Connecting Myanmar: Stories of Myanmar, Far and Near by celiners

“We learn. We serve. We connect.” — Connecting Myanmar

Seasons wind whispering leaves lullabying soul stilled counting twinkles watching paddies cheeks reddened distance piling up time slowing down vision blinded hopes restoring memories renewing heart reinvigorated

-Fiona Li

connectingStories of Myanmar: Far and Near

foreword

Professor Ian Holliday Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), HKU

Connecting Myanmar grew out of the University of Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MOEI programme. Ever since 2008, MOEI has created opportunities for student teachers from Hong Kong and all over the world to join with student learners in marginalized and impoverished parts of the Southeast Asia for intensive English training. From the beginning, the principal focus was Myanmar. Initially classes were offered in Mae Sot, Thailand and along the Thai-Myanmar border. Later they were also delivered in Yangon. It was in Mae Sot that the pioneering 2008 MOEI cohort first thought about boosting engagement with Myanmar through campus events back in Hong Kong. It was again in Mae Sot that the exceptional 2011 MOEI cohort developed an early plan for Connecting Myanmar.

In subsequent years, these students and following generations of MOEI teachers, aided by many committed volunteers, built an outstanding student organization that seeks both to promote advocacy and to complement MOEIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s English-language training. Partly Connecting Myanmar participants draw on disciplinary knowledge gained through their undergraduate programmes to give classes in subjects as varied as international human rights law, journalism, and public health and hygiene. Partly they apply themselves to necessary tasks of school repair and renovation. Throughout, they make as many friends as they can, bonding with Myanmar students through faceto-face contact, and then keeping in touch through social media. Among the many special stories that have emerged from Connecting Myanmar, some are told here.

foreword

Mabel Au Amnesty International Hong Kong

In 2002, I had the first chance to visit a Burmese community, Mae Sot located at the Thai-Myanmar border. The purpose of my trip was to do a research on the situation of the Burmese migrant workers. There were 100 factories that produced all kinds of manufacturing products, and most of them were set up by foreign investors and managed by local Thai companies. The Burmese migrant workers were predominately very young females in their teenage. Long working hours with limited rest, sexual harassment and meager income (one-third of the average local wage) were hardship in the face of the migrant girls. Moreover, some unscrupulous employers avoided legal responsibilities by sidestepping migrant workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; registration. Therefore, abused workers had to run away and hire themselves in the wild whenever the immigration

carried out random raid. Although the girls felt lives were harsh and exhausted, they still opted to stay at Mae Sot as there was no job opportunity at home. Then, they further explained with bright smiling faces that they cherished the chance of having exposure in another country, meeting new peers, and reading books and magazines provided by community service. After so many years, I still remember those bright smiling faces. I am highly appreciative of the efforts paid by Connecting Myanmar as I came to know the service provided by the organization to the Mae Sot community. I believe the community would be benefited from the service, which is a meaningful contribution from the university students in Hong Kong. Keep up the good work!

foreword

Robert San Pe Senior Adviser on Legal Affairs to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi It is a pleasure to write this foreword to Connecting Myanmar and I must start by congratulating everyone associated with it, including the University of Hong Kong, Professor Ian Holliday and of course the student teachers who have contributed to it. They have done good and important work for a country and people who are truly deserving. It is clear that, in the process, they have been deeply touched by their experiences. The accounts in this collection are both moving and entertaining.

ty and elegance. Afterwards, I returned to my fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birthplace and to the warmth of his family, who took me into their hearts and homes without hesitation. It was a joyful experience that led me to make my life and career in Hong Kong so as to be able to visit Myanmar with relative ease.

When I read the accounts in Connecting Myanmar, they take me back to that first visit. Of course the country has changed since then but many of its needs have not. For decades the people of I feel a strong and personal Myanmar were denied proper connection with the student educational opportunities teachers. I first visited Asia in and the country was isolated 1991 fresh out of law school and cut off from the outside in the UK and similar in age world. Despite the recent into many of them. I lived crease in foreign investment and taught English on the and the tourism boom, there Mawker refugee camp close remains a desperate need to Mae Sot and developed for improved education and a strong attachment to the increased exposure to empaKaren children in my class. thetic and educated people Eventually word came from from overseas - people who Bangkok that I had been are interested in more than granted a two week tourist making a quick buck or covervisa to visit Myanmar and I ing all the tourist sites. Daw said my goodbyes and made Aung San Suu Kyi often refers the necessary travel arrange- to the concept of Metta (Pali ments. I arrived in Myanmar for â&#x20AC;&#x153;loving-kindnessâ&#x20AC;?) and at a time when the country the contributors to this colwas living under a repressive lection have exhibited plenty military dictatorship. Despite of that. that, its people were always quick to smile and carried themselves with grace, digni-

bag of kindred spirits

Dr. Wong Chi Chung Assistant Director of General Education, HKU

My green cloth bag always attracts some nice comments and questions. “Is it hand-made? It looks great. Where is it from?” My usual cheerful answer goes like this: “Thank you. It’s hand-made in Myanmar. I bought it from the students of Connecting Myanmar, who have been doing a great job of spreading the positive messages of love and care.”

also delivering a big “Popo” from Hong Kong. Through this process, I am sure students can genuinely learn how to let their guard down and make the world a better place as a team.

I am so thrilled that GE, together with the Common Core and Visitor Centre of HKU, will co-present Myanmar Week 2015 with Connecting Myanmar in a much larger scale. My utmost gratitude In fact, in the last 3 to 4 must also be sent to Profesyears of working in General sor Ian Holliday who is not Education (GE), I have met only an expert on Myanmar, so many passionate students but also keeps encouraging from Connecting Myanmar. and supporting us to learn They are extremely dedicated more about it. to their missions, particularly teaching the Burmese Next time, when you see this children English through “Myanmar bag”, you should interactive ways and means, know that it does carry such as the teaching of the loads of beautiful stories of Beatles’ music. Besides gear- kindred spirits. Perhaps you ing up their language skills, can consider getting one for more importantly, the HKU yourself too in the upcoming students’ time and efforts Myanmar Week. See you also bring them hopes. They there soon. know there are young people from somewhere else who truly care for their well-being. In Cantonese, we have a phrase “Popo” which means “embrace” or “hug”. I believe Connecting Myanmar is not only bridging us to this fabulous yet mysterious newly opened Asian country, but Chi Chung with his Myanmar bag

index Connecting Myanmar

Where Our Journey Begins We Need Service Learning in Hong Kong Street Law: A Different Kind of Teacher-Student Relationship

..............................10 Edward Tsoi.........16 Rose Tsui...............21

The Country The Umbrella Movement & Saffron Revolution Land of Dreams Yangon and the Youngsters The Backpacker From Longyi to Army: the Flipside of a Fast-Developing Burma Every Craft Has Its Long Journey

Aye Thein ............25 Kevin Lau ............29 Anita Lo ..............35 Sandy Yuen ........40 Austin Liu ...........45 Susanna Pang .......52

The Volunteers 10 Years of Love and Learning in Myanmar My Burmese Days Our Stories When I Look Back over My Life, I Realize I Have Walked a Long Way… Beyond food: identities, communities and ethnicities When Travels, People, Politics and Law Intersect as One How Simple Can Life Be…? Mae Sot: A Hub of Volunteers 8 Most Unforgettable Experiences in Mae Sot Where Are You From, Teacher? The Animals

Our friends Albert and A.go.ra A Teacher To Thank and Remember Law, Human Rights and Loads of Fun A Set of Eyes I Don’t Dare to Look Longer Still Waiting

Tony Chan ..........58 Manwa Yip ..........62 Patricia Chen .......66 Joyce Ng ..............75 Sandra Tai ..........85 Kenny Tam ..........89 Eugena Tong ......101 Kate Tsang ........105 Kaiyee Wong .....109 Sandra Tai .........115 Fiona Li ...............118 Sammi Hui & Ma Zhiyao ..........121

Tom Bulay..........128 AyeMu&NayKaw....132 NaySatkyarNaing ...134 Thu Tha Sen .......137

我們十年 ‧ 勵「緬」我在緬甸的日子

我們美索義工村

Tony Chan .........139 Manwa Yip .........142 Patricia Chen....145 Kate Tsang.........153

where our journey begins Founding In the autumn of 2011, a group of then HKU undergraduate student returned to Hong Kong from a volunteer teaching programme at Thai-Burma border. It was a 2-month programme during which we taught English in refugee camps or migrant schools. Our students were Burmese refugees and migrants, mostly ethnic minorities, who fled the military conflicts in their home states and sought refuge in the bordering towns of Thailand. For most of us, the experience was unforgettable, filled with laughter, tears and reflections, which were possible only because our hearts were touched. Remembering the faces and places, we could not help but ask ourselves: how can we stay connected in a meaningful way with our dearest Burmese friends â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be those our students or people who smiled at and greeted us genuinely mostly everywhere we went? What can we do for the loveliest people who unfortunately fall prey to racial hatred and political oppression and are deprived of basic developmental resources? Those questions eventually led to the conception and foundation of Connecting Myanmar â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a non-profit initiative aimed at fostering supportive and genuine connections between people from Hong Kong and Myanmar. Activities The connection can be the transfer of skills and knowledge. We hope that through Connecting Myanmar, people from Hong Kong, especially university students with a variety of knowledge, skills and talents, could make contributions, big or small, to the Burmese community in need. Launched in 2012, our founding programme is the Playground Construction Programme (later transformed to School Renovation Programme in order to respond to the changing needs there), during which we would also provide basic health education to the receiving schools, and for which we collaborate with a vocational school based along the Thai-Burma border. Also, a pilot English Teaching Programme was carried out in a Yangon high school. A myriad of programmes came along while local connections were deepened and extended: Journalism Programme, Street Law Programme and Art Project. This year, seizing the relatively stable political atmosphere in the Karen State of Burma, we have expanded the English teaching to reach the minority students on the other side of the border, the ethnic state

inside the Myanmar territory. We have been experimenting with whatever possibilities which came to us as promising opportunities, and frankly we have been learning by doing and trying to strike the difficult balance between the local interests and our participants’ expectation. The connection can also be cultural. We hope to give you a taste of Myanmar by organizing fund-raising music concerts, photo exhibitions, movie screenings, cultural nights and handicraft fairs in Hong Kong. In 2014, we started an initiative to team up with a women empowerment organization at the Thai-Burma border. Together we designed and produced hundreds of laptop cases using the local traditional fabrics. On one hand, we directly supported their advocacy and raised funds for migrant schools. On the other hand, we raised interest among Hongkongers in the situation along the border, as well as in the Burmese and ethnic culture. Actually, the connection can be anything you have in mind and anything you want with your heart. After all, what connects us is nothing but our common humanity. Impact Setting out from a simple aim – to learn, to serve and to connect, through our summer programmes, Connecting Myanmar has brought to the Thai-Burma Border and Myanmar about a hundred volunteers who have diversified skills and knowledge. We encourage volunteers to immerse themselves in the local community and to deepen connections, by catching every opportunity to know people and living their life there to the fullest. Apart from getting to know Myanmar people, their country, their culture and customs, the volunteers experienced various changes. For example, they made life-long friends; they became more open-minded and able to respect or appreciate other cultures and values; they gained a new perspective on their skills and knowledge due to a totally different setting where they applied them; they learned about the limitations of such kind of volunteer service; they realized the importance of continuing to ‘volunteering’ in their close neighbourhood in Hong Kong – transforming the ‘savior’ mindset into everyday care and actions. Some students started small social business selling products made by the local people with profits going back to the local community and some became the organizers of next year’s programmes. The local community also benefited in various ways. Playgrounds

were built or rebuilt so that the children could play and interact with their peers safely and going to school became more appealing and worth looking forward to. Schools were renovated so that the students have a better and safer learning environment. Students there learned how to digest news and write news reports and they could get their reading and writing skills enhanced. The organization which published journals for the community got donations like computers and cameras which could be used to train more journalists in the community. Students enhanced their legal knowledge by interactive activities. Although we have observed the impacts mentioned above, sometimes we need to be frank and brave enough to admit that in fact what we are doing is rather limited and little. After all, the most important purpose of measuring impact is to improve the programmes. However, we are always open to the possibility derived from the connections built and have faith in connecting and serving. Future It has been a few years since the first busload of CM volunteers got off a rickety bus at the Mae Sot bus terminal, dusted themselves off, and got to work. In that time, we have come a long way – we have seen new faces joining our ranks, while our seasoned old hands have graduated; we have expanded into Yangon, while remaining true to our roots in Mae Sot; we have had lots of fun, and we have gone through periods of unbearable frustration. CM will continue to grow, and we suspect that such growth will be in the organic and spontaneous manner that we have seen ever since the first batch of CM participants came back to Hong Kong and started dreaming up the next year’s programmes. It is therefore not easy for me to pinpoint a clear track – a picture of the future CM. But here I hope to highlight some features that the CM of the future should have, features which help us clarify our objectives and maximize our social impact. First, we would do well to diversify our volunteer pool – not only should we take in HKU students, but we should reach out to other universities in Hong Kong, to exchange students coming in from abroad, and eventually to foreign students too. This diversification is important for cultural exchange as it can benefit the Burmese students we serve by adding different perspectives to discussions regarding developmen-

tal and social issues around the world and by introducing them to different foreign cultures, with their values and hobbies and even things of daily life, like… what exactly is fish and chips. Diversification also fosters cross-cultural relationships amongst our volunteer and alumni base as well. Second, the future CM would hopefully be integrated into university curricula – experiential learning would, we hope, be a formal, credit-bearing part of university education and would be a faculty-supported part of university life. CM’s founding mission was to complement the book knowledge we pick up during the year with on-the-ground experience putting it into practice during the summer. This synergy hopefully challenges our volunteers to reflect on the calling of their own study or profession. Further, the involvement of university professors in CM-style initiatives also carries enormous social promise. We hope to see our professors, through working together with students both in the planning stage and in the field, expose themselves to a greater range of political, social, legal, educational problems in the entirely new setting of Burma. This hands-on experience and the cooperative nature of our programmes would help to forge better connections between universities and grassroots society. Third, sustainability is an important new focus for CM. The summer projects we run should be more than merely beautiful memories to be admired and recalled on Facebook pages and at dinner reunions. There is so much that our volunteers can do upon their coming back to Hong Kong. We want to follow up on our participants – an alumni network is needed more than ever as our old hands graduate. The life of a recent graduate is vastly different from that of a university student – we need ideas for how our new networks, new opportunities and new experiences can contribute to CM. We also want to launch follow-up projects on the Burmese side – launch e-resources such that Burmese participants of our law programmes can keep abreast of the latest legal developments, connecting Burmese participants of different programmes such that they themselves can form local partnerships and collaborations, and more. Even with such exciting developments in store, that is not to say that the future of CM is all rosy. There are plenty of new challenges ahead. For example, as CM continues to grow and expand, our current

big family-style operations would need to become more organized, with clearer divisions of labour and areas of responsibility, to keep up with the increasing workload. At the same time we would need to somehow keep the bursts of spontaneous energy and top-of-our-head crazy ideas that gives CM its identity. We would also need to keep up with the changing political and geographical landscapes in Burma for CM-style operations – as more areas of Burma become geographically and politically accessible (we have high hopes for the general election in 2015), we would need to make smart decisions about expanding our programmes to more remote areas of Burma, about where and with whom we partner. Of course, as our programmes become more ambitious and far-reaching, the need for CM to have a round-the-year presence in Burma increases. It is our long-time dream to have a full-time coordinator based in Burma who can both coordinate our summer programmes and serve as an easily accessible contact point for our NGO partners. Hopefully this, too, will be a challenge that we can overcome in the near future. In conclusion, I think it is quite clear how CM can be a big part of our lives. CM has been a wonderful dream in for us and it has also fostered numerous friendships. For most of us, Burma has become our “second home” and the more we know about this country, the more addicted we are. It helps that after spending some beautiful times in Burma, we see ways to bring the stories we collected back to HK – ways to make our experiences relevant for social development in HK, and for promoting a culture of service learning and experiential learning. This book highlights some of our volunteers’ recent experiences. Thank you for reading our book – we hope you will enjoy it, and we hope to hear your own stories from Burma soon. Connecting Myanmar Team

