Displaced Kachin Mothers Struggle to Feed Their Children

par | Août 16, 2017 | Ethnic conflict

On a foggy evening, a few women trundled along the slope of a valley, grasping bundles of green leaves, and carrying their babies in slings on their backs. They entered a compound of dozens of bamboo homes roofed with blue tarpaulin, some displaying the UNHCR logo, in the backdrop of paddy fields lush with rain and leading to mountains.

The women walked inside homes venting smoky waves, a sign that dinner was cooking in the camp for internally displaced people (IDPs). Based in Sadung town in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, about 70 kilometers from the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, the camp was established with 408 people in early 2017.

It was the result of renewed fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, near Zai Awng camp, which forced thousands of IDPs to flee to Waingmaw and Myitkyina townships.

Known locally as an area of displaced Lisu people, an ethnic minority of several hundreds of thousands living mostly in Kachin and Shan states, the residents of the camp often gather edible plants from nearby highlands, as international aid agencies in 2016 changed their ration schemes to provide cash rather than food.

The change has proved crippling for IDPs such as Daw Wo Mi, a Lisu mother-of-five who is fluent in Burmese, unlike most other people in the camp who only speak the Lisu language.

“I cannot afford to cook meat for my children very often in one month. Our table is mostly decorated with a couple of side dishes,” she said.

By Moe Myint 16 August 2017 – SADUNG, Kachin State

Moe Myint The Irrawaddy Moe Myint is Reporter at the English edition of The Irrawaddy.

Cash Rations

According to the most recent UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) estimation, nearly 100,000 IDPs have been sheltering for up to six years across Kachin State and along the border of neighboring Shan State since the collapse of a 17-year ceasefire agreement between the Tatmadaw and the KIA in 2011.
IDPs make up 9 percent of jade-rich Kachin, and among this figure, 70 percent are women. Many of them—including residents of the Sadung camp—have little hope of returning home and reclaiming the lives they had before the conflict.
From 2011 to early 2016, international aid agencies provided rice bags for Kachin IDPs, but in March 2016, the World Food Programme (WFP) replaced the food with cash, because of the refugee crises in the Middle East and “donor fatigue,” according to Hka Li, the director of the humanitarian department in the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC).
U Thein Soe, committee member of Thagara IDP camp in Waingmaw Township, told The Irrawaddy that each beneficiary used to receive 13.5 kilograms of rice, two bottles of oil, salt and two cups of beans every month from 2011 to 2016. Now, each IDP is given 9,000 kyats (US$6.60) monthly, or, for those deemed the most vulnerable, 13,000 kyats ($9.53).
Nang Shwe, a 23-year-old Shan mother of two who lives in Thagara camp, said, “We can’t even buy meat for a few days a month. How can I pay for tuition fees for my children?”

Not Enough Food

The current aid package means most IDPs receive just 300 kyats per day ($0.22)—in the commercial capital of Yangon, this is not even enough to take a round trip journey on a public bus, and will barely cover the cost of a bind of watercress and roselle, the leaves of which can be fried or boiled in soup.
During The Irrawaddy’s recent visit to Kachin’s IDP camps, Lisu, Shan and Kachin women spoke through the assistance of a translator of their financial hardships. Shan mother-of-two Nang Shwe said, “I cannot even give 100 kyats ($0.07) of pocket money to my child when he goes to school.”
Daw Wo Mi, the Lisu mother, explained that her family of seven recently arrived at the camp and falls under the “most vulnerable” category, therefore receiving 91,000 kyats ($66.70) altogether every month from the WFP.
She initially focused on buying low-grade rice bags of 50 kilograms instead of clothing for her family. A rice bag costs between 30,000-40,000 kyats ($22-29) in Sadung town and her family consumes at least two bags per month. She used the remaining 30,000 kyats on oil, salt, and other basic commodities.
“I have to spend at least 4,000 kyats ($2.93) if I want to buy meat in the market, so vegetables are the main dishes on the table,” she said. The children, she added, sometimes even refuse these dishes and eat only rice.
Mother-of-three Daw Lang Yu, 44, who recently arrived at the camp on the compound of Lhavo Church in Waingmaw Township said, “We eat rice with salt when we have no money to go shopping.”

