PYIN OO LWIN, Myanmar (UCAN) -- Catherine Phyu Nu will soon resume her education, but for now she is helping other young people with their studies, far from the ruins of her village.

Every evening, the 19-year-old Catholic student tutors the 25 children of Sacred Heart Orphanage after they return from school.

Phyu Nu is giving back, responding to the generosity she has received from the Franciscan Sisters of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who set up this orphanage in Pyin Oo Lwin, 65 kilometers east of Mandalay, just three years ago. Pyin Oo Lwin is in the territory of Mandalay archdiocese.

The young woman helps the children and youths, aged 4 to 19, with their studies, which range from Myanmar- and English-language classes to math, science and history.

"I treat them as my own brothers and sisters," she told UCA News, adding that she wants to help them "become educated people."

She is a long way from the coastal village of Aima in the Irrawaddy delta, about 680 kilometers southwest of Pyin Oo Lwin, where she lived until Cyclone Nargis destroyed it on May 2. While her parents survived, they are unable to help her pursue her dream of higher education.

This is where the three nuns who run the orphanage stepped in. They brought Phyu Nu and her sister, nephew and another five young people from the storm-ravaged delta to the relative tranquility of central Myanmar to give them a chance.

Sister Lam Cing, the 32-year-old head of the orphanage, told UCA News they must treat the cyclone survivors they took in with extra care due to the trauma the youngsters have suffered and the added pressure of adjusting to a new environment.

The nuns, she said, understand that both the newcomers and the orphans they had already taken in have experienced much sorrow, so they arrange picnics and other fun outings, let the youngsters watch TV programs in their spare time and invite them to do a little gardening on the weekends.

When Phyu Nu is not tutoring the children, she keeps busy by helping in the kitchen as well as by learning to sew. She is ready to take a distance-learning course through Myanmar's Education Ministry but has yet to decide what subject she will study.

At the Franciscan nun's house on the grounds of Immaculate Conception Church in Pyin Oo Lwin, provincial superior Mother Mary Flora pointed out that the sisters have no parenting experience but try their best.

"We try to heal the children's trauma and help them to live a normal life," she said, adding that the nuns hope they will be able to take in more children.

Conditions at the orphanage are still makeshift, with the children sleeping in large bamboo huts -- one for the girls and one for the boys -- but plans are underway to build a brick-walled dormitory.

The sisters plan to support students like Phyu Nu, who pass the secondary-school exam, to continue for college or university. Others can take vocational-training courses such as sewing, and car or motorbike repair.

One girl who passed the matriculation exam last year is now training in Yangon to be a preschool teacher. Some other students who passed that exam joined the congregation as aspirants, intent on becoming nuns.

The congregation currently has 78 nuns in Myanmar. It began in Pondicherry (Puducherry), India, in 1775. The Myanmar mission began in Mandalay in 1929.

Phyu Nu says she enjoys teaching her "brothers and sisters" and hopes "to gain experience and help them in any way possible."

The student added that the nuns told her she could return to her village in the delta after she has completed her studies. But she has other plans: "I wish to stay on at the orphanage so I can help the children with their studies."

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