One of the moments that would never be forgotten in the history of CM – handmade banner of Myanmar Week at a late night in a floor lobby of a residential hall, the “breeding ground” of the whole initiative and the main source of manpower in the very first year.

we need service learning in hong kong Edward Tsoi Co-Founder of Connecting Myanmar who joined MOEI Thailand in 2011

Ever since my first service learning experience at the Thai/ Burma border in 2011, I have grown to understand the importance of education through service experience. I believe this is what we need to fill in the gaps of our education system in Hong Kong.I see this as a healthy booster to our civil society. Reflecting upon the lessons learnt since we started CM, I hope the following would serve as useful references for other students when they start their own service learning projects. What seems to be missing in our students’ learning outcome right now is a sense of curiosity, empathy and confidence to change the current situation. One constant remark on our students’ learning attitude is their lack of critical thinking skills and that obviously has much to do with the lack of curiosity towards global affairs and issues happening around them. Without the impulse and eagerness to step out of their comfort zone, it would be hard to imagine how one could build up a sense of empathy towards others, not to mention one’s confidence or interest in making a difference. Indeed, the education system in Hong Kong is always considered too predetermined or rigid, and this is exactly why I see the urgent need to include service learning in our education system—for the uncertainties and viability it brings to students’ learning experience. Through service learning, students, instead of teachers will be the ones who create and walk their own paths. The learning process is no longer static but dynamic with a live feedback mechanism. 17

One of the biggest problems in Hong Kong is the lack of social cohesion or community bonding. Everyone is atomized in this society. Together with the lack of empathy among our people, it is not hard to explain why we have such a weak civil society with a social welfare system relying much on government’s support. I believe in times like this, a more vibrant civil society is much demanded—one that is filled with creative social entrepreneurs, NGOs and CBOs that can fulfill the needs and fill in gaps in a flexible manner to bring society members together. It is our belief that the promotion of service learning would provide rich nutrients to the growth of our future civil society. We have learnt numerous lessons from our journeys and some of them revealed common challenges in the development of society. These lessons give us a chance to reflect not only on the differences, but also similarities between our Burmese friends and us. More importantly, we are prompted to understand the meaning of “development” on a societal scale and a personal scale. The journey of CM began by a random coincidence of us experiencing the Burmese way of living. Indeed, living with the locals gives us insight into the challenges that are faced by the underprivileged. We spent endless hours in teashops listening to their stories. Through them we gained insights on their wisdom and their way of living. The stories made me realize that the idea of seeing people in developed countries as more superior is ridiculous. More importantly, I started 18

thinking how, despite having different ways of living, we can still complement each other. After hearing their stories, we have learnt a lot more about ourselves as well. We started to reflect on how we can use the knowledge and skills learnt during our time at university to support them or at least to alleviate the challenges. At the same time, we also have learnt about certain existing organizations out there trying to tackle the same challenges. It reminds me of a somewhat funny but serious story from one of my Burmese friends: “The German is helping us to improve our education system. The British is doing the same, but they don’t know each other.” Indeed, as the country is opening up and foreign aid flooding in, the lack of coordination has indeed imposed serious problems on the locals. We will only be able to move on to discuss further and more ambitious plans regarding our projects with the consent and support from our Burmese friends and local NGOs. However, frankly speaking, given the limited time and resources that we have, it will be unrealistic to believe that we can change the whole setting or to eradicate the problem entirely. However, while we might not have enough money to build them a brand new toilet or a school, we can help them repair abandoned broken toilets, their broken pipes or water tanks. We are small, so we might as well be flexible. One good thing about being a student NGO is that we can easily find experts from different fields and “shamelessly” 19

ask for free consultation and advice. What is even better is that the experts we met are always genuinely excited and happy about the plans, and therefore, most are willing to help. We are grateful that none of our beloved Professors has ever kicked us out of their offices despite the fact that we have been very annoying. We would therefore like to sincerely thank Professor Ian Holliday, Mr. Jeff Timmermans and Ms. Lindsay Ernst for their endless support and efforts in helping us outline the projects and in providing training to our volunteers. One significant feature of service learning is the quality of being student-centred. Students are ultimately the ones who dictate the learning path. What we can do is to provide them with chances to explore through visiting our NGO friends working on different issues in different fields. When they get to see the problems in person instead of from a textbook, the experience pushes them to dig deeper, and hopefully, to encourage them to initiate their own learning journey. During the one-month or two-month-long programme, we are constantly reflecting on the purpose of our participation. We are always concerned about whether our projects can become another agent for â&#x20AC;&#x153;voluntourismâ&#x20AC;?. Unlike the consumption of Disneyland as tourists, sticking our nose into the lives of refugees is an entirely different thing. The question of whether or not we should start or continue a particular project is always a tough question to answer. However, looking from hindsight, the focus of our projects 20

is not just about the impact we could possibly bring, but also the solid friendships we build along the journey. Some of those student projects should be further developed into a more established, long-term project. What is then needed is an effective mechanism to support and sustain those projects that have made a contribution to our society. CM has previously tried to incorporate some projects into university education, for examples, the credit-bearing legal research project and the clinical legal education workshop. Outside of University, start-up or incubation support would be important as well if students wish to turn their projects into a long-term community-based project. Government support would be another key factor in boosting the civil society. Instead of setting up governmental agencies to distribute social welfare, utilizing social enterprises or NGOs/CBOs might be an efficient alternative. To support that, capacity building on topics like social impact assessment, non-profit management, crowd-funding for projects and networking would be valuable and even more relevant to our civil society. I have seen many students coming back as a different person after the service trip. Indeed, the curiosity, empathy and confidence to make a difference to the problems around us are important if we want to bring people together to form a stronger and more caring society.

street law: a different kind of teacherstudent relationship Rose Tsui

Founding committee of Connecting Myanmar who joined MOEI Thailand in 2012

The notion of “Street Law”, as the name tells, is to make law accessible to the general public, to people from all walks of lives. Indeed, this should be the essence of law and indeed, this is the “rule of law”. A concept borrowed from Georgetown University, Street Law aims at taking “law” from its tall shelves and heavy books to the community—to people who actually use the law and to people who truly need the protection of the law. Thanks to Ms. Lindsay Ernst and Professor Kelley Loper from the University of Hong Kong, “Street Law” is brought to Hong Kong as a community project jointly organized with a local NGO called Christian Action. Acting as an experiential learning component for students from the law course, “International Protection of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons”, we were teamed up to teach a class of 6-8 refugees legal concepts and practical legal knowledge. However, to learn “law” from professors in University is one thing, to teach “law” to laymen, not to mention, to refugees of different nationalities and professions can be one big challenge. Law is never a simple equation of 1+1=2, but one which demands a lot of critical thinking and involves topics which leaves plenty of room for debate. The experience I had in teaching a class of refugees complicated legal concepts such as the notion of fundamental rights, equality and non-discrimination etc. benefited not only the refugee students we taught, but interestingly, it brought upon me and my teammates a lot of reflections as we looked into 22

the numerous legal concepts in a new light—from the perspective of the refugees, the underprivileged. From our students, we see the importance of minority protection and the principle of equality in a functioning society; from our students, we see the direct impact of discrimination on asylum seekers as they live in a society in which priority is given to people from the “legitimate” class; from our students, we see the need for change—not only from the governmental level in terms of policy making and administrative protection, but more importantly, change in the mindset of people in society as a whole and their perception towards asylum seekers. The “Street Law” experience affected both us “teachers” and our refugees students and through it, an unbreakable relationship was developed between two groups of people from two seemingly different worlds. Inspired by such, I see the need to spread the idea to refugees and people in need around the world. With the deepest gratitude to Ms. Lindsay Ernst, Connecting Myanmar was able to launch pilot programmes in both Yangon (at the Yangon School of Political Science) and at the Thai-Burma border (at the Peace Law Academy in Mae Sot) in the summer of 2014. 12 volunteers were thus selected from a group of passionate and enthusiastic law students. Teacher-training workshops were held to provide guidance to students, teaching them innovative ways to translate complicated legal concepts into interesting and digestible knowledge. After such, however, the students are to stand on their own feet as they 23

have to devise their own unique 3-week teaching plans for their Burmese students. As for the individual stories and reflections, I will leave it to the words of our participants in the pages to come. But for now, I would like to thank Ms. Lindsay Ernst, Professor Kelley Loper and my dear Connecting Myanmar colleagues into making this Street Law project work and last but not least, the wholehearted participants and our partnering NGOs, for your effort and unconditional input. While this is the first year of our Street Law project, I believe there will be more to come in the future years and hopefully, impacting more people from different backgrounds and nationalities— be it “teachers” or “students”.

the yellow umbrellas & the saffron robes Aye Thein HKU Social Sciences graduate, currently pursuing his master degree in the UK

The students-led protest in Hong Kong – what has now been aptly and beautifully dubbed the Umbrella Movement – began its birth on 26 September, 2014. After weeks of strong turnouts, it has been growing smaller. There will come a day when we see no more protestor on the streets of Hong Kong, however, it definitely wouldn’t mean the end of it. For sure the communist party in Beijing has barely budged, and things have begun to move back to the status quo. The government of Hong Kong showed that it is not on the side of its people. But the protestors sent a defiant and clear message to the powers that be that they are not happy with the politics of their city. It is an unprecedented historic moment, and as such it will live on. I was proud because many of my Hong Kong friends were out there, and couldn’t help feeling afraid for them as the police resorted to tear gas and pepper spray, and as fights broke out. Amid fears of a harsh response from their government, and bleak possibilities, they stayed, and stayed. One friend told me that she felt such a sense of solidarity mingling among her friends and city dwellers. Another facebooked to me saying that he then knew what it must have been like for us back in 2007. So it was on 26 September, 2007 that the Myanmar military started its crackdown on the peaceful protests, led by Buddhist monks (thus named the Saffron Movement), and some prominent political dissidents, joined by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. I was in the crowd but wasn’t at the front and no less scared. And I am not taking credit for what I did not do; it was my curiosity more than anything else that took me there. As we marched along the streets of Yangon, we all felt something was in the air despite our shared misgivings and fears. I still fondly remem26

ber the loss of my umbrella during the stampede, bought on by approaching military trucks carrying soldiers. From what I know, the initial trigger for the protests was the sudden hikes in fuel prices, but it was only natural that they turned into calls for democracy given that the country had been ruled by a dictatorship since 1962. However, unlike the Hong Kong police, which shared drinking water with the protestors, Myanmar military meant business and started shooting. That the military dealt a bloody hand to the monks, that the political dissidents ended up receiving longer-than-life jail terms, many disappeared into God knows where, and that the protests finally petered out is all history now. But they left their indelible marks on our memory and history. The state of affairs the country is seen nowadays leaves no one with any doubt that the journey for change has barely begun. The government has shown again and again that it is not with us. Has it ever been? As the Beijing government censored and caricatured the protests, and some of the Hong Kong government officials disparaged the students and their demands, ordinary people staged support rallies in almost thirty cities of the world showing their solidarity with the protesting students. And a motley bunch of young people, I am glad to say, gathered in Yangon in support of their friends in Hong Kong. The sight of Filipinos holding black and yellow umbrellas, which bear “DEMOCRACY FOR HONG KONG” demonstrating in front of the Chinese consulate in Makati City was simply beautiful. Likewise, but more significant in my opinion, is the fact that the Taiwanese students showed up in a solidarity rally in front of the Hong Kong trade office in Taipei. The Sunflower Movement – in which the Taiwanese students occupied the Legislature for 24 days and made the Taiwanese government address the concerns of its citizens – had taken 27

place only a few months earlier. I don’t think there were this many governments (democratic or otherwise) that came out in support of the movement; perhaps it was not worth provoking the ire of the Beijing government over. As a student I show my solidarity and pay my tribute to all those Hongkongers, especially those who no one knows about, for braving the police and weathering the tear gas to fight for what is theirs – the right to the kind of government they want. I admire them all the more because they put up a big fight despite the heavy odds laid against them. And to the generations of students in Myanmar, and every corner of the world who fought against colonialism, and who have continued to fight for democracy, basic human rights, and against the tyranny of their governments. Incidentally, the 8888 student movement in Myanmar and the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement in China took place by a little more than one year apart. In all these cases, we are not asking for something extra; we are demanding what is ours by right and what we have been denied by the government. While I was watching a video of the protests in Hong Kong, I caught one resident angrily calling the students “irresponsible” in their face. My response would be that the students took to the streets because they wanted to be responsible in the first place; they wanted to assume the responsibility of choosing their own government. Given that the governments, which claim to exist in our name, are against us, (mind you that we are not against the government), it is all the more important for us to stand with one another, from people to people. And as people to people, we are closer than our governments would have us to believe. It was a phone call three years back that led to my involvement with Connecting Myanmar, founded by a bunch of Hong Kong University students, and to all the friendships that followed. It is wonderful that this small organization 28

has not only survived, but stayed strong despite the many changes of hands as seniors graduate and freshers come along. Students of Connecting Myanmar, I believe, go to the Myanmar-Thai borders and into the country, not so much to help the Myanmar people as to connect with them. Likewise, I came to study at the University of Hong Kong, and connected with the hard-working-and-hard-playing, and democracy-aspiring Hongkongers. Our experiences and the friendships we have made over the years attest to this. In hindsight, the idea of the founders is almost prescient, in that events would later bring together us Myanmars, the Hongkongers, and students of different nationalities who have joined our internship programmes. Well, I guess, we are all close, sometimes we just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize that we are.

