concentrate more fully on their studies while also flourishing as individuals. So that these young people can realise their potential and develop physically, mentally, and spiritually, it is essential to renovate the home and build a proper kitchen.

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What makes this project so effective?

A safe and stable environment: displaced young people live in a secure setting that supports their protection and their day-to-day wellbeing.
Facilities suited to long-term care: the living spaces meet the children’s essential needs (accommodation, food, study, and community life).
Equipped learning spaces: the young people have suitable rooms and materials, allowing them to continue their schooling in good conditions.
Whole-person development: the children are supported to flourish fully — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Who will benefit from this project?

The 70 girls and boys come from Rakhine State, a region completely cut off from the rest of the country (roads closed, entry to the state forbidden, no goods allowed in, movement restricted, schools closed). Others come from Chin State and the Bago and Magwe regions. Some are Karen, and others belong to various Chin ethnic groups; they are aged 13 to 18.

Even though they are far from their parents, whom they have not seen for three years now, they are grateful to be able to continue their studies and to be safe, compared with those who stayed behind in their home villages.

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