Ko Oo

Ko Oo (name has been changed)

A couple of friends were walking to work in Myanmar. That day, they were running late so they decided to take a different path along the railroad track. They were engaged in their usual early morning banter when a puzzling sound surfaced. It wasn’t a cry. More like a heavy wheezing. As they came around a bend in the road, they saw a small shape lying between a couple of railway ties. Dirty and covered with insect bites, a little boy clung to life.

They took turns carrying him as they made their way to a neighborhood clinic. As they entered the clinic, the wheezing stopped. They handed the little boy to the nurse, fearing it was too late to save him. They went to work wondering how the little boy got to be on the railroad track.

They shared their morning’s experience with their co-workers and learned a sad truth about poverty in their country. They learned that sometimes parents leave their children on the railroad track in hopes that their son or daughter would be killed quickly rather than experience the slow death of starvation because they didn’t have enough food for the entire family.

The next day, they stopped by the clinic to learn about the condition of the little boy. They were surprised to learn that he was alive. A few days later, the little boy was taken by a director of a Christian orphanage. She had been contacted by the clinic staff who was aware of the good reputation of the orphanage, and knew it was the little boy’s only chance at long-term survival.

He continues to improve as one of 25 orphans in this home. Although one of the home’s primary goals is to share and have the orphans accept the wonderful news of Jesus, they must first meet their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.

As he matures within a Christian environment, he will better understand the love behind the meals, the caring behind the giving and the purpose behind the saved life of a little boy discovered on a railroad track.