Aye Thein playing guitar in his dormitory room in HKU. 29

myanmar

- the land of dreams

Kevin Lau HKU PCLL student who joined Yangon Rule of Law Programme in 2013

It is a truism of volunteer teaching that the “teachers” are, more often than not, the students, the ones who come out enriched and inspired more by the experience. And so it was for me when I helped run a street law programme at the Thai-Burma border, teaching Burmese students from the Peace Law Academy. I taught my students law. My students taught me how to dream. Who, do you think, ended up better-off? anecdotes Two years ago, in Hong Kong: “Hey guys. It’s time to start looking for a job – what do you want to be when you graduate?” “Oh, I guess I want to be a solicitor.” “Government official, maybe?” “Banker. Something to do with finance.” Four months ago, in Mae Sot: “Hey guys. You’ll be done with the programme in half a year – what do you want to be when you graduate?” “Haha – President. Definitely president of Myanmar!” “Businessman, then later a politician.” “NGO worker. My hometown in Kachin state needs more NGO workers doing development work.” The contrast, I thought, was a bit unsettling. Secure, dull and insignificant versus risky, exciting and a force for change. Where, I wondered, had all the dreams in Hong Kong gone?

dreaming in hong kong It doesn’t pay to be a dreamer in Hong Kong. Family culture doesn’t encourage dreaming. The traditional Asian mindset is to not take unnecessary risks, with the plan being to get a stable, well-paying job, then start a family and invest in your kids, so that he can eventually get a stable, well-paying job…and so on. Why risk losing it all by dreaming big and gambling big? Why be an artist, a politician, or a social activist? Humility and social norms don’t encourage dreaming. More than once, I remember how classmates dreaming out loud would get laughed at. It’s generally awkward for my peers when we are pressed to describe how we want to change the world. The line between humility and disbelief is very thin – tell your friends often enough that you want to only be an accountant (out of humility) and you may very well come to believe that you’ll never become the CEO of that accounting firm. The way of life in HK doesn’t encourage dreaming. I am willing to bet that HKers (those in the business district, at least!) are amongst the fastest walkers in the world. The frenetic hustle and bustle of daily life and the intense competition in everything from getting into schools to finding jobs to getting promotions combine to promote a “stop and you lose” mentality. How, then, can one find the time to quietly contemplate what one wants out of life?

myanmar- where dreams are alive And yet, my Burmese friends dream. For them, dreaming big is normal. For a person from Hong Kong, it was breathlessly exhilarating to see. Dreaming big reflects a sense of duty, a calling to serve. One sentiment I felt from my Burmese friends was that education was a privilege and not an investment. Privilege, of course, was to be used eventually for the greater good. One Burmese friend wanted to work for a development NGO, because she saw how such NGOs were doing much of the development in terms of health care and education in her hometown. Dreaming big is indicative of a value system that places importance on doing good (for everyone) instead of doing well (for themselves). Many of my Burmese friends are aware of how certain industries in Myanmar, such as tourism and real estate, are doing spectacularly well and attracting floods of foreign investment. And yet, almost universally, they aim for jobs with wider social impacts, jobs with social justice implications. One friend had a scholarship for a free choice of subject at HKU, and she chose to study law notwithstanding how the subject is looked down upon in Myanmar, because she felt she could do something to reform Myanmarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s criminal laws (antiquated relics from British colonial times).

Dreaming big reflects a quiet self-confidence, a belief in one’s ability to take the hits in life. Dreaming big necessarily entails risks and disappointment – of course, not every aspiring president can end up being a president! Despite the situation in Myanmar remains murky at best – who knows whether the reforms can take root, whether the benefits can trickle down to the grassroots, and so on – my Burmese friends continue to chase their dreams of opening up new businesses and drawing up new policies in politics. They might not succeed, but their spark of creativity and the sense of controlling one’s own destiny evidenced by their refusal to be pigeonholed into traditional, well-defined jobs and professions is, I think, already a success story. should we dream? Of course, I am not saying that all my Burmese friends’ dreams will come true. Nor am I saying that all their dreams are realistic. Yet, I think dreams do not have to come true or be realistic to be valuable. Dreaming and the play-safe non-dream in Hong Kong, after all, are not dichotomies. They are two extremes on a sliding scale. My point is that Hong Kong has gone too far down one end – down the end that, taken to its extreme, means a straitjacket on the freedom to explore the world, a smothering of the myriad possibilities in life, and the premature and permanent withering of the vibrancy of youth. Paradoxically, Hong Kong – the land where dreams die – may need dreamers now more than ever. Occupy Central and the 33

other recent events concerning Hong Kong’s democratic future have cast a pall and gloom over the city in light of just how divided, antagonized we have been revealed to be. We have had, for the first time in my generation, a glimmer of the sheer ugliness of what people will do to stay in power. We have, for the first time in a long while, had our vision of the “better HK future” smashed. What, then, is left? Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the recent student activism, is beyond doubt a dreamer. In fact, he might well be one of my activist Burmese friends, with his resourcefulness in the face of oppression and his willingness to take on those in power to pursue what he feels is right. Regardless of whether you agree with his actions, I think it is people who think and act like him who will be the architects of HK’s future. It will be dreamers like him who paint a new future for HK to replace the one lost under a hail of tear gas on 28 September 2014. You need not agree with the exact picture Joshua Wong has in mind. But in disagreeing with him, you should get your paintbrush out too. HK’s future looks, perhaps, as murky and uncertain as Myanmar’s. Yet my Burmese friends have shown us that we need not despair, have taught us how to make the most of uncertainty. John Lennon sang: “They may say I’m a dreamer/ But I’m not the only one.” What say you?

This is how dreams are born- from bloody noses!

See how serious we are preparing for the class 35

yangon and the youngsters: three encounters Anita Lo

HKU second-year Law student who joined Yangon Rule of Law Programme in 2014

1. The Jasmine Girl at the Junction Located in Hledan Township, the non-governmental organization that we worked with hides itself amidst the unkempt roads and busy traffic of Yangon. Colours Rainbow is a local NGO which advocates LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights, in particular reforms of the law in this area. We are more than privileged to work with this group of passionate colleagues. Hledan is situated in the north of downtown Yangon – close to Inya Lake – which takes around 45 minutes to 1 hour to get to in a typical working-day morning. Yangon’s congested traffic should ineluctably be a familiar scene to all commuters, whether you are staying here for long or not. Back in our first few days in Yangon, we were not surprised to find ourselves in the midst of congestion at a junction close to the Hledan flyover, a black spot of traffic jams. Meanwhile, a few children approached our car with strings of flowers in their hands. Those flowers are scented and smell like jasmine. It is not uncommon to find drivers buying a string or two and hanging them in the compartment. The children-sellers kept lobbying our driver at the traffic lights. They were of no more than 10 years of age. After a day of work, again we found them moving swiftly at odds with the chaotic traffic in late afternoon. While the flowers wither within a day or two, we found the children’s presence during our stay in Yangon every day. 36

2. A Career of Isolation Since the issue of political prisoners is a significant part of our research project, we had an interview with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) in Tamwe Township. On our way back to the Hledan office, a conversation between the taxi driver and us began with a question – “Where do you come from?” Our conversation was casual yet memorable. Knowing that we came from Hong Kong, he unraveled his story of being a seaman on a cargo vessel before he took up the job of a driver a year ago. By virtue of his profession, he had been to a number of Asian ports, including Hong Kong, Japanese and Chinese ports. What was the reason for him to switch his job then? It was the risk that drove him out of the industry and his family that retained him as a city dweller “after years of commitment to a career of isolation,” he said with a stiff and direct gaze, “and now I live in the township that you have just got in.” 3. Take Me to the Ocean On the Full Moon Day in July, which was a holiday, we had a chance to visit the street law class programme in Mooditha. Mooditha is located in Thanlyin Township to the east and on the fringe of Yangon.

The participants of the class were university undergraduates. One of the students that we talked to was a science major. Just as every other university student, he had a career plan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; he wanted to be a seaman after graduation. Much to our surprise, it was only until then we learned that sailing and shipping is a popular career choice for young people in the country. To qualify as a seaman in Myanmar, he said, one has to be fluent in English and has to pay fees to employment agencies in order to enroll in training courses and to be qualified. Some families would turn to loans if they were not able to afford the fees. Nevertheless, the profession has become very popular because of its relatively high remuneration. It takes the to-be seaman years to be qualified, not to mention that some families depend on them to repay the loan. These have been imprinted in my mind as a chasm of unseen perspective of the city and its young people. With no exception, Myanmarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future generation is burdened with the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future as much as every one of us is.

Padeingo Pan, a type of flower commonly found in Pagodas in Myanmar for the purpose of paying homage, smells and looks similar to the jasmine-scented strings of flowers in vehicle compartments.

Local passenger ferries along Sint Oh Dan Street Jetty. 39

A child passenger on the Yangon Circular Railway.

the backpacker

Sandy Yuen HKU fourth-year Speech & Hearing Sciences student who joined MOEI Thailand in 2012

How heavy is a backpack? To a regular backpack traveller, the answer is straight-forward – tens of kilogram. To a typical backpack health worker, however, there is no quick or definite answer. It may entail a variable and formidable mass, carrying not merely essential medical supplies to the jungles in ethnic states of Burma, but also some stories to tell. The backpack health workers, sometimes dubbed the ‘jungle surgeons’, emerged, if not ironically, from the longest-standing civil war in human history. Since resuming independence from British colonial rule in 1948, Burma has found itself under constant warfare with ethnic-based insurgencies, which has been yearning for self-determination and independence. The six decades of unceasing battles have left tens of thousands of civilians in ethnic states homeless and bereaved. “Once the Burmese soldiers stepped into a village, they assaulted everything. They beat the village leader who refused to send them food. They threatened the women whose husbands were away with guns. The army arrested and forced villagers to be their porters to transport heavy weapons, and obtained information about the ethnic armed groups through interrogation. Even when the villagers were evacuated to nearby safer area, the Burmese army located the place and killed everyone there like slaughtering animal, ” told Lway Plaung Chee, the Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) field-in-charge of Palaung, Northeastern Shan State. Many of the internally displaced people (IDP) fled their villages and hid in the jungles, to escape from the brutal mental and physical persecution. 41

Hiding in the jungle does not guarantee a secure life. Landmines concealed by both Burmese and ethnic armies have formed a virtual prison, in which the prisoners were terrified of triggering the explosives. Otherwise, the IDP were imprisoned by the loss of flickering hope for returning to their destroyed homeland. In such remote and undeveloped areas, basic medical service has long been unattainable. “In the jungles, many people died of curable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria, due to the lack of medicine. My young uncle was one of them.” Saw Chit Win, the treasurer of BPHWT and a former medic in Karen State, recalled. The 8888 Uprising (which began on 8th August, 1988) precipitated the founding of BPHWT. Many of the later ‘jungle surgeons’ participated in the pro-democracy demonstration as high-school students, and fled to the ethnic armed group-controlled areas after the savage crackdown. “I was attending Standard 9 in Hpa-an (Capital of Karen State) at that time. I fled to the jungle. Then, I arrived at Manerplaw and worked at the Karen National Union Central Hospital. I did washing, cooking, gathering firewoods and distributing meals. I was 17 years old, and my uncle told me that I should continue my study. I joined the medical training in 1989 and worked in the clinic since then.” Along with Chit Win, Saw Win Kyaw, the director of BPHWT, was one of the first-batch medics working in the jungles of ethnic states. In 1995, Win Kyaw moved to Phapun and set up a small clinic there. There were only 7 staff including him. “We faced many problems in the beginning. The villagers were afraid of everyone – both the Burmese and Karen armies. We had 42

to handle delivery cases and disease management, but we had no expertise. We learnt all by ourselves. We didn’t get enough medicine. We had to ask our leaders and the patient’s family for medicine,” he said. Three years later, BPHWT was officially founded. It started with 32 teams, and now the number has tripled. To be a backpack health worker, it takes more than a caring heart. Courage is crucial. Their everyday routines include avoiding landmines, escaping from Burmese soldiers, and crossing flooded roads, sometimes by boat, in rainy season. Landmines and gun shots have taken 7 lives of some greatest hearts so far. Another vital quality is flexibility. “I have never been trained to deliver a baby in my life. But it was so urgent, so I did it with my bare hands. The woman was so thankful that she named her baby Mae Sot, because she knew I came from Mae Sot,” Saw Del Del, the coordinator of Medical Care Programme, described animatedly about his first delivery experience. “Recently, I treated a special case. The patient complained of sore throat. We thought it was laryngitis and gave medication to him. But the situation had got worse, and we sent him to the state hospital. He was actually diagnosed of laryngeal cancer,” explained Soe Moe Aung, field-in-charge of Kayah State, noting the limitation of the backpacker’s service scope. And vision matters. For the jungle guardians, the community is the end, and also the means. Engaging the community safeguards accurate geographical information, regular refreshment and abundant manpower in the health delivery 43

system. “We had only 3 health workers, but we needed to carry 10 baskets of medical supplies from village to village. Community participation is an important strategy,” Aye Lwin, the leading committee of BPHWT, and former deputy director and medic remarked. Traditionally, some villagers went to the forest for ‘natural toilets’, and used coconut shells as natural toilet papers. ‘Washing hands’ was no way in their repertoire. The backpack team, then, launched its Community Health Education and Prevention Programme, which includes building latrines, distributing vitamins, and conducting village health workshop. “Diarrhea outbreak has been eliminated now,” told Win Kyaw satisfyingly. “8 years ago, most of the mothers didn’t have any knowledge about family planning. Each had at least 8 children, or even 10. But now, most of them know about the importance of family planning,” Plaung Chee recounted the success of Maternal and Child Health Programme. Well, these might serve as some humble exemplars of how vision matters. While the open-door gesture by the Burmese government is met with high spirits, the ethnic medical service providers still struggle to develop accessible primary health care – in fact a basic human right. “Now, the government talks about change. But physically, geographically and culturally-speaking, it is very difficult for them to approach the people. They face language barrier and transportation problem. And most importantly, trust is lost between the urban and rural people, because the government has been using even teachers, monks and pastors as informants. It is the locals who provide health care for their own people. The govern44

ment must develop local empowerment to equip the people. Yet, we still haven’t seen any sign to change the health system from a centralized to a decentralized one,” said Aye Lwin. “We have been, and will continue to find the entry point to open door.” “My motto is: think for the best, prepare for the worst. We have a lot of experience dealing with the worst situations. I hope that my country can progress to a decentralized health system, in which all people can access to basic health care.” By now, it might still be hard to glimpse the weight of a backpack, but do carry in your heart the little hope of Win Kyaw and his fellows for their people.

