Welcome to The Esther Project

A year-round vocational training program, ​teaching marketable skills to orphans. We serve over 600 children in 34 orphanages at 7 locations across Myanmar.

Myanmar’s education system only manages to get 1 in 4 students to the final year of high school, a much higher percentage of orphans never reach that point. If they do make it to the final year, they must pass an exam that is partly administered in English to earn their degree

We focus on the two critical skills of English and Computer Training, a powerful combination in the developing world, that has traditionally only been available to those who can afford to send their children to private schools.

Children in Myanmar

After decades of military dictatorship, the nation of Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world. The labor force participation of children aged 10–14 years is 18%; Despite legal restrictions, commercial sex of women is available in Myanmar. Children exploited for commercial sex are most often girls, but there are also some boys.

Children (primarily orphaned girls) form a considerable proportion of trafficked persons both within and outside Myanmar: most international trafficking of Myanmar women and girls to China is for forced marriage. Other common reasons for the trafficking of women and children are for labor purposes (domestic work, factories, fishing industry, begging, street vending) and commercial sex work.

Source: “The Situation Analysis of Children in Myanmar” Developed by the United Nations Children's Fund.

Our Students

"I have made much progress by participating in the Esther Project. I have a dream to become a medical doctor after joining the project. I didn’t have any dream before I attended the Esther Project. Especially, I made a lot of progress in English and in the computer at this project."​
- Lal Cung Nung

"In our country, English language is very important. I learned a lot of new English vocabularies. Also I improved my English. The Esther Project teaches us English to help us to pursue our dream. After studying, English subject becomes very easy for me at school ." - Judy So