Zayar Linn(2)
Zayar Linn’s family moved to Myawaddy, Burma over one year ago. It was difficult to find work in Pa Go and there was not enough food to feed the family. They were farmers but now both his mother and father do daily odd jobs when they can find the work. When they get daily work they are ‘walking shop keepers’ – they carry a large barrel on their heads and sell flowers. When they get the work, they earn up to 3,000 Kyat per day (US$3).
Zayar Linn’s 7-year-old sister stayed in Pa Go to attend school and is living with her grandfather. His 12-year-old sister moved to Myawaddy to help her mother take care of her brother when her parents go to work. She not only helps look after Zayar Linn but she also takes care of many domestic duties. She would like to go to school but the family cannot afford to send her.
Zayar Linn first got sick when he was three months old. They took him to Myawaddy Clinic because he had a fever. The doctor there gave him some medicine for fever and cough and he returned home. After twenty days, Zayar Linn got a cough and fever and had difficulty breathing. Zayar Linn’s mother took him back to the Clinic and they told her that their baby had congenital heart disease. She was told that she should come to Mae Sot and visit a medic at the Mae Tao Clinic. The doctors at Mae Tao Clinic confirmed that Zayar Linn had congenital heart disease.
Zayar Linn’s mother says that her child’s heart beats very fast. When he is like this, he does not want to feed or sleep and he cries often. He also breathes very fast and his mother worries that when he gets like this he will die. When he is really bad, his arms and legs shake and he sweats a lot. He is listless and very quiet. This happens about twice a month. This used to happen to her baby but because she didn’t know he had congenital heart disease, she just thought he had a fever.
At the moment Zayar Linn’s mother is very sad and she feels helpless because she doesn’t have the money to help her child. If her son doesn’t get treatment, she feels he would die.
Zayar Linn’s mother says that if her baby gets treatment, she will be very happy. She hopes that he will be able to go to school and when he finishes, he will be able to help his mother and sisters. He is her only son and she hopes he gets better. Maybe he can become a teacher and help is mother one day. She is very poor and she doesn’t want him to be as poor as she is – that is why she wants him to get better.
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