A family photo with a new addition of family member. Here is where I volunteered for three months as an English teacher – BPHWT Office.

from longyi to army: the flipside of a fast-developing burma

Austin Liu HKU Social Sciences graduate who joined MOEI Thailand in 2012

Burma, often deemed â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Last Frontier in Asiaâ&#x20AC;?, has been one of the fastest-growing developing economies since opening up. Its foreign direct investment had increased fivefold in fiscal year 2012-13 from the previous one as multinational corporations like Coca-Cola and Visa entered the Burmese market. Tourists visiting the country even hit a historical high of three millions in 2014, generating more than a billion USD of direct revenue. However, this is not the way most Burmese people look at their own country, not to mention those suppressed ethnic minorities. Burma is an ethnically diverse country. Apart from the twothird majority of Bamar, there are mainly seven officially recognized ethnic groups in Burma, in which Karen is the second largest that constitutes approximately 7% of the total population in the country. Inquisitive about the daily life of Karen people back at their home, around a year after my teaching experience at a migrant school along the Thai-Burma border, I paid a visit to the Karen State of Burma - the homeland of my students. And my first stop was Hpa-An Township, which has a population of about 50,000 and is defined as the capital of Karen State by the Myanmar government. This valuable opportunity to visit the homeland of my students and friends made me feel very excited, and so I started greeting people in Karen language right after getting off the bus, trying to make use of those limited Karen phrases I remembered. 46

“Har La Gay!” I said “Good Afternoon” to the owner of a teashop. “Huh?” “O Su Lar Sai!” I tried using another dialect of Karen. “Huh?” “Are you Karen?” I was so confused and decided to switch to English instead. “No! I am Bamar.” Apart from this teashop owner, I also randomly spoke to some other people in the town, for instance, flower sellers and logistics workers. But to my surprise, none of them admitted being ethnic Karen nor did any of them reply in Karen language. Then I realized that an important fact had totally slipped my mind. From the pattern of longyis they were wearing, I should have figured out that they are Bamar but not Karen. Indeed, decades of Burmanization policies, including the four cuts operation by the military government have resulted in a large influx of Burmans, and therefore the majority who live in this Karen capital are actually not Karen people anymore. Those Burmans have benefited from setting up businesses in townships they developed, just like Hpa-An, whereas the displaced Karen people can only farm on their paddy fields in the countryside when they are not occupied by the Myanmar army. Coincidentally, it was Karen New Year, a festival that has a 47

profound meaning to Karen cultural solidarity, when I was in Hpa-An during my winter break. For that reason, my students recommended me to join some of the Karen New Year celebrations and I eventually went to the one at the Town Hall of Hpa-An Township. Disappointingly, none of them reminded me that the celebration was organized by the local administration of the township. The implication is that, from the words written on banners to the speeches people gave and songs they sang, essentially every part of this Karen festival was carried out in a Bamar way. Although being a very large-scale and well-organized Karen New Year celebration, its atmosphere was awful. What I saw were the glazed eyes of the audience and the wan smiles from the performers, as well as some reluctant rounds of applause, which was vastly different from the joyful and exciting scenes of Don (meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;to be in agreementâ&#x20AC;?) dances and bamboo dances in any other authentic Karen celebrations I have seen before. This is indeed a direct consequence of the assimilation policy by successive Bamar-led regimes. Only for those locally held celebrations in villages outside the township are Karen people given a limited degree of autonomy to celebrate this important festival with their own practice and in their own language. On top of this, being forced to adopt the Burmese curriculum under the national education policy, Karen schools within the Burmese territory are not allowed to teach their own language and history. Instead, those Karen students have to learn Burmese, the language Burmans use 48

as well as the official language of Burma, and study a selected version of Bamar-centric Burmese history. Although it is common for them to learn and speak their own language at home, churches and monasteries, many of them dare not use it publicly because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be identified. In fact, Karen people faced oppression by Bamar kings historically and have been living like second-class citizens since the independence of Burma as they frequently run into ethnic discrimination in different aspects of their life. Apart from some everyday examples such as verbal abuses and overcharges by Burmans, they are also prevented from getting stable employment and proper healthcare. Furthermore, resource grabbing and arbitrary taxation by the Myanmar army have been tolerated, and many Karen people have to live in the constant fear of physical abuse and forced evictions. Having got used to all those inequalities, Karen people are surely more resilient than most of us do. Still, one thing they are not able to withstand is the ongoing military conflict between Karen and Myanmar armies, during which many people have been raped or killed while the rest risk losing their lives and properties. Hopes did temporarily exist when ceasefire agreements were signed between the Karen National Union, the de-facto government of Karen, and the Myanmar government. Nevertheless, when you notice the fact that either side has broken each and every of them, you will realize the persistent armed confrontations can hardly be put to a halt by simple measures due to the complexity 49

and severity of the underlying ethnic conflicts. This is the major reason why today hundreds of thousands of Karen would rather stay in Thailand as illegal migrants, with another 110,000 of them choosing to live inside refugee camps along the border and 70,000 resettled to a third country, whereas three quarters of the remaining Karen population within the Burmese territory have either migrated or been displaced out of Karen State. The hardships and atrocities they have faced are truly inconceivable to most of us who take the notion of having a â&#x20AC;&#x153;homeâ&#x20AC;? for granted. The world has recently been paying increasing attention to the democratization and economic liberalization of Burma, and part of its result has been the withdrawal of funds by key donors from both sides of the Thai-Burma border. However, what many of them have probably overlooked are the ethnic issues of the country, which should definitely not be given a lower priority than promoting foreign direct investment and democratic development. Even though Burmese elites have also been discussing solutions towards national reconciliation, it is obviously not as straightforward as ceasefire agreements, political dialogues or even institutional reforms. The Myanmar government should stop marginalizing other ethnic groups. It is high time to go beyond all those peace talks and devote hands-on efforts to the socioeconomic development of the whole Burma, particularly its rural areas where ethnic groups commonly reside, by creating job opportunities, improving living conditions and most importantly safeguarding their lives and properties. Gathering the support of all ethnic groups and showing 50

them a promising future seems to be the only way to disentangle the problem. In addition to economic growth and a genuine democracy, what I hanker for is a Burma with discrimination and marginalization gradually taken over by inclusiveness and diversity, so that we can all use the term “Burmese” more comfortably to represent anyone in Burma regardless of his or her ethnicity. Note: “Bamar” and “Burmans” both refer to the dominant ethnic group in Burma who are often imprecisely called “Burmese”, which is in fact an ethnically inclusive term that refers to the citizens of the country.

Taken with a Bamar family who owns a teashop on the main street of HpaAn Township. The pattern of the Bamar longyis they are wearing is distinctively different from that of Karen longyis which are predominantly woven with horizontal stripes.

Ironically, on the backdrop of the stage are the Burmese characters â&#x20AC;&#x153;Karen New Year Celebrationâ&#x20AC;?.

People living in refugee camps sacrifice their freedom in return for higher personal security.

every craft has its long journey Susanna Pang Founder of SOIL To the craftsmen of Burma, both past and present, who have left us an enduring legacy of their outstanding artistic accomplishments. Long may they continue to serve and delight us with their skill and creativity … - Sylvia Fraser-Lu Burmese Crafts: Past and Present by Sylvia Fraser-Lu (1994) was probably the first book that I came cross when I had got to know more about Burmese crafts. It is truly magnificent and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in this topic. Sylvia Fraser-Lu travelled extensively in Asia over the last 30 years (including a few years in Hong Kong). She introduces the wide scope and beauty of Burmese crafts in this book. She explores the historical background, traditions, religions, and different cultural aspects of Burma. The book presents a systematic survey of the evolution of Burma’s major crafts. It is absolutely a good guide for anyone who would like to understand more about Burmese crafts. I will never forget the day I went to a lacquerware workshop in Bagan Burma, where I watched artisans performing a series of complicated and time-consuming tasks including cutting sumacs, purifying, designing, modeling, lacquering, sanding, drying and carving, etc. Never can I imagine one has to spend so much effort on a common lacquer piece. It is fascinating that they are still using ancient methods to make crafts. I was touched by their devotion to create something through such a long and slow process. “Lacquerware making is after all an ancient craft originally 53

from China that spreads to Japan and Southeast Asia. Why does the Chinese find it unfamiliar?â&#x20AC;? I admitted, moved and modest. In 2012, I was joined by my friends who were designers and ceramists, to head for Burma again, recording the process of lacquerware making in greater details, and brought some lacquer works made of traditional materials like bamboo and horse hair back to Hong Kong, and set up a small craft shop. The importance of lacquer to the Burmese is probably equivalent to the modern uses of porcelain, glass and plastic combinedâ&#x20AC;Ś - Sylvia Fraser-Lu The process of lacquerware making is remarkably demanding, both in terms of the skill and the time required to complete a single piece. Lacquerware begins with the construction of the basic object either in bamboo or wood. Once the base is made, the object is sealed with a layer of paste made from sawdust mixed with lacquer and left in an underground brick cellar to dry and harden for up to 10 days. The object is then polished on a primitive lathe using the dried leaf of the dahat tree, which has an emery-paper-like surface. A second layer of sifted sawdust and lacquer is then applied and the object is returned to the cellar. This process is repeated several times using progressively finer coats of lacquer. In the latter stages sawdust is replaced with ash to be mixed with the lacquer until a final coat of the highest quality lacquer is applied, offering a deep black lustrous surface. 54

Lacquer (called thit-si in Burmese) is a sap taken from the Melanorrhoea usitata, a tree that grows wild in Burma, mostly in the Shan States. Naturally black, other colours are achieved using additional pigments such as cinnabar (red) from China, orpiment (yellow) from the Shan states and green by combining the two. Blue comes from indigo, usually obtained from India. The art of achieving just the right colour, particularly red/orange is a closely guarded secret of lacquerware artisans. It is said that the secret of the composition is passed down only from father to his most trusted son. The surface embellishment of lacquerware turns an everyday object into a work of art and this method developed by the Burmese became renowned. The surface of the lacquer is engraved using a sharp iron stylus and the incisions filled with coloured pigment (first red/orange) to begin one of the various popular designs. The object is again left to dry in the cellar and any excess material removed using paddy husks and water. The engraving is then sealed with resin and the second colour, usually green is added and so on. A complex piece will often have 3-4 colours and requires a great deal of time to complete, especially when design motifs cover the entire object. Lacquerware takes a remarkable variety of forms from simple everyday objects of utility to artworks of religious significance and provides a deep insight into Burmese social life and culture. One of the most ubiquitous items is known as kun-it, a cylindrical box consisting of several shallow 55

trays for holding the ingredients to make a quid of betel. The hsun-ok is arguably the most striking of all the forms of Burmese lacquer receptacles. It is a large stupa shaped vessel (top of a temple) used for presenting food to a Buddhist monastery and in the past, to members of the royal court. I also appreciate the traditional business model that benefits both the environment and the community. They make use of the natural resources around them, use no chemicals and hire local people. The business generates income for the family and benefits the whole community. Their art works are exquisite. Techniques are passed down from generations to generations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you can see how intimate they are with their creations. Each pattern is original and different â&#x20AC;&#x201D; very personal. It is not difficult to feel the life in it.

Bamboo is cut into sections, and is then split into sections in readiness for making coiled or woven baskets for lacquerwares.

Lacquerware takes an enormous amount of time to make. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very labour-intensive and a very tedious process.

The process of incising and lacquering can take up to 6 months to complete. Photo courtesy: Chau So-hing

10 years of love and learning in myanmar Tony Chan, translated by Joyce Ng Assistant College Secretary of United College, CUHK

Ever since my first visit to Myanmar, it seems I have been tied by a mysterious bonding to this country. My friends and students even joked about that this is my second home. I followed the priest ten years ago to visit Myanmar, and my first impression was that this country was underdeveloped and it lagged behind other countries to a great extent. The Yangon International airport at that time, which has been renovated now and is used exclusively for domestic flights, was terribly old and there was not even an X-Ray scanner for luggage. Custom would only leave a chalk marking on the suitcases to indicate the need for further checking. On the street, there were a lot of second-hand Japanese automobiles but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mistake them as stylish and valuable ones - they were always the decayed ones which both air-conditioners and meters were often out of order. Indian buses, possibly from 50s or 60s, were still commonly seen on the street back then. There was no roaming service, so you could only call home from the hotel at a rate of 8USD/min for long-distanced call. The so-called highway connecting Yangon and Lashio was unbelievably rough and it took more than 10 hours to drive through. Gone were the days and all these have become memories now. Yangon was indeed the transition point for me only. My most-visited as well as my favorite place has always been Lashio in the northeastern part of Myanmar. Chinese is the major populations there. Although it is distant from the capital and other major cities, it is an untainted place in 59

which the locals are all simple-hearted, genuine and friendly. Every year, I return to this remote and mountainous village, singing and playing with the students there, and bringing with me items that were scarce in the region, including stationery and clothes. Yet, visiting year after year, I realize that this kind of annual visit is in no way sufficient to help the orphanages, schools and families here. It is time to get something sustainable started and this is exactly when the idea of initiating a sponsorship programme for Myanmar children comes to my mind. The programme attempts to connect and raise funds from Hongkongers who are interested in and passionate about supporting children in Myanmar. It began in 2011, starting from sponsoring 30 Myanmar kids, with each donor contributing $200 each month. As of 2015, there are a total of 79 children benefited from the sponsorship programme. As what I mentioned in the beginning, I have developed close affinity to this country. Two years ago, I got to know friends from Connecting Myanmar and we co-organized service programmes for students in Chinese University of Hong Kong. Together we explored the possibilities, opportunities and challenges of this country and we went beyond the original understanding of this place. I have also started another project in CUHK, during which I led a group of university students to Lashio and built toy libraries for the local orphanages, schools and student centers. It is hoped that the local children could enjoy playing with toys, learn the virtue of generosity, as well as experience happiness in their 60

childhood. The essences of this project are sharing, mutual help, environmental friendliness and sustainability. To be honest, I have never imagined my students who only volunteered in Myanmar for 9 days could share my joy and be captivated like what I have been experiencing in the past 10 years. Possibly, the enjoyment is contributed by the experience that they worked from scratch with the orphans every day, witnessing how a primitive and crude classroom could be filled with toys and being transformed into a functional toy library within few days. One of them mentioned in their sharing,â&#x20AC;? I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why they loved us so much in the beginning and I really pondered on this.â&#x20AC;? The answer might actually be as simple as that they were thankful that we came from such a long way from Hong Kong to this remote place. Over the past decade, this country has changed drastically and undeniably there are betterments in many aspects that have been improved. However, most advancement are confined to urban and economic development. I still see corruption and deficiency in the system; poverty is still evident everywhere; education is still under-prioritized, ill-managed and poorly-equipped. Daily problems like shortage of food, inadequacy of clothing and insufficiency of education opportunities remain unsolved. Although my contribution could be trivial, I am more than willing to serve and pray for this country for another ten years.

The children in Lashio were playing with the balloons happily.