Finding Work

The struggle to put enough food on the table was a story that repeated itself in every camp The Irrawaddy visited in Waingmaw, Myitkyina, and Sadung towns. IDPs and aid workers told The Irrawaddy that the typical tasks of women in the camps include cooking, washing clothes, and parenting, while their husbands look for day labor in town, cutting bamboo or collecting firewood.
Some women would leave the camps to seek recruitment on paddy farms, and some IDP camps located near urban areas see residents earning small amounts of money for selling crafts such as amber beads and necklaces in local markets.
KBC humanitarian department director Hka Li said aid organizations give vocational training to IDPs as well as small grants for livelihood projects. International religious organizations occasionally give donations, he added.
However, he conceded, “I suppose meals with meat would be very limited for IDPs.”
Local relief organizations reported that dire financial needs drive some young women to travel to China in order to find work; some marry Chinese men, and others are known to get trafficked, although the organizations said there is no systematic data available on trafficking cases among these populations.
A lawyer in Waingmaw Township who asked for anonymity said IDP women have been working as prostitutes at an illegal casino near Bala Min Htin Bridge that is under the control of militia groups. The Irrawaddy could not verify this claim.
KBC delegates told Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw last month that addressing the food shortage of IDPs must be prioritized, Hka Li said, but it was undecided when the problem would be addressed.
But mostly, the women in camps are burdened by the perpetual fear of more armed clashes—even more than cash or food concerns. Tatmadaw battalions, militias, and KIA Regiment No. 6, for instance, contest the area of Sadung.
Daw Wo Mi, the Lisu mother of five, fled the fighting in 2011 and again in 2016. “I have no idea about politics, but we are always caught in the crossfire whenever they fight,” she said.

Myanmar Govt to Send Special Envoy to UN

Myanmar Govt to Send Special Envoy to UN

par | Août 16, 2017 | Ethnic conflict

 

The Myanmar government will dispatch a special envoy to be stationed in New York where the UN is headquartered to explain the Rakhine issue to the international community, said U Kyaw Zeya, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He mentioned the plan in response to The Irrawaddy’s question during the Asean 50th anniversary celebration in Naypyitaw on Monday.

“We met concerned directors-general and explored ideas. We’ve made proper preparations to assign a separate body,” said U Kyaw Zeya.

The Rakhine issue calls for cooperation and coordination among all ministries to find an answer, he said.

“We can’t shift the responsibility to each other. We have difficulties handling this issue but we’ll try to achieve success by working together. Not only our foreign ministry, but other agencies are also working to find a solution,” said U Kyaw Zeya.

On July 24, Daw Thandar, a well-known human rights activist and National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker, submitted an emergency proposal to the Lower House to condemn UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee’s end-of-mission statement after concluding her recent visit to the country on July 21.

Lee said she was “disappointed to see the tactics applied by the previous government still being used,” and that she would “strongly urge the government” to allow an international independent body to investigate allegations of rights abuses particularly in Rakhine State, and in conflict regions in Myanmar at large.

Daw Thandar’s proposal was unanimously approved by the parliament. Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing, an NLD lawmaker from Shan State’s Kalaw, additionally proposed sending a special envoy to the UN to counter international allegations and provide briefings outlining Myanmar’s legislative perspective on the situation in Rakhine State.

She told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar’s government was only able to respond after international agencies make allegations, and that the government should take the initiative to explain the situation to the UN first.

Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing, who is also a member of the Lower House International Relations Committee, has consistently promoted the idea of sending a special envoy to the UN whenever there has been parliamentary debate on issues in Rakhine State.

“We are in a defensive position, while the other side has disseminated widespread propaganda in the international community,” she told The Irrawaddy.

“The government should send a special envoy—a respected figure with diplomatic expertise—to the UN to counter it,” she added.

The State Counselor’s Office announced on August 11 that it was considering imposing a curfew in certain areas in Rakhine State; and that it would cooperate with the Myanmar Army to counter militancy. Since militants attacked border police posts in Maungdaw last October, 59 people have been killed and 33 went missing as of August 9, according to the State Counselor’s Office.

