Time soon to leave Pyin Oo Lwin and return to Yangon. I have updated the file for Dr Naga Thein Hlaing. You can download it at http://www.thewheelofdhamma.com/naga/naga_thein_hlaing.pdf
When I was in the delta region I met a civil engineer who is in charge of constructing some of the schools in the delta region. She lives in Mandalay in a big school monastery called Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education High School. There she is in charge of the construction of buildings and civil engineering of the school.
I planned to visit earlier but because of the heat put it off as long as I could. It is 40 degrees C everyday in Mandalay. Finally I decided to brave it and take a day trip to see the school. Now there are schools and there are big schools. This one is big. 7000 students study there for free according to the abbot U Nayaka. They run two shifts of 3500 per day.
School year starts on June 1st and luckily I went while it was out. Of these 7000 students about 1000 live in the school. There are 600 novices and monks. There are 100 orphans from cyclone Nargis there. 50 girls and 50 boys. There are also several hundred girls who are refuges from civil conflicts within Myanmar. All of them are being taught the secular 10 grades curriculum many go on to university. They are also taught trade skills as well such as wood work, sewing, and computer skills.
This school has support going back to the British colonial days. It is interesting to note a difference here in Burmese and western charitable values. This schools buildings have mostly been built by non-burmese. English, German, Australian, Japanese. I was told that Burmese would prefer to offer gold leaf at the pagoda than to offer money to help run a secular curriculum school like this. When I thought about it is sort of true. When I tell people I am donating to orphanages and schools in Myanmar my friends have given me money to donate without hesitation, but If I come to offer food in the monasteries only my Buddhist friends give me money for that.
Anyway have only one bad shot of the school which gives no real indication of how big it is.
The big blue building in the distance is one of a group. 2 others are behind the camera on the left and right. Others are further off in the distance.
They also have another area of land outside Mandalay which is going to be used as a training centre for agriculture. Ma Chan Chan has recently been to Thailand and studied mud brick construction there so she is building all the buildings using mud bricks on the farm. We went to visit and see the mud brick building which she has just finished 2 days earlier.
Ok so that was a bit of an inspiring and absolutely hot day. Went back up to my place up in the cool mountains as quickly as I could.
This morning I went back to another monastery orphanage here outside town. I made a further donation there and met the abbot whom I did not meet last time. There are over 600 boys at this orphanage. The abbot is an inspired man who has been running this place for 30 years. He himself has suffered the loss of his parents; his father when he was only a few years old and his mother when he was 12. So when he became a monk he started helping others who had become orphans. He has an inexhaustable energy to pursue his goal and is full of energy and resolve. He is just blissed out helping all these boys. He was so positive about everything it is really inspiring. The world needs more people like this.
The place sort of overwhelms me each time I go. I cant really explain my feelings. It just brings tears to my eyes. I dont know if it is joy to see that it runs so well and to see the amount of love and kindness that people have to look after others children. Or just something to do with the feelings of how fortunate I am by comparison to these people. I think of my own parents and what they have done for me and then to think where I would be without them. Maybe it is just a bit of both, my innate joy when I see the power that goodness can do in this world. The world seems a very cruel place to me sometimes and to see the happiness that good actions can produce in this world is to me the most beautiful thing in the world.
A little bit of generosity and understanding is all it takes to make a difference in this world.
If you go and make a donation all the kids come and recite verses wishing you to live long and be healthy and thanking you for your assistance. They are also taught some meditation and buddhist culture besides the secular education. They live in the monastery and go outside to attend local school. As you can see they have to share everything and have to eat out of a shared bowl.
I have a few more things to do here in Myanmar but I have two more weeks and then I am off to Bangkok and making my way back to Australia.
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