Tony built the toy library with a group of students from the Chinese University.

my burmese days Manwa Yip, translated by Fiona Li

HKU Law graduate who joined Yangon Rule of Law Programme in 2013

The past two years of my life was completely changed, all because of the four weeks spent in Yangon. My first impression of the country was mediocre – various smells mingling in the stifling air, raindrops endlessly falling, holes here and there waiting to catch you from the ground. How different it was to the simple yet majestic Myanmar I imagined in my mind. Having understood the Burmese culture more, two things bothered me immensely, the first being the limitation of an individual’s capacity to deal with all sorts of problems, and the perfect image the local people held of democracy and human rights. As a law student, to me the reputed constitutional and human rights law in reality was but skin-deep, vague, ineffectual, unable to sustain its alleged force and sometimes even reduced to a political disguise for peace. When I witnessed NGOs striving to develop a human rights driven quasi-utopian future, or listened to stories of the 8888 student leaders being imprisoned for life for possessing a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I felt frustrated, if not disparaging, for their futile “sacrifice”. As the Chinese saying goes, “misfortunes induce sympathy, but inaction provokes fury.” What infuriated me most was the satisfaction or indifference the local people held towards the nascent revolution. I can still remember the shock I felt when a reporter who drafted news for Myanmar told me that all her commentaries were mere replicates of 63

her dad’s opinions, and that many of the daily news were not investigated due to the journalists’ fear of getting into trouble. Another senior lawyer’s view that the 1908 Civil Procedural Code did not entail an update was added to my disbelief. Incredibility and absurdity did not stop there – the Press Council’s gullibility in trusting the government and incompetency in seeking foreign help, the lack of efficiency and organization in local NGOs, the docility of local hawkers sitting at their stalls from day to night as if waiting for a miracle, the English level of a hostel receptionist outscoring a University professor… Where is restoration to begin, in this state of devastation? How wrong was I to use a saviour-like mindset and measure their world with my own standards. The local people have found their way to cope with the deep-rooted suppression and learnt to not lose hope in despair. Like an unborn chick, their inner strength does not cease to fuel their optimism for the future. Whilst sending email was a serious crime few years back, smartphones abound in the country nowadays. Why should they grief? If they had been edgy and easily frustrated like me, they would have failed long ago. A local problem should be left to the local people to handle; the only thing I can do is to offer a hand when needed.

Before I left, I was greeted by a human rights leader who had been in exile in Thailand for 25 years. “Don’t lose hope. Never lose hope. Our country has taught us never to give in to despair.” How small did this make me feel? In joining Connecting Myanmar after returning to Hong Kong, I met some equally passionate yet radically different friends; attained some awful yet heartwarming nicknames. As I gradually fell deeper for Myanmar, I cannot help but consider my indifferent and pessimistic view of my hometown. Hong Kong, Yangon; both are both going through the best of times, the worst of times. Tossing to and fro in belief and incredulity, light and darkness, the Burmese reminded me, “Don’t lose hope. Never lose hope. Our country has taught us never to give in to despair.”

With an LGBT activist in Yangon 65

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m one of them. :)

Celebrating the birthday of U Aung Myo Min, founder of Equality Myanmar

our stories Patricia Chen, translated by Joyce Ng

Co-founder of Connecting Myanmar who joined MOEI Thailand in 2011

Rain blown into the line car in the early morning, the chill made me shiver though it was June in Thailand. The line car stopped at the checkpoint set up by the Thai Police and there we were, at Mae La Camp, the most populated refugee camp at the Thai-Burma Border. Without any imagination or assumption, I looked around and tried to make sense of my surroundings. Muddy Road. Puddles made by the heavy rain. Green bushes and trees full of vitality. Mountain tops clothed with clouds and fogs. These details are still alive in my mind. It has been three years already since the first day I arrived at ALCC. Your faces are becoming vague; but after these memories are filtered by time, the truly profound and lasting part remains and starts to emerge. you White shirts, black trousers, dark skin and smiley eyes. White shirts, black dresses, bright faces and shy smiles. You introduced yourselves one by one but I could not really remember them and I was surprised to know that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a surname. After I had memorized them and got all your names in my mind, the happiest thing to do was to look at you walking through the pathway in front of the school every morning, saying hello to you and watching you laugh or smile.

Some of you always played table tennis during lunch time. I thought you just finished your lunch quickly because you liked playing table tennis. But later I came to know that it was because you did not have enough food for lunch. Some of you often asked for a leave or were late for classes. I was a bit angry about that but later I knew that was because you got sick after being caught by the rain in the rainy season; and sometimes even because your sheets got soaked while you were in the dreamland. You were not aware that rainwater leaked from the rooftop at night. Some of you would often fall asleep in class; but it was because you got up at 4am to help with housework. When it got to 10am, you had been busy for 6 hours already, not to mention the tiredness during classes in the afternoon. However, you always said, “teacher, no problem.” Whenever your alumni or neighbours had wedding ceremonies or funerals, you would kindly help out for the whole day. Some carried water, some cooked and some washed dishes. At the beginning, I thought this school was too loose in discipline because classes were suspended so randomly. But later I started to appreciate it. Brighten the Corner Where You Are is your school anthem as well as the school spirit. Even though you are just a small candle, you can brighten the little corner where you are. The school principal said, “It is good that the students can help their neighbours, hahaha.” You had been so kind to me. You always gave me the best food. You gave me a scarf that was made by you. You invited 68

me to your homes. You brought me to picnics. Out of the worry that volunteer teachers would fall down on the slippery roads, you collected stones from the stream to pave a way for us from the foot of the hill up to the school... Your kindness was something that I would never forget. you I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine what ALCC would be like without you being the principal. I thought you were quite difficult to be close to at the beginning because you were strict to the students. But later when I stayed in the same house with you, and chatted with you sometimes, I knew how much you love your students. You let them come to you after school for extra tuition; though you are in your seventies, you still teach passionately; you know everyone of your students well; you are very concerned about their motivation to study... Students love you, they call you Pyi Pyi (grandma in Karen language); but you also know they are afraid of you, haha. You always laugh like nothing is worth worrying, even when the school is in difficult times. I really miss you, Pyi Pyi. I wish you good health and all the best. May God bless you. You were the one who prepared dinner for me almost every day. Thank you so much for your meticulous care for me. You taught me how to speak Burmese and Karen language (most of the teachers and students are Karen, one of the ethnic minorities in Myanmar), and I taught you Chinese. you would tell me different stories about the students, even the gossips about who is in love with whom, haha. You try 69

your very best to make progress and become a better teacher. I truly admire you for your determination and perseverance. Keep it up! You, you are so curious about the world, and so hardworking. Because you always read into late night, till the light of the rechargeable lamp became dimmer and dimmer, your eyesight became worse and worse and you had to squint at the blackboard in class. But I always said to you, “why not get up earlier to read? It’s better for your eyes.” Later I found out how silly I was because you wouldn’t have time to read in the morning, for you needed to do housework for your family. Three years have gone by, and you are more mature now. As an elder brother, family responsibility is getting heavier. Sometimes it feels like even when you pay your efforts, you cannot get the return. But don’t lose faith; you have promised me that you won’t give up. Have hope. You are so bold and confident. You always expressed your thoughts and feelings without fearing being judged. When you were mocked and discriminated because of your sexual orientation, you always dared to confront those who laughed at you. You didn’t protest around; but you and your friends formed a group to offer help to your neighbours. You told me that by doing so, you would let them know homosexual people are not different from them and gradually discrimination would be eliminated. Your story touched my heart deeply. Once you had disappeared for several days and it turned out that you were interviewed and you helped officials from UN with investigation on the discrimination 70

cases that you and your friends reported by email. Your attitude and awareness of human rights really amazed me. You said you want to be the president of your country. How are you? I remember once you invited me to the monastery that you stayed in (there are Buddhist monasteries in Mae La Camp). It was raining that day. I was following you, watching you using your stick and was surprised that you didn’t stumble at all on that muddy slippery road – and it turned out that I was the one who almost slipped. It seemed that the stick had become part of you. You told me that one of your legs became lame due to a high fever when you were little, but you took it so lightly and felt like that it seems like it was no big deal. But, I think I know why, that’s one of the characteristics of a president-to-be. Do you still love dancing like you used to? I’m so happy to know that you have become a nurse, which you have always dreamed about being one. Congratulations! I can’t imagine that you have got married and got a kid now! You were the oldest student in my class; your age was never a secret. You still like humming songs and you are very optimistic. Now your daughter has learned the songs you sing; she is so adorable! Her eyes are as bright as her mum’s. You dropped out of school suddenly and I was told that you would never return. You love and you are so good at playing the guitar; your dream is to become a guitarist. Yet, later I heard that you became a soldier. Please do take care. 71

You two, elder sister and younger brother, quitted school to work in a factory due to family reasons. When I visited you in the factory, you still smiled like before but I know you missed your friends and family in Mae La. You said you were learning to sew and earning some money for your family; and if possible, you still want to go to school. You are now in Bangkok; though without a legal identity, you are contented because in Bangkok you can earn more. You too, quitted school for work. I still keep my portrait and a portrait of an old lady drawn by you. Do you still remember how shocked I was when you showed me your paintings? You said you were taught for two years and later you learned drawing on your own. I believe that if you are given more resources and chances, now you will be doing what you like to do. You loved studying computer and you wanted to be a hacker. Now you are a boss, helping your uncle to run a tea shop in Mae La. When I saw you again, you had become so much more mature. Thank you for treating me with tea, which was made by you; and that was why it was especially tasty. I really hope that you, your mum and your sister will be soon reunited with your father in the US.

I Oh there are still so many “you”, but I’m afraid you will be bored reading this article. When I have a chance, I will write about them one by one. The most recent trip back to Mae La was half a year ago. Many of my dear students had gone without trace. Thinking back, I don’t think I have taught them anything. But instead, I have learned a lot. I always say, I want to help them. But it turned out that there was so little I could change. But do we have to know the result before we do something? Is regarding myself as a “savior” and always claiming I want to “help” them a good thing? Am I consuming their misfortune? To me, Mae La Camp is a place full of beautiful people and things. But my mum poured cold water on that thought, saying, “yeah, because you went there to help them voluntarily, so people there were nice and kind to you; and meanwhile you had no pressure at all.” Yes. My mum was right. The cold water made me think, what was I doing? I did much for my own good, my experience and my happiness. What if people here made me disappointed? What if I got no response from them for my volunteering? Would I carry on? Would I be afraid of being hurt?... These questions, I have been asking myself ever since. I wish that every time I would be able to put myself lower and lower, and be able to love truly. But anyways, I am truly thankful. Miss you “big big”. :) And I will just end here. 73

I stood here every day, watched my students going to the school and greeted them.

Anglican Language and Computer Centre (ALCC), my second home

I miss the school principal Pyi Pyi, and her laughter.

when i look back over my life, i realize i have walked a long way Joyce Ng Founding committee of Connecting Myanmar who joined MOEI Thailand in 2012 & 2013

For three consecutive summers I have visited and stayed in Mae Sot with different roles as volunteer, coordinator and traveller, in my mind there are countless invaluable episodes of encounters and interactions which literally make my heart melts and aches every time I scroll down the albums on my smartphone. While I was skimming through the photos to recall details to be included in this writing piece, I came across a visual record of how eager my students were to complete the table of alphabet summary and get prepared for the subsequent competition. As a remembrance of the bygone teaching days, kindly allow me to use this intuitive, unsophisticated and childish way to organize my memories and share the most remarkable bits and pieces of experience and reflection with you all. Connecting Myanmar – a spontaneous, passion-driven, well-intended student initiative formed three years ago. Back in January 2012, when I was still on exchange in the United Kingdom, I received a text message asking whether I would be interested to get involved in “NGO work”. Upon my return, one night I was dragged out of my room in the residential hall and headed to the nearby McDonald’s to edit a funding proposal – that was exactly how I became one of the founding members of Connecting Myanmar, without knowing anything, literally anything, about Myanmar or the Thai-Burma border. And then that came my hectic but fruitful second semester with all the fellow Connecting Myanmar folks, who are undoubtedly dreamy but action-oriented. We put up posters all around campus, despite knowing 76

clearly that it would be taken down in few minutes time; we organized an ad-hoc but unbelievably successful fund-raising concert as a response to the fire hazard in Umpiem Mai refugee camp; we realized a crazy idea of celebrating the Water Festival with bottles of tapped water on-campus; we hand-made all the banners, decoration boards’ displays and service projects’ models (including but not limiting to collecting bamboos to visualize the school construction project, cutting and painting abandoned tires for the playground renovation project) for Myanmar Week; we organized photo exhibition in a newly-moved-in gallery, with works like framing photos, wiring and spotlighting all completed on our own. Everything was done in a trial-and-error back then, and frankly, none of us was certain that we could make it come true, let alone developing and sustaining this initiative for years. Connecting Myanmar is far from perfect but it is only with everyone’s input that it could advance – from day one it has been achieved by concerted efforts, and it will still be in the future! Emotional well-being – an issue that is under-prioritized by decision-makers in the developing world, as noted by World Health Organization. Most of the Burmese fled their homeland, despite all the dangers and hardships along the way, in search of better livelihood in the neighbouring country. However, settling on a foreign land does not necessarily imply the end of suffering and the beginning of a new life; the inconvenient truth is that their lives remain insecure and difficult. Without adequate support, the majority does not manage to develop proper coping mechanisms, rendering 77

them susceptible to various mental health issues. Staying along the Thai-Burma border and interacting with the kids and teens, I was kind of surprised by their optimism as they always wore big smiles on their faces. Yet, after getting along with them, they did from time to time show signs of vulnerability and insecurity; somehow, they were only hiding their scars behind the mask of toughness. Here, I am not trying to exaggerate their vulnerabilities and over-pathologize these youngsters, who are indeed courageous ‘survivors’ of harsh reality instead of powerless ‘victims’ of destiny, but having said so I do hope in the future they would be provided sufficient support and assistance to improve their psychological well-being and be able to live out the best of their lives. Funding – an essential yet lamentably unstable cornerstone for whatever humanitarian assistance or developmental projects. Owing to the apparently stabilized and promising future inside Myanmar, grounding on the expectation that Burmese refugees would soon be repatriated back to their home country, more and more donors and charitable organizations choose to shift their priorities to Myanmar, resulting in a challenging situation that funding is drying up along the border. For the two schools I served in 2012, the small kids were only provided breakfast and dinner, so for approximately 10 hours in between. They were just studying hard and complying with their daily duties without food consumption; similarly, the elder teens who had to work on exhausting manual tasks could only be offered lunch and dinner, meaning that they remained empty-stomach from the crack of dawn till the lunch hour approached, not to forget that they were actually working up a sweat outdoor 78

under the sun. Besides treating them snacks on Happy Friday and bringing them bread or cake once or twice from the bakery in town, what more can I do for them? This is exactly when you realize how limited individual efforts are. Gate â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a symbolic creation guarding the entrances of refugee camp; imposed boundaries on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freedom and mobility. Upon the completion of my essay on psychological well-being, which included interviews with NGO workers inside the camp and in Mae Sot, I ceased to see refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border in positive light as a timely humanitarian shelter provided to the displaced Myanmar population. Instead, I was painfully reminded that refugee camp is actually an artificial environment in which normal roles, cultural life and daily routines are to a great extent constrained, or even lost. Under the restrictive policy adopted by the Thai government, which requires all refugees to stay within the boundaries of the camp, some Myanmar children and adolescents might have spent their entire life, or all that they can remember, inside the camp, giving rise to a generation which knows nothing but confinement and seclusion. Impact â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an unanswered question that has been in our mind for long. We volunteer, with the ideal that we could somehow assist the vulnerable ones and contribute to the underprivileged community, bringing positive influence to our service recipients and at the same time be inspired to improve ourselves. We do our utmost but there are just times that well-organized plans do not work out as we wish and efforts are not yielding corresponding outcomes. As volunteer 79