According to sources from Rakhine State, Myanmar Army troops in cooperation with local security forces are conducting clearance operations in the Mayu Mountain Range, where they claim that militants are hiding. “Clearance operations” carried out in the area after the October border guard post attack resulted in widespread accusations of human rights abuses committed by the military.

The Myanmar government should find a long-term solution, spur economic development, and create education and job opportunities in Rakhine State rather than isolating communities, said political analyst U Tin Maung Than.

By Htet Naing Zaw 15 August 2017 – NAYPYITAW

USDP-Led Coalition Calls on Govt to Reject Rohingya Ethnicity

par | Août 15, 2017 | Rohingyas

A coalition of 20 political parties led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) called on the Myanmar government to declare to the international community that there is “no Rohingya ethnicity” in the country.
Party representatives—largely from minor groups currently unrepresented in Parliament, including the Democratic Party Myanmar, National Democratic Force, and the National Development Party—discussed issues in northern Rakhine State on Monday at the USDP head office in Yangon. After the talks, they signed the statement, which contained four demands: improve general security in the region, provide increased security for government staff, enforce the 2014 counter-terrorism law, and reject the term “Rohingya” to describe a population of more than 1 million Muslims.
The self-identifying Rohingya are widely labeled throughout Myanmar as “Bengali,” implying that they are immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, rather than belonging to Rakhine State.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated in May that 168,000 Rohingya had fled violence and persecution Myanmar in the last five years, mostly seeking refuge in Bangladesh and Malaysia. Most recently, following militant attacks on police outposts in October 2016, Myanmar security forces carried out clearance operations in Rakhine State, displacing nearly 70,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh.
Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for not speaking out on behalf of the group, and has previously labeled both the terms “Rohingya” and “Bengali” as “emotive.” She told UN Special Envoy for Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee in June 2016 that these “controversial terms should be avoided.”

… /…

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, USDP central executive committee member U Hla Thein chastised the international community for “complaining about human rights violations to the government” while “ethnic Rakhine and members of the security forces are being killed by militant terrorists.”
In early August, seven ethnic Mro—a sub-ethnicity of the Buddhist Arakanese in the region—were found dead of gunshot and machete wounds in the Mayu mountains of Maungdaw Township in northern Rakhine State. While no one has been arrested for the murders, local sources have said they suspect militants active in the borderlands of committing the murders.
Hundreds of troops were deployed to Rakhine State last week after a meeting between military commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and a seven-member delegation from the Arakan National Party (ANP) in Naypyitaw.
The Irrawaddy reported on Monday that the Myanmar military gave a verbal order to villagers in the state’s northern townships to avoid entering the Mayu mountains for any reason, in order to “avoid fatalities” while they conduct clearance operations in the area.
U Hla Thein told The Irrawaddy that the recent mission “was not enough, if further attacks potentially happen in the area.”

                                                                                                          By Thu Thu Aung 15 August 2017 – YANGON

Thu Thu Aung The Irrawaddy

 

More Than 1,000 New IDPs Reported in Kachin State

par | Août 14, 2017 | Ethnic conflict

More than 1,000 locals abandoned their homes and have sought refuge at Baptist and Catholic churches in Namti, Kachin State, due to fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A).
The displacement followed clashes near Kasung village with KIA Battalion 11 on Thursday and a reported raid by the Myanmar Army on the area the next day.
Kasung is located about 15 miles from Namti town in Mogaung Township, Kachin State.
La Mai Seng Awng, a religious leader from the Kachin Baptist Church told The Irrawaddy that 593 internally displaced people (IDPs) had come to the church seeking food and shelter.
“The IDPs arrived in Namti first,” he said. “They witnessed skirmishes between the military and the KIO that happened in the village.”
According to a statement made by a coalition of humanitarian groups in Kachin State known as the Joint Strategy Team for Humanitarian Response (JST), about 700 people arrived Namti village by Friday. Later, more than 300 villagers were assisted in escaping from Kasung and Zup Mai Yang villages by a team involving Baptist and Catholic Church leaders, the Peace Creation Group, Myanmar Red Cross Society, and Myanmar Rescue Myitkyina on Sunday, August 13.
The JST has raised concern for the safety and security of the IDPs and civilians in conflict-affected areas and school-aged children’s education.
“The danger of a flu outbreak, and [other] health concerns remains high among IDPs, especially for children and many elderly, and those with chronic diseases,” the coalition said in its statement. “It is also important to ensure that the displaced school children are provided with psychosocial support and are able to continue schooling while in Namti before they are able to return.”

