5. School for the blind

Originally put up these pictures as a draft on 25th Jan, but the text is really posted 20th Feb 2009

One of my favourite places to visit in the area is the blind monk U Neyya's school for the blind.

I like it because it is so inspiring and there is so much warmth and love there. It is always great to see someone doing something good. U Neyya has set up the school to teach braille, music, massage, and astrology to the blind students so that they are able to obtain a livelihood.

You can often see the blind from the school walking with canes along the side of the road that goes between the school and the town. And it is literally the blind leading the blind. They walk together and learn the way to town. 4 miles of it. And there is no footpath and big open drains and I really cant imagination how they do it.

The 96 students at the school are also studying the normal school cirriculum up to and including university. The school band performs at pagoda festivals and other public events.They have a room where you can get a shiatsu massage and also another for an astrological reading.

They are well supported and it is good to see that humans can look after each other and take care of the less fortunate and give them and opportunity to achieve some level of education.

When you get there you will find many of the blind just walking around in pairs getting some exercise. They walk around the yard without sticks and just talking to each other.

The first time I went there I was standing on a pathway watching some of them eat lunch. Then one of the blind kids bumped into me and I didnt think much of it. Then another and another and I realised I was on the path they use to go to wash their hands. So I took a step back off the path and they all filed past and I watched them walk and run past wash hands and go somewhere else.

The whole place runs on donations from the public. I think I should go down and get a massage there again as it is getting hot here up in the mountains now, must be really hot down in the plains, and I am riding around in the sun and getting a few headaches from the heat and eyestrain. Just changed my clear visor to a tinted one yesterday and that seems to help.

Anyway enough for now. Climate change is finally upon us. Sorry to hear about the fires in victoria, the weather is on the rampage everywhere. The seas and land are getting hotter and the winds and cyclones are getting stronger. Hopefully we will learn to live with what we have created. I have come here to help out the cyclone victims and my own town is hit by a disaster.

4. Maung Kyit Tun, orphan of cyclone Nargis

Maung Kyit Tun is the little boy third form the left in this photo with the red jumper on. He is between 3 and 4 years old and he has no family. He is the sole survivor of his family from the destruction of cyclone Nargis. He is from the irrawaddy delta region but now he has been brought 600 kms north to this orphanage near Pyin Oo Lwin.

I heard about the orphanage from a friend here and so I went to make a donation of $200 US. There are 600 children here. Several of whom are orphans from the cyclone. But they come from all over upper Myanmar.

Maung Kyit Tun came up to a monk whom I was talking to and was clinging on to his robes as any kid would who wanted to be picked up and cuddled. Now he has a family of 600 orphans and monks and novices. There is a great deal of love, kindness and warmth in a place like this. It is a great testimony to the goodness inherent in most humans that these children are looked after and that many people come here to make donations to support them.

There is a japanese man who is organising to build a new section of dormitories for the children. He has raised quite a lot of money from his colleagues and the company he works for.

Without the benefit of family they start off with nothing and the main aim of the orphanage is to ensure that the children obtain education so that they can go out into the world and fend for themselves.

This orphanage is a home to many children who are studying at all educational levels. They have a government junior school right next door to the monastery. Students studying in high school are sent there by bus during the day and return to the monastery at night. There are also 80 students studying at Universities in Myanmar who are supported as boarders by the monastery orphanage.

If anyone wants to make donations for the orphanage then they can contact me and I will work out a way to get the money there.

3. Recovery for stroke victim and others

This is a villager called U Hla Thein and his brother (foreground in white.)

I have known him for many years and he had a stroke in the past year or so and has had paralysis on the left side of his body ever since. I had recently read a book called "The mind that changes itself" which is about modern theories of brain plasticity and has information on new treatments for stroke victims like U Hla Thein that involve concentrated exercises to modify the brain and overcome the effects of a stroke.

So I had heard about his stroke and decided to visit him to see if I could help him with my new found knowledge. I started him off by telling him not to use his right hand and use the left to do simple exercises. First exercise was to put small fruits into an empty tin.

When I met him his left side could not move much and his hands and feet were curled up. He spent most of his time sitting around and doing nothing. His wife had to help him to do most things.

In two weeks he is now able to walk without a stick in a slow way. He can open his hand and move his arm a lot. Just started him off and told him to keep exercising everyday and now his brother has been working with him for a couple of days.

The improvement is really good, noticeable and gives him great hope. His family are all really grateful for the help. Just an idea and doesn't cost anything to fix him.