teachers, there were cases that we worked till late, or even overnight, to prepare teaching materials but ended up being told on arrival that classes were cancelled because students were occupied with other tasks. As organizers, there were painful experiences that what we did seemed to be in vain â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we once put in a great deal of our scarce resources to make a project happen yet opportunities were not treasured and arrangements were not appreciated; we spent months discussing and settling details but projects were called off or reduced in scale at the last moment because of uncontrollable situations, i.e. partner organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest issues, political instability, participants withdrawal etc.; we sometimes received feedbacks that were not as positive as we had expected for our partner organization from our participants, given that we were indeed impressed by their aspiring initiatives and were appreciative of their thoughtful arrangements and willingness to share with us their experience and skills. These aforesaid are no doubt disappointing and frustrating but we just have to remind ourselves why we volunteer and why we organize service projects at the first place - whose needs should be taken into account first and whose voice should be listened to first. Only by getting these questions right could we continue our endeavors in making an impact on our concerned groups. Journey â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one that I would never regret to have embarked on. As always, it is nice to step out of the comfort zone and expose yourself to an unfamiliar environment, during which one would be more willing to break through the habituated daily routines and challenge the protective but equally constraining self-defense mechanisms, and eventually 80

attain personal growth and transcend yourself. Along the way, I have been accompanied by companions who share the same vision, inspired by devoted friends who work sensibly and persistently for good, and I actually lost count of how many times I had been motivated by each and every meaningful encounter with passers-by from different walks of life. On a side note, I am truly uncomfortable with the criticisms associated with voluntourists and personally I am quite in favour of volunteering with a travellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lens, on the ground that one would be even more interested in exploring the surroundings and understanding the local culture without being too judgemental or too pre-occupied by expectations and emotions. Do believe every journey has a story to tell and hesitate not to add colours to your own life book when you are still young. Knowledge â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a quest for most, if not all, Burmese kids and teens. Born and bred during the unstable era of conflicts, this is a generation which cherishes every possible opportunity to learn, at this seemingly peaceful period. Not only are they thirsty of information and curious about the outside world, more importantly they see education as an essential tool to lead them out of poverty and to guide the country on the right track to justice and prosperity. Nevertheless, high drop-out rate is indeed not uncommon to the unsettled Burmese population and it is an alarming problem which is worthy of attention. Once I wondered why one of my Grade VII girls went missing for consecutive days after the first week of school, I spoke to the class teacher and found out that she dropped out of school because her family had decided to leave the village. No one knows whether 81

a learning opportunity would be available in the next place she settles; if not, Grade VI could have been the highest education that she has completed… Last day – moments during which tears are guaranteed no matter how prepared you and your students are. I still remember how determined I was to hold back my tears and leave my beloved kids and teens the best smile on the farewell party, but ended up weeping with a melted heart because of their genuine and courageous speech, their sentimental but united singing performance, and their affectionate hugs. Possibly, goodbye is the hardest word to say on earth, and this is not only true for our service recipients, but also to us volunteers, who have become attached to the place and to the local people. Quite often the positive impacts of overseas volunteerism are gloomed by its necessary “come-and-go” nature and the contribution of volunteers is constantly being degraded if they fail to commit themselves for a substantial period of time. However, separation and reunion are indeed just normal courses of life and it should not constitute a great emotional burden to the beneficiaries if volunteers handle their departure responsibly and thoughtfully, i.e. not going away without bidding farewell or giving out wrong signal of abandonment and unworthiness. Preparing meaningful and useful farewell presents is one way to minimize the negative impacts of our leaving, and the scene in which we stayed up overnight and gathered around the table at the hotel lobby to pack items, to write cards and to prepare surprise for our students on the last teaching day in 2012 is still so vivid in my mind. Gifts are small but the thoughts and the wishes count. 82

MOEI â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a voluntary teaching programme named after the MOEI River, the natural border between Thailand and Myanmar. River has long been the cradle of civilization and its ongoing fluidity and fertility are at all time essential components of life. In line with its characteristics, most MOEI volunteers work diligently to transfer knowledge to the budding and aspiring next generation. Steve was one of our trainers few years ago and he demonstrated to us in person what passion truly entails and what mission would lead us to. He is not only an enthusiastic teacher who is forever energetic (even when he was having a fever) and patient (possibly no one would forget the importance of repetition in class after the training week). He loves calling his students monkey but with no offence he is indeed the king of all! Volunteer without a return ticket is about flexibility and adventure; volunteer without a return plan is just a totally different story, with great dedication and commitment implied. And he is really a reliable and respectable friend on the border who I would always wish him the best for whatever future endeavours he will attempt. Last but not least, it is not an over statement to say that there would not be Connecting Myanmar without MOEI and for all the inspirations and supports Professor Ian Holliday has offered us unconditionally along the way we are truly indebted to him. Like the lyrics every volunteer would come across during the training week, MOEI is definitely the time of our life. to be continuedâ&#x20AC;Ś in our third publication. if there is going to be one :)

This was shot during the lunch break in one of the schools we did the playground project. Renovation was still expected to continue after the meal but the kids just ran straight to the playground from the classroom when the bell rang. They could not wait any longer to land on and enjoy these long-broken but finally repaired playing facilities. This scene, with all the big smiles on the kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; face, is what motivates us to continue with our initiative.

This was taken on a sleepover night at one of the migrant schools which I taught in. If the school was to be closed down, these boarding students were not only losing the opportunity to study (please take into account the associated social upward mobility as well) but also a safe living environment where they could trust and share everything with the ones sleeping beside them.

A world behind the gate. Greenness exists. Shelter exists. What about liveliness and security? Peep through this, ponder and judge it yourself.

beyond food: identities, communities and ethnicities Sandra Tai

HKU Third-year Social Sciences student who joined MOEI Thailand in 2013

Fish Paste and Rice Walking to a friend’s house at four thirty in the afternoon, with bags of vegetables and meat bought in Burmese market in both hands, ready to rush into their kitchen and cook for the household of nine. It was a planned leisure time for me. Washing, cutting, boiling, mixing – all the routine activities of cooking. It was 7p.m. but the meal was not ready yet, and we felt like the food was not enough for all the elders and children. A woman in the house smiled at me, saying “it’s no problem! We also have a lot of rice and fish paste. You know, if we have fish paste, we can eat a lot of rice. We are Karen people.” I felt sorry. And after that, we worked together trying to mix and match the ingredients left on the table and spontaneously made them into some creative dishes. I was panicked, but they were all smiley and calm. That was when I realized that Mae Sot is not a place for a few days’ visit, travel, or experience, but a place to stay. It is a place you would only find yourself satisfaction when your body and mind are at rest, laid back, and without a return ticket to anywhere else. It is where taking a nap would not make you feel guilty, and being unproductive is totally blameless. It is where looking to the long term is not only quite impossible but also unnecessary or useless, because nobody here really knows where the manmade fate like politics, economics and humanitarian intervention would lead them. Everyone tries to survive and live with what they have got. Standing and cooking from scratch for hours diligently and with a calm face is just a part of this lifestyle and atti86

tude of theirs. Even when everything is spontaneous and off track, it is okay, because how fortunate and gratifying it is for us to have the food here and the friends waiting out there. So I sit down and drink. And cheer. And wish for this culture of slowness and calmness not to fade. Would not fade with the increasing industrialization, globalization and development in this town. Uncertainty of the people emerges because forced repatriation or rumors of this is present, but people still wake up every day in the morning and thank nature for this one day they have.

“You need to catch the fish from the river. Take away the fish poo poo and mix the rest with a lot of salt. Put it under the sun for a day… When you want to eat it, add water to it and boil it. Pound and fry garlic and chili before putting them into the fish paste. And you can eat!” 87

Rice Balls with Chili Prepare some sticky rice powder (made in Thailand), chili (grown by yourself), lots of sugar, childish mood and laughters and over 20 pairs of hands. With a big pot on the table, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start :) 1. dle. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

20 people stand in a circle with a big pot in the midPut the flour in the pot Pour in loads of hot water, slowly, play with the flour at the same time until everything becomes a dough Add sugar, more sugar Roll the dough into many many small rice balls Randomly put chili in some of your rice balls secretly Cook them Eat it with joy! And wish yourself luck!

This is the typical dish that the Karen People at the Refugee Camps would cook for a farewell dinner or birthday party. That was the night before the day I left. “Teacher, will you come back and visit us again?” Probably the typical script they would ask foreigners before they leave. I cannot imagine how heartbroken it is to say such script again and again, seeing people leave and knowing themselves would stay, not knowing how many more years or forever, and feeling unknown about their repatriation to Burma or their illegal future elsewhere. Tears, goodbye songs and closing prayers. Maybe they are used to these already. The popular song “We are the World” by Michael Jackson, played on the guitar, sung with ups and downs, repeatedly. “There are… people dying, if you care enough for the living” was no longer just a line of lyrics, but a truth of the plights of their own ethnicity, nation and family, which they urge the world to see. And their personal stories to be told. That moment of music transcended the atmosphere to an eternal one, as if the problems of ethnic cleansing and dying could one day be solved, as if conflicts are problems that exist outside humanity. “Ahhh, ssss, hhhh” someone was lucky. She got chosen by the chilli. And as they wished, that was me. How satisfying it is to see a foreigner completely integrated in their culture for that one second - an atmosphere of urge, of uncertainty, of tears but laughter, and of despair but hope. 89

when travels, people, politics and law intersect as one Kenny Tam

HKU third-year Law student who joined Street Law Programme in 2014

about myself and street law When the opportunity of going to the Thai-Myanmar border for the Street Law programme arose in 2014, I thought of nothing but to apply for the programme, believing that my passion for both foreign cultures and the law can inspire me to lead a different path in the legal field, perhaps away from the usual corporate work that lawyers are often exposed to. I first came in contact with the concept of street law when I was invited by a professor at the university to a Street Law Workshop organized by the pioneer of street law from Georgetown University. Street Law itself is not intended to be a simplified, replicated undergraduate law programme that is designed for the general public. It is, instead, designed rather differently so that the general public is not only informed of what the law is, but what the law SHOULD BE. Therefore, this design involves the incorporation of intended outcomes such as critical analysis, inclusion of people into discussion and understanding of social situations. We do not solely give out a factual problem and a hypothetical piece of law for students to figure out what “they think is the law”. Instead, we use interactive methods to include the students into discussion by, for example, including some of the students’ names into the legal problem that is given out, so that they become more attentive. Yet, to implement the Street Law method in Mae Sot – the bordertown at the Thai-Myanmar border – seems like an insurmountable challenge primarily because of language barrier. 90

arrival at mae sot Mae Sot boasts a large number of Burmese migrant workers and refugees owing to its geographical location (around 3 kilometres from the Moei River and the Burmese town of Myawaddy). However, Thailand has not always been proud of being their foster parents – in fact the Thai junta government recently announced the repatriation of 100,000 refugees in 11 refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border by next year so as to allegedly “cleanse” the nation. The heavy-handed policies (which are quite contrary to the policies adopted by the democratic-led government) lead to the fact that Mae Sot is now quite heavily patrolled at immigration checkpoints – the “always-friendly” Thai Immigration Police would hack into each bus and check all passports, and would check those with purple covers, titled “Republic of the Union of Myanmar” with the greatest scrutiny. Perhaps due to my background and experience in Australia, I always had the impression that bordertowns are often very sloppy and below-par in development. Yet, Mae Sot is a heaven among the jungles and bushes in the remote parts of Tak Province. Surely it isn’t a glamorous town like Chiang Mai or Hat Yai, and is indeed quite a small town, but the glamour of it lies in the richness of Burmese, Thai and Western cultures in one small town – where the Orient clashes directly with the West. This is largely due to the massive presence of Burmese migrant workers, who seek to have better lives having been persecuted by the Burman-majority Army for ethnic or religious reasons, and NGO workers, who came to this town decades ago to deal with the refugee sit91

uation along the border. Every now and then you see Thai or Burmese cart shops where they sell fried chicken, or Thai spicy sausages or fresh fruits (served with a mixture of sugar and spices), and right next door Dunkin’ Donuts makes a strong presence, selling donuts at a fairly posh price. You rarely see such diversity in a town that is so remote isolated from the big cities. Despite the strong Burmese presence here in Mae Sot, not everyone is willing to enter into the town, fearing that the Immigration Police would stop them all of a sudden and ask them for documentation. If they fail to produce legal documentation they will be detained immediately with huge risks of deportation. Most of the Burmese persons from Mae Sot have entered Thailand illegally without any documentation. It came as no surprise because of the extremely high requirement that a Burmese immigrant has to meet in order to qualify for a Thai visa, and that includes an asset check – this is exactly where my Burmese friends failed to satisfy. Their concerns are completely easy to understand – on my way to Mae Khu (where I was teaching – approximately 7 kilometres away from Mae Sot) there is a massive checkpoint at a major highway, and Immigration Police would even stop tuk-tuks for a sudden check-up. Mae Khu was a typical suburb in a Thai town with a bit of luxury from my deduction in its housing projects – there was a villa that was under construction when I was taking one of my random bike rides to the neighbourhood. Not only that, Mae Khu boasts some of the mid-range-priced 92

houses (I suspect!) that are quite affordable for local Thai, and for them these may be good investments thanks to the quietness and fresh air in the area. crux of the story - peace law academy Within the quiet area of Mae Khu, the Peace Law Academy, operated by the Burma Lawyers’ Council – an organization for Burmese legal professionals in exile from Burma since the 1988 nation-wide uprising – is well-established with acres of land taken up as the school campus and vegetable fields. Surprisingly it is very well-established – a library filled with Burmese and English legal books, a computer and music room, an outdoor volleyball court (well only a net with the boundaries drawn on the soil), a table tennis table, dining room, dormitories of both genders and many vegetable fields around the campus! It is certainly not something that you would expect in a town full of migrant workers and refugees. It is useful if I break down my time at PLA into 5 different aspects: admission, students, food, sports, and law. 1. Admission – The school mainly takes in not more than 25 students of ages 18 to 30 from around the nation. Like other migrant schools in Mae Sot, applicants are required to fill in their particulars in English, and are then required to have an interview in English. Since the BLC is now in exile in Thailand, the students, once admitted, are required to cross the Moei River into Mae Sot. From what I have heard from the students, they have crossed the river by a boat – a typical cross-boundary, yet semi-legal, method for Burmese immigrants to enter the “land of the free”. 93