… / …

On Sunday, government leaders including the minister of Kachin State’s Department of Social Welfare visited IDPs in the churches and met with the community leaders.
The Roman Catholic Church leader Lagyi La Ja told The Irrawaddy that the government had promised to arrange for the schooling of displaced children in Namti until they were able to return home.
The Roman Catholic Church in Namti is serving as a host site to more than 400 refugees.
JST secretary Gum Sha Awng told The Irrawaddy that locals’ safety should remain the “first priority” for all stakeholders in the crisis.
“We already have over 100,000 IDPs who haven’t gotten a chance to return to their original places. Their future is extremely vulnerable,” he said of those who have been displaced since a long-term ceasefire between the KIA and Myanmar Army broke down in 2011.
Church members, the JST, international NGOs, UN agencies and the government have provided emergency assistance including food, hygiene materials and blankets to the displaced.
In June, around 1,000 villagers were displaced in Kachin State’s Tanai Township, and have, as of yet, been unable to return home.

The Irrawaddy – By Thu Thu Aung 14 August 2017

Myanmar Govt to Send Special Envoy to UN

Families Unplanned in Kachin IDP Camps

par | Août 12, 2017 | Education

Holding her eight-month-old baby close to her chest, young mother Roi San chased after her other child, a toddler running in front of her. The toddler ran barefoot across the ground.
Married at 16, the 20-year-old had two miscarriages before giving birth to her two children. Roi San is one of the 708 people living in Zilun Baptist camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kachin State capital Myitkyina.
The Irrawaddy visited three camps in Kachin State’s Waingmaw and Myitkyina townships last month —St. Joseph Mai Na, Zilun and Madaing—and met with displaced families fleeing conflict between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 2011. The ongoing conflict has displaced more than 100,000 persons in Kachin State to date.
Women and children are a common sight in IDP camps as men leave to work while wives and daughters tend to take care of their children, younger siblings and household chores during the day. At St. Joseph Mai Na Camp, sheltering 1,472 people, nearly 200 are under five years old.
Many mothers who talked to The Irrawaddy said they were terrified of becoming pregnant again. Reproductive issues are seldom addressed as a priority in IDP camps, but poor family planning adds hardship to the desperate situation of the families living there, as they struggle to arrange childcare and feed extra mouths.
According to Htoi Gender and Development Foundation, which has been working with women in the region—both in IDP camps and local villages—advocating for reproductive rights and awareness of gender issues since 2011, women living in displaced persons camps in particular need birth pacing and family planning. In these contexts, parents are often unable to provide enough nutrition to their children while struggling to earn money for everyday expenses and rely on donors to live.
“Population increase is not a problem. The problem is that an increasing number of children do not get access to the food, nutrition, and education that they deserve,” Nang Pu, founder of the Kachin State Women’s Network and the director of Htoi, told The Irrawaddy.
In an email to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had already reached out to 10,800 women and girls living both in camps and in host communities by conducting awareness sessions on family planning, as well as other sexual and reproductive health and rights, including different types of contraceptives, pregnancy-related complications and gender-based violence.
Besides the UNFPA’s provision of contraceptive choices and family planning options, women and girls living in IDP camps where there are government health workers can request contraceptive pills and injections from midwives and nurses. A health worker from Madaing camp in Waingmaw Township confirmed this to The Irrawaddy during the visit to the camp.
According to the UNFPA, 17.9 percent of women in Kachin State have an unmet need for contraceptives. Although they would like to access them, they cannot due to barriers such as cost, supply, logistics and cultural norms. Countrywide, this figure is slightly lower: 16 percent of women in Myanmar want contraceptives, but have been unable to obtain them.
“Women and girls need to know the choices that are available to them. But they also need to be empowered to make the choices they want for their health and their future,” Janet Jackson, UNFPA’s representative for Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy in an email.
A key component of the gender equality work is, UNFPA said, to engage men and boys in family and gender-related issues that range from family planning and contraceptives to gender equality and domestic violence. It said that conducting such sessions on Sundays could increase male participation in discussion as families often go to the session together after visiting church.
However, including men is still a difficulty as they are often absent or think family planning does not concern them, and they tend to leave the discussions, Htoi’s Nang Pu said.
“Even when women know what they should do for birth control, they can’t always convince their husbands,” Nang Pu said, referring to experiences that mothers had shared with her.
Cultural and religious concerns in the community are also hindering her efforts to raise awareness, Nang Pu said, explaining that community leaders often misunderstand her intentions and think she is discouraging population growth among the ethnic community.
Vulnerable populations are most affected by war—women, girls, and the elderly—she said. “Women are the ones who always suffer most but are also the most resilient.”
Acknowledging the strength of women—often forgotten and overlooked at the tables of peace talks—The Irrawaddy highlights the struggles of six displaced mothers.Living at the Zai Awng camp on the China-Myanmar border since 2011, 22-year-old mother of three Pawk Seng Pang had to flee from the camp in January this year after Myanmar Army troops attacked the KIA’s Lai Hpawng outpost. The young mother gave birth to the girl she is holding in the picture on the road during her flight from Zai Awng to Mai Na camp in Waingmaw Township.

