Little Girl Walked for two Days through the Mountains

Mary Nuso’s desire to study was so deep that she as an eight-year-old embarked on a two-day journey, to reach the COME school. Now she is one of the Mara people’s hopes for the future.

Fetching water, gathering firewood, cleaning, cooking. The life of a little girl in Chin State in Burma consists of hard work and not enough food to fill the stomach. The life of Mary Nuso, the youngest of eight siblings, was no exception, right up until she decided to change her life.

Walked for Two Days

"Mary Nuso really wanted to study at the COME school, but her parents said no, because they needed her to work at home. Without her parents’ permission, she walked the long way to the COME school. It took her two days. She came to my house, and told me that she wanted to go to school," says Mai Ki, who is project manager for Service and Development Department (SDD), a partner of Mission East, and the woman behind the COME school.

Struggle Impresses

The school board chose to comply with the little girl's wish, and today, the now 17-year-old Mary Nuso, has been sent to India to study with her parents’ concent. The dream is to become a priest like Mai Ki and to make a difference in the local community in Chin State.

Mai Ki tells: "I asked Mary Nuso: ‘Can you not see how much I struggle in my work?' And she said, 'The more you fight, the deeper impression it makes!'"

Role Models are Important

Mai Ki hopes that Mary Nuso becomes a role model for the next generation of students at the COME school, because there is a shortage of girls who take an education in the impoverished Chin State. "We live in a patriarchal society which also suffers from poverty. Parents always prefer to send boys to school, rather than girls," says Mai Ki.

By offering free education to all children, boys as well as girls, with the support of Mission East, the COME school has the opportunity to improve the conditions of the Mara people, by educating future doctors, engineers, teachers and politicians.

Today, Mary Nuso is 17 years old, and one of the Mara people’s hopes for the future. But only because she at an age of eight walked the long way to the COME school all on her own.