2. Students â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Most of the students are very well-versed in English and are in fact very versatile. A lot of them are able to cook at an expert level, play the guitar at an expert level, play table tennis or volleyball at an expert level, and study so diligently. All of them come from different ethnicities and regions in Burma (ranging from Rakhine State to the Mandalay Division to the Burmese Army to the Karenni State to Shan State), and from different professions (from full-time students to doctors to lawyers to soldiers). Honouring the Burmese Constitution each of them is treated as equals at the school, and perhaps because of that they bonded exceptionally well with each other. James was a recent graduate in philosophy from Loikaw University in Shan State. I have always regarded philosophy as an intellectually-stimulating and challenging major that requires the highest level of moral and ethical reasoning. However, James pointed out that not every nation praises philosophy. In fact, in Burma, philosophy is regarded as one of those subjects where borderline students are admitted â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all because of a degree in hand. Students are only required to attend classes for 10 hours per academic year! The examination, according to James, was straightforward ,thanks to the traditional rote-learning system in Burma that simply requires students to recite text from their books in their examinations. He particularly noted that there were no elements of critical reasoning in his studies. It is funny that he mentioned that because he showed exactly his critical reasoning skills in our classes. If his statements were true, that is quite an achievement for a 21-year-old within 6 months in PLA! 94

Nay Kaw partially grew up in Karen State and partially in Thailand, making him the only person in PLA who can speak Thai. And of course, he is a well-known paramedic in PLA whom I think should be a doctor – just look at his experience and expertise having spent quality time at Mae Tao Clinic! When asked about becoming a doctor, Nay Kaw spoke about the scarcity of students eventually going into medical school. Medicine and surgery remain as the most challenging subject in Burmese education. There are 4 medical universities in Burma, two of which are in Yangon and one of which is in Mandalay. Each university only admits very few students (the most prominent graduate being Dr. Cynthia Muang – the founder of Mae Tao Clinic). When being asked about his chances of becoming a doctor, he actually preferred to become a nurse in Bangkok given the easier path to getting into this profession, although I still genuinely think that he can make a good doctor. 3. Food – Definitely the highlight of my entire month-long stay. Made with dedication by two full-time staff at PLA – Uncle and Auntie (don’t be mistaken – they are not a couple) – starting from all the stir fry dishes, to the vegetables grown just at the fields on the outskirts of the PLA campus, to the homemade potato chips and finally to the renowned mouhingya (rice noodles served with fish broth and spices). Even though I was told that the food I had there was an improved version of Burmese food, it did not stop me from fantasizing about how great the food in Burma would be. Not to mention the mangosteen and rambutan that I found very interesting since it is definitely my first time having them. 95

Mai Mine was an ex-soldier for the Burmese Army but it is impossible to deduce the fact that he is a top cook among the students in PLA. Every Sunday he made possibly the best steamed fish served with lime for the enjoyment of the boys at the boys’ dormitory. Both James and Mai Mine have kept local alcoholic spirits under their beds, only for the weekend pleasure where the boys can chat on boys’ topics, occasionally giving themselves shots of booze to roll up the atmosphere. 4. Sports – PLA has a proud tradition of having a strong volleyball team (although this tradition, to be very honest, has only existed for 6 months, but their proficiency gives me the impression that it is the sport of the school). Veni, vidi, vici – that is the implied motto of every player on the field, attempting to have no mercy for their visiting teachers. I was warned at the start of teaching that I should wait until one of their top players, Icedo, spikes the ball onto my head. Somehow, most of the visiting teachers have been the sheep of those cunning players, with fear that the pumpedup volleyball will smash their skull soon or later. The fact is that every man here can play! The PLA Team can easily field two different lineups that are equally strong, most of whom possess the killing ability to spike the ball. On the milder side, PLA also has the tradition of table tennis installed a few months ago. Watch out for those cunning backhand smashes by Nay Kaw, or any of the sneaky short balls by James, or deceptive serves by Ko Moe, and you’ll do just as fine as winning several points off these guys. 96

5. Law â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Our team was given the daunting task of teaching brand new and difficult concepts of human rights. This requires a quick review of the content of my Constitutional Law classes, and to quickly pinpointing the most controversial issues in the current society that, prima facie, contravenes our fundamental rights. The tester first lesson on negotiation over environmental pollution and foreign investment gave us a rough picture of the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to understand difficult concepts. With Burmese legal education refusing to place any focus on human rights and jurisprudence, and with the Burmese Government even refusing to let their people know about the existence of a Constitution, it would be a mounting, difficult task to ask the students to apply concepts that are virtually non-existent in their worlds. This is regardless of whether there is even a dedicated chapter in the Burmese Constitution explicitly guaranteeing basic human rights to its citizens, or even a dedicated provision subjecting the Government under the spirit of the law. Our topics concern the difference between equality and fairness, discrimination matters (and whether there can be justification to discrimination), the right to life and euthanasia, and the right not to be treated inhumanely in light of corporal punishment. Much of the discussion took in the form of factual analysis and occasionally a moot court, and it has always been pleasing to listen to the productive studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; discussion even though it is predominantly in Burmese. 97

It should be noted well, as above, that street law is not really about teaching the law and its substance, but more about allowing the students to understand why the law exists and what the law should be through interactive methods. With PLA being a law-specific institution, the students were in great need of such training because for all of their lives they had been in rote learning which really does not require any brain twisters or critical reasoning. Even with three law students and a practicing lawyer, such training is very much in need. The only full-time staff in the institution is U Thein Oo, the headmaster of the school and the Chairman of the BLC. As a former diplomat for the National League for Democracy (NLD, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi) and a barrister-at-lawin-exile in Thailand for more than 20 years, he specializes in jurisprudence and emphasizes on human rights. Having been educated under a socialist system when he was doing his LLB at Yangon, he mentioned that the idea of democracy was only clothed as an idea opposite to socialism, and since socialism was highly flawed in Burma, the people had to go for the opposite ideology for the sake of prosperity. I guess all in all the students here are very keen to protect themselves and have sufficient stability, and perhaps this is their motivation and the reason behind their passion for studying th Constitution. It is never an easy instrument to study given the need to learn the purpose and history of the Constitution, as well as the theory behind the drafting of a Constitution. Yet, after all the integral part of a constitu98

tional democracy, where even the rulers are subject to the law, is the integrity and recognition of human piety and responsibilities. conclusion My initial intuition about this life-changing trip has never changed: it is about changing peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perspectives about the law, and allowing the students to rethink what qualities are the most needy in order to effectively apply the law and change our way of life; It is about learning first-hand experiences and opinions on the involvement of politics in our lives; It is about blending into other peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives for a long period of time; getting used to the local prices; respecting the national anthem at 8am and 6pm respectively; dressing locally in longyis, and so on. It means far more than volunteerism. I will never forget the touching farewell that my students have given me at the end of the month â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their emotional faces and gestures. When a young man raised in the first world has experienced first-hand cultural and political differences, and is inspired to delve deeper into knowing what triggered such differences, it prompts him to spend more time in researching about the greater issues of that particular society. Once this instinct has been triggered, this type of passion will remain fervent for a very long period of time. After this monthlong trip, I think that, in a knowledge-based society (though gradually moving towards a creativity-based society), it is important for one to remain open-minded about changes, and be curious about the varying perspectives about those changes, regardless of which country he is researching on, or he has been to. This is what makes a true global citizen. 99

The Bench of Lord Justices of the PLA Supreme Court â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the court is now sitting in the appeal of final instance concerning the legality of involuntary euthanasia.

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Welcome to the Annual PLA Table Tennis Championships!

A photo that took us a long time to take! 101

how simple can life be...? Eugena Tong

HKU third-year Law student who joined Street Law Programme in 2014

I would never have guessed, before I embarked on my month-long volunteer trip to Mae Sot, that it would turn out to be a soul-cleansing journey filled with memories I couldn’t forget even if I tried. The essence of our volunteer trip was that we taught street law to 24 Burmese students in the Peace Law Academy. The school is situated in a small peaceful village where probably everyone knows everyone; there is a handful of restaurants and shops selling daily necessities, and that’s about it. I didn’t know what to expect before arriving at the school and I certainly didn’t think about how our time after lessons would be spent other than preparing for next day’s teaching. The second night we were there, some students were playing the guitar and singing Burmese songs on the porch of the dormitory. They invited us to join them and sang English songs with us. We sang into the night – with the slightly offkey guitar (from its seasoned use without tuning), supplemented by the chirping of geckos here and there; the slight rustle of tree leaves from the wind softly gushing and the occasional barking of dogs. Although I had never had this sort of experience in my life, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. The thought suddenly popped up in my mind: life could be simple if we let it be simple. Once we free our minds from worries and materialistic pursuits, happiness and fulfilment come to us when we live in the moment and share our time with everyone around us. The Burmese and their simple way of life epitomize this notion. 102

What they think about separation… When we taught the students in June, they were already halfway into their course, as they would be graduating in December. We were always curious about what they would do and where they would go after they graduate, and whether they would plan some sort of reunion to meet up with each other after they leave the school. We were invariably met with the answer “yes, it is good to see each again, but it’s ok if we don’t as well, since transportation takes such a long time”. I didn’t think much about this until our last day of teaching. During our farewell party, the students sang two Burmese songs to us with their ever-present and soothing guitar. The next day, a few students left with us to another school where we would teach together for a few days before we leaving for Hong Kong. I asked my students what the songs they sang meant. They said it means there is no need to be sad when people leave each other and go back to their hometowns – people come and go in our lives and we shouldn’t think of how sorrowful separation is. Fate is sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter. We should instead be thankful that we spent happy times and created memories together. I couldn’t help but cry and ask them in bewilderment, “But you were all dancing and clapping while singing this song about friends leaving each other!” They said “Yes, but separation is a normal course of life, we shouldn’t feel sad about it.”

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Maybe their nonchalant acceptance of separation is fostered against the backdrop of a developing country with a yet-to-be-perfected transportation system that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commonplace not to be able to contact or see friends from a different state. Whatever the reason may be, their philosophy towards life is admirable, positive and encouraging and certainly worth pondering upon.

We have our serious moments too...

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We definitely get more exercise here than in HK!

Students enjoying the tasty noodle salad they made themselves for breakfast!

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mae sot: a hub of volunteers Kate Tsang

HKU Arts graduate who joined School Construction Programme in 2013

When I was having my first dinner in Mae Sot, I found many pamphlets of various voluntary organizations in a restaurant called Casa Mia. This discovery set me to start my journey of discovering this volunteers’ hub – Mae Sot. After visiting a number of voluntary institutions and experiencing the magic power driven by volunteers coming from all around the world, I was impressed by their kindness and faith. Mae Sot is located at the Burma-Thai border. Out of geographical factor, Mae Sot has become a shelter for the Burmese refugees who escape from wars and political threats. Many enthusiastic people have established voluntary institutions to offer help to the refugees in different ways. For me, I worked voluntarily for a Karen School Kwe Kha Baung’s construction project. I met my project instructors Albert, a Spanish and Jan, a German there. They told us that they could not afford to leave Mae Sot after starting their voluntary work in this place. They have fallen in love with the mission of helping Karen refugees so they even established their own architectural company last year. At the construction site, there were volunteers with different nationalities coming and going. Some stayed a couple of days. Some stayed for half a year. The mobile population is a lively stream continuously supporting the voluntary construction project. It already came to the final stage of the school construction when we arrived to at the site. Therefore, we were arranged 106

to carry out some simple and repetitive duties, such as plastering, polishing and gardening. Nevertheless, we always unconsciously forgot our exhaustion when working together with our teammates. We used to talk a lot at work and soon we became friends. Working with those warmhearted people made the work so much fun. Yet what motivated us to work hard was the mission behind the construction project. We had visited the current Kwe Kha Baung School and found the buildings were so fragile that it could hardly protect the children during rainy season. We understood the need of the children. For the sake of providing a better learning environment for them, we were empowered to build a wonderful campus. I appreciate my teammates a lot as they paid all their effort in every little task. For an instance, we were assigned to polish the wooden window. Although no one had expected demanded the quality of the work, people still spent hours on a window to do a perfect polish. During the spare time of my voluntary trip, I have visited a community hospital called Mae Tao Clinic. It provided quality free medical service for the Burmese population. At the beginning of the visit, I felt shocked to see a piece of muddy ground with simple and crude bungalows as it contradicted to my impression of a hospital in a modern city. However, I found the hospital lovelier and lovelier in the trip visit. We were offered a chance to get into each service room. I was counting — “Child Health”, “Reproductive Health”, “Surgical Service”, “Eye Care “… At that moment, I realized how professional the hospital was despite of its limited resourc107

es. It tries to provide as much health services as possible for the Burmese refugees. Besides, other supports including schooling and training are provided. One of the things that I could never forget about was the nametags in the service rooms of the hospital. When I stepped into those rooms, the nametags immediately caught my eyes. Each nametag introduced the name and nationality of the medical staff. Australian, Canadian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Hongkonger…adding up to build an “earth village” where everyone showed their love and talents beyond boundaries. I heard that when the founder Dr. Cynthia Maung established the hospital in 1989, there was only a rice cooker available for sterilizing her few instruments medical equipment. Fortunately with the support of the volunteers and donors, Mae Tao Clinic has developed into a professional clinic, becoming able to provide quality health service. Shall we say it is a magic of love? My project instructor Albert once said “you will fall in love with Mae Sot like me because this is a beautiful place”. The beauty of Mae Sot is not out of her scenery. The kindness of the voluntary institutions and helpers has founded a beautiful Mae Sot. I believe that those warmhearted people who are willing to leave their sweet home and come to serve must uphold a belief: to influence life with life. Truly, these little dreams do make a difference with the lives of Burmese refugees.

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A dog lived nearby came to welcome us on the first day we visited the construction site.

