Dr Sasa is the founder of Health and Hope, a training centre for community health workers in Mizoram, Burma. Even as a young child, Sasa dreamed of being a doctor. He was born in a rural village in Chin state, where children are only allowed education up to grade 10 by the oppressive Burmese regime. Villagers donated items to raise the funds to send him to school in Rangoon to pursue his education, after which he returned to his village and began teaching: “I worked as a voluntary schoolteacher for almost two years after knowing that the students (my childhood friends) had no teachers. It was during these two years that my life changed miraculously. Spending my days in sweat and tears, I experienced many serious situations, such as carrying sick people on foot from one village to larger towns, as there is no medical facility and transportation in the region. I saw pregnant women dying due to the mishandling of delivering babies and witnessed some patients die just because they were rejected directly or indirectly by hospitals, as they were unable to meet the financial demands of treatment. There were situations where patients passed away before getting to the hospitals, as they had to be carried for several days on foot in order to arrive at the hospital in a larger town.” Sasa then travelled to India to gain further education. His achievements at college in India qualified him to study medicine. He chose to go to medical school in Armenia because it was cheaper than elsewhere. While he was studying in Armenia, the bamboo rat plague struck Sasa’s village, triggering famine and the rapid spread of disease. His education had made him an outlaw, but nevertheless he returned to offer what support he could. When Sasa returned once more to Armenia to resume his studies, his village was attacked. Women were raped and homes burned. He felt immense loneliness but the importance of what he was studying for drove him on. It was in Armenia that HART met Sasa, and we were captivated by his passion for helping his people. When he graduated in 2009 with distinction, he returned to Burma to found the Health and Hope centre. Building was largely completed by Autumn 2009, and Sasa was ready to invite his first intake of students. He asked the headman of 147 villages in Chin state to nominate two people to stay at the centre become trained as community health workers. Community health workers are trained in basic medical care and sanitation using innovative, interactive teaching techniques. As of June this year, the total number of trained community health workers stood at 681. Dr Martin Panter, a specialist in tropical medicine, visited the centre and said that these community health workers would now save the lives of 8 out of 10 people who would previously have died, thanks to Dr Sasa’a outstanding teaching and commitment to improving health care provision in rural areas. To hear more of Sasa’s story, please visit www.hart-­‐uk.org/health-­‐and-­‐hope.