Small steps, big resilience

On a scorching afternoon in Tada-U Township, eight-year-old Thin Thant Thwal was playing happily with her friends near a brick wall. Having just finished her first-grade exams, her heart was light, filled with the carefree joy of a young child on holiday. But in an instant, that joy was buried under the rubble of a collapsing wall as a massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck, changing her life forever.

Pinned under the heavy bricks, Thin Thant Thwal lost consciousness. She sustained severe injuries to her pelvis and pubic bone, and her leg was badly fractured. While her playmates miraculously escaped unharmed, Thin Thant Thwal faced a long and painful road to recovery.

The earthquake did not only break her body; it shattered her family’s stability. Their home collapsed during the quake, and the mounting medical costs for Thin Thant Thwal became an overwhelming burden.

"When this happened to my daughter, we struggled even to get her to a hospital. For a week, we couldn't afford proper treatment and had to rely on traditional healers," recalls her mother, May Zin Oo.

Eventually, Thin Thant Thwal was admitted to the 550-bed Children’s Hospital, where she underwent three major surgeries and remained hospitalized for over 20 days. Her mother endured hours of agonizing wait as surgeons spent three hours placing steel rods in her daughter's leg.

The trauma, however, was more than physical. Overwhelmed by pain and fear, Thin Thant Thwal stopped speaking and refused to eat, leaving her family in a state of constant worry. Even after the earth stopped shaking, the psychological scars remained; every minor aftershock sent her into a panic, clinging to her mother.

UNICEF teams reached out to the family and the emergency cash assistance they provided became a lifeline, helping the family cover medical bills and the cost of transportation to the clinic. The most transformative gift was a pair of crutches, carefully fitted to Thin Thant Thwal’s height.

"After her leg was broken, she was too scared to even try standing on her own. It was only after she received these crutches that her confidence began to return," says May Zin Oo.

Week by week, UNICEF teams visited to provide physiotherapies. Slowly, the crutches turned fear into freedom. No longer needing to be carried everywhere, Thin Thant Thwal began to walk again - visiting the monastery with her family and eventually returning to play with her friends.

Today, nearly a year after the earthquake, Thin Thant Thwal has set her crutches aside. She walks steadily on her own feet, her physical wounds healed and her spirit renewed. As she prepares to return to school for the second grade in the coming academic year, her mother’s hope remains simple yet profound.

"I want to support her education as much as I can. I don’t have grand expectations of what she must become; I simply want her to gain as much knowledge as she can," says May Zin Oo.

Thin Thant Thwal’s steady steps are a living testament to hope rebuilt from the ruins.

The journey of children like Thin Thant Thwal is supported by UNICEF, with generous funding from its partners. Together, this collective support continues to meet the urgent needs of earthquake-affected communities, helping them reshape their futures and walk toward a brighter tomorrow.