Lets hope he just keeps improving. It is certainly remarkable, and rewarding to see the change in just a few weeks. I am hopeful that if he can make a good recovery I will be able to use him as an example to help others in this country with similar disabilities. Who knows I may start a stroke rehab clinic here!

While I am on good news I would like to tell you all about the cyclone victims and progress in recovery of the delta region. The place is still off limits to foreigners but i am hoping to get permission to go there soon. So far though I have talked with at least 3 independent sources of information about the relief effort and I am glad to report that all sides feel that progress is being made.

The initial effort of emergency relief of food and water is over and the rebuilding of schools, buildings, water and sanitation infrastructure, and livelihoods etc is well under way. Things are getting better there and it is still a long way to go but I am hopeful that the right steps are being taken to remove the suffering of the people there.

If you go to http://www.ifrc.org/where/country/cn6.asp?countryid=121 there are reports you can download on the situation in myanmar.

I am awaiting my own visit to the area and assessment of where I can donate to help orphans before distributing the final portion of my donations.

Ok enough for today hope you are all well and happy.

2. Alchemy and Orphanage

This is the fire and bellows used by my friend Burgs who is attempting to make a power stone to produce golden ash powder that is claimed to heal many diseases.

I am holding his stone he has made so far over the last four years. Mercury, gold, hours of heating and reheating.

We were in the yard of Saya U Shein who is a burmese traditional medicine specialist. The best description of him is a faith healer.

Spent several days attempting to work out what he was doing and where he is coming from.

He has been healing people for 50 years and has lots of miraculous cures of say: doctors who had luekemia to people tested positive for HIV and hep B. Lots of help for drug addicts and alchoholics too.

He waves his hand and people fall into trance and he asks questions to work out the kammic connection to the disease or some other thing.

He also uses his own power stone to touch people and heal them and also gives people golden ash powder and honey as a tonic for all their diseases.

He got this power given to him in a dream.

A great man with heaps of confidence in himself. I personally tested some of the people in trance and they seem real enough. How does he do it?

The power of the mind is pretty awesome.

In brief his explanation of his power is that it comes from the beings who are the protectors of buddha relics of the last 4 buddhas.

He heals people and uses the experience to make them see that they should not drink and be more virtuous in order to be free from disease.

He says that out of 100 people about 10% can understand buddhist texts and live a virtuous life. The other 90% get sick and he cures them and by doing that he gets them to understand the importance of doing good actions and practising dhamma.

Those who are cured are grateful and give him donations for him to continue his work. Most of what he recieves he donates to rebuild pagodas, monasteries etc.


We went to a burmese monastery that acts as an orphanage and Burgs donated 1 million kyat there. Saya Shein in on the left holding a box which represents the donation.

1. Blogging is better than facebook

I am going to blog here instead of writing stuff on facebook because not everyone I know uses facebook and it is easier just to post info here and everyone I know can have access.

At present I am in maymyo myanmar. Weather is cold down to 8 degrees C at night 22 during the day.

Having a great relaxing time. Catching up with friends here and also meditating. Not much to worry about. Living in a beautiful village and all is peaceful.

Is great to revive my mind with some meditation and redirect and reflect on where I am going and what I want to do with my life. One of the great things here is that for a few dollars you can feed a lot of people and bring happiness into peoples life.

Everyday I am able to share some food with good people who are dedicated in the pursuit of developing meditation and themselves to be able to release their minds from the suffering that exists in the world.

At the moment for me I have been acutely aware in my own mind of the two kinds of happiness in the world. The happiness that comes from pleasure of the senses and the happiness that comes from the mind in meditation.

To be honest I like both but I have to admit that having a rest from sense pleasures and the pursuit of them and just having the opportunity to rest the mind and clear it and brighten it with meditation is for the moment much more pleasurable.

Our lives are driven by our thoughts and by directing our thoughts in a different sphere. We can change the quality of our awareness of who we are and what we are doing.

There is so much that can be known by training your own mind with meditation and so much that you wish others could see. You start to see right through every thought and intention that you have and see the wonderous connection between the physical body and the mind.

The experience of the energy of the mind and body. The chemical basis of the breath and the beating of your heart and the flowing of blood. The power of thought to produce actions in the physical world that will produce happiness or suffering for yourself and others.

So I am having a good time. Glad I came here. Should be here for a while. Everyday I am getting happier and happier and my meditation is getting deeper and clearer. It is good to be in such a space.