Fundraising: Shalem Christian Academy

STRATEGY

In 2017, I traveled to Myanmar to document the beginnings of Shalem Christian Academy (SCA) with Children’s Relief International. When I arrived in Myanmar, SCA was in the very beginning stages. Lian and Lunnu, the international partners who established this project, had the vision to use their property and home to host a boarding school and provide quality christian education that distinguished them from the schools in the community. They began as an after school tutoring program and needed funding to begin building. During my stay, I documented the stories of the children, gathered information to set up a child sponsorship program and photographed the story of education in the community.

Once I arrived back to the states, I provided quality photography and written content to provide a communications strategy. We created a web platform to present the campaign. We put together a social media strategy to launch the campaign.

RESULTS

Through this campaign, they raised over $50,000 for phase one of the building campaign. Now, they have continued onward to help more children like Cing. Learn more about her story and this campaign below.

STORY

MEET CING

The walls began to crumble for Cing when her father died of cancer. A short time later her mother left to find better work in another village. Cing has not heard from her since. When she is not caring for her grandmother and younger siblings she tries to learn something, anything, in her overcrowded 6th-grade classroom. Between the noise and hunger pains, even her best attempts fall short. 

When walls begin to crumble for children like Cing, it’s our responsibility to help build new ones. Children's Relief International has partnered with Lian and Lunnu Thang to build Shalem Christian Academy (SCA), a room + board and tutoring institution that allows children like Cing to build walls of opportunity and hope. SCA currently tutors 50+ local children. Ten children from the surrounding hill country are living with Lian and Lunnu full time. The Thangs know dozens more who could and should be helped, but their home is unable to take in more. 

An investment in Shalem Academy is an investment in more children like Cing. The long-term goal for SCA is to offer room, board, and education to 30 children year round. It provides more than brick and mortar — it helps little ones build walls that include hope, education, and God’s love. 

To learn more about this campaign and see their current progress, visit here.