In her sophomore year, senior Zing Dawt Par and her friends learned about a military coup in Burma, pushing them to begin raising funds to provide assistance.

“We knew that we had to do something,” Dawt Par said.

Dawt Par, driven by a deep commitment to uplift her cultural heritage, joined hands with friends to establish For Bamar, a non-profit organization dedicated to both fundraising and generating awareness for the challenges faced by Burma.

Senior Van Sui Par from Franklin Central High School was one of the friends Dawt Par had started the organization with.

“We ourselves are from Burma,” Van Sui said. “Our parents grew up there. It was just a sense of putting ourselves in their shoes and wanting to help them.”

They came up with the idea to begin a jewelry business to raise money. The business was very successful, yielding over $400 in profits.

“We were able to send (profits) to Burma, and they were able to get the resources they needed,” Dawt Par said.

This overwhelming success made the group feel like they did something within their community. After a short break from the business, the group realized they needed to do more than just sell jewelry to help.

Last year, they moved on and started their project on sharing educational posts on Instagram, a social media platform that can be used to reach specific audiences easily.

The goal of these posts is to inform and educate Chin youth on their roots and to encourage them to get more involved. Their mission statement is to educate, inform and connect Chin youths.

“We felt that if we were able to reach out to the youth and tell them more about their culture and about getting back … “ their roots … ,” Dawt Par said, “ … it would be very beneficial.”

However, creating For Bamar posed its challenges. Over time, some members relocated, making communication more challenging.  

Senior Zing Nun Par, now at West Albany High School in Colorado, was one of those people. 

Distance has proven to cause some struggles, but members of the organization have learned to make it work.

“We have learned to be flexible and understanding of one another and are working together to improve as a team,” Nun Par said.

For Bamar has accomplished numerous milestones. They started off with modest goals, such as reaching 100 followers on Instagram, but they now harbor larger-scale plans. 

“We aim to get all these donations, all these raised funds, so that we are able to build a school in Burma,” Dawt Par said.

The organization also offers free tutoring sessions to those who need it. Chin youth in grades six through nine were able to apply for tutoring in September 2023.

Students were matched with a tutor based on the subjects they needed help in, and the program strives to help more students get the help they need when it comes to education.

“Our community has a lot of pride within it, (so) it’s hard to ask for help,” Dawt Par said. “I feel like tutoring is the first step in breaking apart the mindset of help being bad.”

In addition to their educational posts, the members plan to continue the organization throughout college. 

“I hope that we’re able to achieve all the things that we want and have our mission come to life,” Dawt Par said.