                                                                   …. / ….

The young mother discovered in 2015 that her husband had infected her with HIV. Even though she took contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and, thereby, the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, she stopped taking them due to the heavy bleeding that was a side effect of contraceptives. She became pregnant with her youngest daughter. She is now hoping that her six-month-old is not HIV positive. The couple has been taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) to treat the HIV infection.
When asked what makes her resilient to so many hardships, she looked at her daughter and responded, “My children are the reason I’m still alive.”
Originally from Nam San Yang village close to the KIA stronghold of Laiza, 27-year-old mother of two Htusan has been displaced to Mai Na camp for six years now. She gave birth to her first child when she was 18 years old. Holding her 15-month-old boy, she said: “Life is hard. And we can’t provide our children with a good education.” Living hand-to-mouth and fending for the family, her husband works as a driver outside of the camp.
“I also want to work outside the camp like my husband, but there is no one who would take care of my two children while I am not around,” Htusan told The Irrawaddy.
Due to the difficulties she and her husband have been facing in the camp, she is considering not having another child. The 27-year-old mother of three Marip Nu Ja has been displaced since 2011. She got married when she was 18 in 2008, and her first child is now nine. Holding her nine-month-old daughter, Marip Nu Ja said long-term displacement fills their lives with uncertainties and insecurities.
“I’m afraid that life will get more and more difficult when the children grow up,” she said.
Htu Ling, a 33-year-old mother of four, gave birth to her youngest daughter just five months ago in Mai Na camp where she has been living for six years. She gave birth to three of her older children in her native Nam San Yang village—a 2-hour drive from Laiza—before fleeing the war. Since her second pregnancy with twins ten years ago, she has decided to use birth control, saying that she wanted to be a dedicated mother to her older children. Having heard that long-term birth control medication could increase her risk for ovarian cancer, Htu Ling and her husband decided to have another child.
She said she felt guilty for using contraception, since the church taught her that it is sinful and immoral to prevent “a new life” from being created. “I know that I have sinned and I will take it with me. But my children will suffer less this way,” she said.
Thirty-four-year-old mother of three Dai Tse moved to Madaing camp in Waingmaw Township from Zai Awng camp in 2015. She gave birth to her last child last year in Madaing camp. She wants to have a contraceptive implant in her arm as a preferred method of long-term birth control but the cost is preventing her from doing it.
“One of the women here told me that it cost her 55,000 kyats (US$40). It is equal to the cost of one month’s food for my family,” Dai Tse said.
“I don’t want to give birth to more children if we have to continue living like this. It’s like letting them feel they are living in hell after they are born.”
Seeing less and less hope of returning to her native land, Dai Tse has learned skills in sewing and has been thinking of starting a new life, integrating into the host community in Waingmaw Township. However, relationships with the locals in the area have been strained.
“People discriminate me for living at the camp. I don’t want to hear the word ‘IDP’ anymore. If that word is a stain, I want to wash every part of my body. I wish that the storm would take it from my body,” she said.
Je Muk is a 32-year-old mother of two girls; she is currently taking hormonal birth control since both she and her husband could not go work outside of the Madaing camp and have to rely on donors to take care of their children. She is worried that hormonal birth control pills will have unpleasant side effects and hopes for a safer, alternative family planning option.
Je Muk said that her two-year-old daughter has a partial hearing impairment. She wants to go outside of the camp to be able to find a job so that she can save some money to treat her younger daughter’s hearing loss.

By Tin Htet Paing 10 August 2017 – WAINGMAW & MYITKYINA, Kachin State

 

Tin Htet Paing The Irrawaddy Tin Htet Paing is Reporter at the English edition of The Irrawaddy.

 

A woman and her child in Mai Na IDP camp in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State

Pawk Seng Pang, a 22-year-old mother of three.

The young mother discovered in 2015 that her husband had infected her with HIV. Even though she took contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and, thereby, the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, she stopped taking them due to the heavy bleeding that was a side effect of contraceptives. She became pregnant with her youngest daughter. She is now hoping that her six-month-old is not HIV positive. The couple has been taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) to treat the HIV infection.

Htusan, 27-year-old mother of two, in Mai Na camp

Originally from Nam San Yang village close to the KIA stronghold of Laiza, 27-year-old mother of two Htusan has been displaced to Mai Na camp for six years now. She gave birth to her first child when she was 18 years old. Holding her 15-month-old boy, she said: “Life is hard. And we can’t provide our children with a good education.” Living hand-to-mouth and fending for the family, her husband works as a driver outside of the camp.

Marip Nu Ja, a 27-year-old mother of three

The 27-year-old mother of three Marip Nu Ja has been displaced since 2011. She got married when she was 18 in 2008, and her first child is now nine. Holding her nine-month-old daughter, Marip Nu Ja said long-term displacement fills their lives with uncertainties and insecurities.
“I’m afraid that life will get more and more difficult when the children grow up,” she said.

Htu Ling, aged 33 and a mother of four, in Mai Na camp.

Htu Ling, a 33-year-old mother of four, gave birth to her youngest daughter just five months ago in Mai Na camp where she has been living for six years. She gave birth to three of her older children in her native Nam San Yang village—a 2-hour drive from Laiza—before fleeing the war. Since her second pregnancy with twins ten years ago, she has decided to use birth control, saying that she wanted to be a dedicated mother to her older children. Having heard that long-term birth control medication could increase her risk for ovarian cancer, Htu Ling and her husband decided to have another child.

Dai Tse, a 34-year-old mother of three in Madaing camp.

Thirty-four-year-old mother of three Dai Tse moved to Madaing camp in Waingmaw Township from Zai Awng camp in 2015. She gave birth to her last child last year in Madaing camp. She wants to have a contraceptive implant in her arm as a preferred method of long-term birth control but the cost is preventing her from doing it.
“One of the women here told me that it cost her 55,000 kyats (US$40). It is equal to the cost of one month’s food for my family,” Dai Tse said.

Je Muk, mother of two, aged 32.

Je Muk is a 32-year-old mother of two girls; she is currently taking hormonal birth control since both she and her husband could not go work outside of the Madaing camp and have to rely on donors to take care of their children. She is worried that hormonal birth control pills will have unpleasant side effects and hopes for a safer, alternative family planning option.
Je Muk said that her two-year-old daughter has a partial hearing impairment. She wants to go outside of the camp to be able to find a job so that she can save some money to treat her younger daughter’s hearing loss.