Our working team visited a reservoir for fun after work. My project instructor Albert said this was Hong Kong style â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a crowd ignoring each other. Huh, big contrast between Hong Kong and Mae Sot. 109

8 unforgettable memories in mae sot

Kaiyee Wong HKU second-year Speech & Hearing Sciences student who joined Playground Renovation Programme in 2013 1. Orientation Night with STTC Students Science and Technology Training Center (STTC) is a school providing secondary education, as well as engineering vocational training to Myanmar students living in Mae Sot. We collaborated with them in the playground projects. We were all impressed by their hospitality when we first met them at the orientation night. That night, every student gave a performance to welcome us. They danced, sang songs and played the guitar very well, showing all of their talents. They even danced to the Myanmar version of Gangnam Style, which surprised all of us! We then came up with some famous Cantonese songs to share with them, and danced hand in hand with them. My worry about language barrier was eliminated since then. At first, I was afraid that we could not talk much since most of them could just say some simple English words. But I could see how hard they were trying to communicate with us and listen to our sharing about Hong Kong. The cultural exchange at the orientation night was really unforgettable. 2. First Playground built It was a remarkable moment when we finished our first playground. For the first few days, we were not too familiar with the construction work. We had to peel the trees without sitting on the floor since it was very muddy (but later we just forgot about it and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care whether the clothes would be dirty anymore). We also washed and painted the tyres, as well as transported sand. We were getting more 110

familiar with the procedures and worked more efficiently. When all the work was done, we were all very excited because the playground was built by our collective effort. The only reward that we were hoping for was the children’s enjoyment. 3. Children playing crazily on the see-saw This is a scene that I will never forget. I do remember how proud I felt when I saw how crazily the children there playing the see-saw. While we were still constructing the other parts of the playground, the children couldn’t wait to try the new facilities. When the bell rang, they ran out of the classroom and climbed on to the see-saw as quickly as they could. Initially, I had wondered whether a playground would be so essential to children. Would it be better to utilize the money in education or something else? However, now I understand how valuable play is during childhood. The children there would be delighted simply by a slide, a see-saw and a swing. This marks the significance of this playground project. 4. Washing Hands with the children “Dik nit dor lei dik nit dor lei, Let say ba let say ba….” This was a song with simple Burmese written by our team to teach the children in Thai-Myanmar border schools, which I will never forget. Due to language barriers, we could hardly teach them verbally. Yet, music and body language were the key to the removal of barriers between us. Washing hands with soaps, the action that we may do every day, may not be that ordinary for the children there since they lack the awareness about hygiene or soaps there. We distributed 111

soaps, and created songs as well as posters for them, hoping that the hygiene situation could be improved, so that the children could enjoy healthy study environment. 5. Waterfall As for the life of the Burmese students, their most exciting form of entertainment would be going to the waterfall in the weekends. During a weekend, the hospitable STTC teachers and students brought us to the waterfall and it was the first time for me to climb up a waterfall of such great height. Moving by clutching the rocks and stepping on the slippery surface, it was much more challenging than I thought! We all had to take every step very carefully, yet the Burmese students could simply hop on to different rocks! For them, happiness is that simple. Just spending a day at the waterfall would be very rewarding after one week of hard work. 6. Travelling around Mae Sot at the back of the truck Travelling at the back of a truck would be one of the most extraordinary experiences in Mae Sot. In the Thai-Myanmar border, for the ease of transporting building materials or goods, people would make use of the unsheltered compartment at the rear of a truck. Not only can goods be transported, but also people! Around 10 people could sit at the back. Although sometimes it may have been a bit embarrassing when there was heavy rain, feeling the breeze along the road was amazing. In Hong Kong, we always stare down at our smart phone, simply ignoring the scenery outside the car when we are on a journey. Here, feeling the breeze and enjoying the countryside scenery, we could have fresh air before the start of one day of work. 112

7. Mae Tao Clinic Mae Tao Clinic is located at the Thai-Myanmar border and it mainly serves Myanmar refugees in Mae Sot as well as Myanmar people living in their homeland. The facilities of the clinic are not very advanced, yet many Burmese people cross the border every day, especially women with children, to undergo medical checkups here. Health is considered a basic human right yet they experience difficulty to gain this right. Do we, as students from Hong Kong feel grateful about the chance of enjoying public and private health care service, or do we just take it for granted? 8. A T-shirt full of stains This is the T-shirt that I love most, although it is full of stains. I bought this T-shirt in Mae Tao Clinic, when I just arrived at Mae Sot. I fell in love with the quote â&#x20AC;&#x153;Health as the basic human rightâ&#x20AC;? when I saw the T-shirt at first sight. I experienced the quote during the one-month service in Mae Sot. While I was renovating the playground in different schools, I saw how dirty the toilets were. Besides playground construction, we taught the children how to wash their hands so as to improve the hygiene. The stains on my shirt could be a remnant of my one-month experience in Mae Sot. There were sweat and colorful stains, marking my demanding but meaningful contribution. I have kept this T-shirt until now inside my drawer as my souvenir after I travelled back to Hong Kong.

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Orientation night with the STTC students

Children playing crazily on the see-saw 114

Washing hands with the children

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where are you from, teacher? Sandra Tai

It was that moment I lifted my eyes and saw the roof, made by leaves, brown and dried, the patterns crossed with the blue sky. Not blue, foggy sky. I am in love with the fresh air (my skin touches it) the fresh veggies with no pesticides (the taste of nature emerges) the meat killed last night (the kind of killing that is decent) the mud, merges with river, merges with laughters (shh, saa, koo koo) the sound of prayers (I feel close to the Creator) I kissed the floor, the stripes made of bamboo, looking through the gaps within the surface I saw garbage, loads. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop smiling,

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I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop fearing that this moment does not belong to me, that the moment I stepped out of my doorless room, the eyes of the children would see me as Stranger. Foreigner. Someone who comes and goes, the eyes shine with expectation, admiration, curiosity. The moment I looked into your eyes and you looked into mine. Alienation. Realization that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never belong here, no matter how I pretended to be. A moment of you, me, they, and not, us. The line between Thailand, Burma - mountains and forests I see no boundary being a refugee, being a freeman - I asked you to stay and not leave for a Third Country the camp, the outside world - but who am I to stop you from leaving Nowhere to go, freedom to leave - how dare I say I love this refugee camp when I know that tomorrow I will be leaving You, me - who arrogantly draws lines on innocent soils that separate you and me?

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Skype with friends from Mae La camp, sensing the air of nature and community through technology.

Joining the nature and community in Mae La camp through the screen. 118

the animals Fiona Li

HKU fourth-year Arts & Law student who joined Journalism Programme

in 2013

Between us and them lies the visible wall of indifference Sophistication and education deepen our vision but shield the horizon with curtains awakens our curiosity but shatter mirrors in the mind turn spotlights on us but turn pumping flesh into stone They are but animals crawling on fields idling time away unworthy of interest With buckets of cash we paint bronze portraits silver ponds golden trees climbing up the stalks reaching out to the twinkling medals leaving them in iron cages below with a rusty ladder No way out Little do they know Simplicity and crudeness set us free from imposed gates wings of nonchalance race the breeze vocals of lovingkindness melt the clouds feathers of laughter colour the sky Looking down funny animals masking in self-righteousness drowning in complacency 119

strangling each other with the branches Medals are but fireballs setting ablaze once caught never ending chase Between them and us lies the invisible nests of wisdom Only little birds know the secrets of living Great is small

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albert and a.go.ra Sammi Hui & Zhiyao Ma Participants of School Construction Programme in 2014 Mae Sot is a strange place. It attracts great people around the world to gather there, who are willing to strive for better welfare for the others rather than for their own. These people include teacher Kyaw Win and teacher Aye from Science and Technology Training Centre (STTC) and architect Jan Glasmeier, the co-founder of Agora Architects, to name but a few. We had a rare chance to interview Albert Company Olmo, the co-founder of Agora Architects who is also teaching students from STTC to build their own school and advising them on other construction projects. Why is someone willing to spend years in a foreign country to do charitable construction projects? What does Agora Architects do? We would like to take this opportunity to share Albert and Agoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stories with you. Albertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adventure began way back in his college years. In 2007, Albert graduated with a Technical Architecture degree from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Spain. Before he completed his second degree, he left Spain for Thailand, where he found a job related to construction. That was when he heard about the struggles of Burmese people in Thailand. Later, after he learnt about Mae Sot, which was located at the border of Thailand and Burma, he decided to take a chance and did volunteer work in this small town. These few weeks of volunteer experience provided him the opportunity to link up with some of the local non-governmental organizations. After that, he began to take up lobby-designing projects, from which he earned his living. More importantly, he was informed about a chance to build 122

a training center for Mae Tao Clinic, as long as he could give a good presentation to impress a sponsor. He succeeded in getting a sponsorship with his construction project thus becoming an official staff of Mae Tao Clinic. This was the turning point of his career in Mae Sot, not only because the training center was his first official project, but also because he met Line Ramstad and Jan Glasmeier through this project, with whom he created “Agora”. Agora was founded out of a lucky coincidence. After completing the construction of the training center, Albert, Jan and Line began to work on another project, which was building a dormitory, for Mae Tao Clinic. By the time they finished, Jan published their work just for fun. Unexpectedly, this project gained a lot of attention and was nominated for architecture awards like the 2012 DETAIL award. When magazines came to interview the architects, they realized it was better for them to create an official name to publicize their work instead of doing so as three individuals. So this was the birth of Agora. Agora Architects is involved in both charitable projects, like assisting the construction of Burmese migrant schools, and commercial profitable projects, like building private houses, doing interior designs, and working for NGOs as consultants. If it weren’t for supporting his own living, Albert would quit commercial projects and devote all his efforts to charitable work. The reason behind it is simple – it is much more fun. In the past, Albert had a well-paid job as an architect in Spain, yet life in an office was dull and uninspiring. 123

Now in Mae Sot, each year marks a new beginning - from working for Mae Tao Clinic, to collaborating with the University of Hong Kong and to the future expansion of Agora’s work. Although the diversity of projects comes with a price, as Albert has to be separated from his family in Spain, his work with Agora in Mae Sot has proved his value as a selfless and accomplished architect. During our visit to Agora’s recent projects, we were impressed by Agora’s special construction method, which was building walls with Adobe bricks. Albert learnt the techniques of constructing with Adobe bricks from the organization Gyaw Gyaw when he was preparing for the presentation in Mae Sot. Adobe bricks are cost-saving and environmentally friendly, as they consist of materials like clay, sand and strew that can be found everywhere in the neighbourhood. Almost any kind of clay, strew and sand are qualified as materials for Adobe bricks, workers could just use the soil from the ground to mix them. Demolition of the walls causes no damage to the environment, as the Adobe bricks will be broken down into soil to refill the land again. The magic of Adobe bricks is the creation of a sustainable living environment by integrating the nature and architecture. Recently, Agora has won the DETAIL Award 2014. We hereby express our utmost congratulations to them. Without doubt, buildings designed by those who are passionate and willing to help others are always among the best.

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Learn more about Agora from the following Questions and Answers with Albert: Q1: How did you come up with the name “Agora”? A: “Agora” is an old Greek word. In the Old Greece, the “agora” of the city used to be the public square where people could meet, interact and have a market. It is somehow like our team – we met one another here in Mae Sot, a place with endless opportunities and possibilities. So, we named our company “Agora”. Q2: We know Agora sponsors their charitable projects, like the construction of STTC, so what is the source of funding? A: Most of our money comes from our sponsors. In order to obtain funding, Jan and I send out portfolios with nice drawings and descriptions of our projects to attract potential sponsors from all over the world. If an organization is interested in sponsoring us, we will make a more detailed presentation to persuade them in doing so. Take STTC as an example, it is sponsored by organizations including a Canadian NGO called CARISA, a Thai Foundation such as Child’s Dream, and Connecting Myanmar. Apart from sponsors, our funding also comes from the profits generated from our commercial projects, and income from providing consulting service to big NGOs.

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Q3: Can you briefly introduce your current team to us? A: Our main team consists of Jan and me, as architects, and eight Karen senior workers. Because we have two projects under way, we divide our workers into two teams, so that each is responsible for one project. Our workers have mastered the essential skills over the past two years of practice, thus they are able to work without help from Jan and I. As for the two of us, we usually just make some drawings. Our team members know one another very well after working together for two years. When there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t big projects for our workers, we will find them some small jobs, like building lobbies for local families, so that they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave us for another job. Agora also recruits junior workers, who are current senior students or graduates from STTC. By the time they want to look for a serious job, or even start their own business, they will have been equipped with construction, computer and language skills, and will have gained sufficient experience from working with us. Apart from junior workers, we also provide internship for Architecture students. Selected students are invited to work with Agora architects for around two to three months. They learn a lot of essential practical skills related to housing design and construction - they may even get a chance to design part of project. So far, four students have done internship with us. This summer, our intern is Sandra, a Burmese girl who will start studying landscape at the University of Hong Kong this September. She participates in our projects by helping us draft designs, learning the use of computer software, and doing fieldwork with us. 126

Find out more about Albertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work with Agora Architects from the websites below: https://www.facebook.com/a.gor.a.architects.org?fref=ts http://www.agora-architects.com

Albert explaining how the environmentally friendly Adobe bricks were made

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Albert and Hong Kong students in STTC

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a teacher to thank and remember Tom Bulay Graduate from Brighter Futures in 2011-2012 It was the rainy season when I first moved to the new community in Mae Sot, in order to seek further education at Brighter Futures. This was where I met the amazing person who had strong ambition, desire and heart to help Burmese people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Steve Gomersall. Steve is from the UK, and he was in university when he first came to Mae Sot. During his 3-month English teaching internship along the Thai-Burma border back in 2008, he found out that there were many areas that need help. This was the case especially in education. The education system is defective in rural areas in Karen State, where many places donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have adequate primary schools or well-equipped teachers. After this observation, he made an extraordinary decision to stop university and continue to work for the Burmese students. He started a programme called Brighter Futures with two parts. The first six months is intensive English training to equip the students, then they will join a six-month internship at a migrant school as a teacher. Steve has two aims through his programme. The first is to enhance the existing education system with good teachers and more effective teaching methods, because in Burma we only memorized all the things the teachers said and we did not learn about critical thinking. Also, he hopes to prepare the students to work with NGO or CBO together harmoniously for the communities along the Thai-Burma border in the future. This is something that he works hard to bring help and hope for people around Karen State, and it is hoped that one day when we finish the programme, we can lead our own com129

munity in the areas of education or community development, with the knowledge we have gained from him. Steve is a strict teacher and he always scolds us when we do not do a good job. But this is because he has high expectations for us, and this way we can learn more. Although he is from the UK, he always wears Karen shirt and he is passionate about our culture, like Karen dancing in New Year and eating dog meat. He calls us monkeys, so we call him monkey father! I am glad I joined his programme, because we never had a foreigner teacher before. Steve made the rule that everyone had to speak English all the time, so I took every opportunity to practice my speaking skills and asked him about any vocab I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. Just in one year, my English improved so much already. Also, I have enhanced my knowledge of working with communities after participating in community projects for migrant schools and Burmese communities. One day, we had a discussion about starting projects for the community. We found that our communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s living standard was quite low because they did not have enough toilets. Many children would just go to the bushes for toilet. Also, in the rainy season, they would definitely need mosquito nets to protect themselves from malaria disease. With some other friends, we told Steve about the problems and he suggested us to write a report to get funding from donors, so that we could improve the hygiene condition in migrant schools. He helped us with drafting the proposal, and in the end we were able to get funding for new toilets and mosquito nets. 130

We were really pleased to see that we could raise the dignity for our community. Although what we did was small, the impact was big. Steve has showed us that we could contribute to our community even in simple ways. After graduating from the programme, all of the students have returned to their respective communities, and are dedicated to work on community development. Some of them have joined NGO or CBO in their own areas. I am really thankful to Steve and the programme, which guides us to a better life, and indeed, brighter futures, even when there are humanitarian crises. Steve has told me that he has decided not to go back home, and he will serve ethnic Karen people for the rest of his life, because he will always do what he believes is good and what is needed for the communities around him. This is the person that I truly admire and appreciate â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Teacher Steve.

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Steve with all the students of Brighter Futures Programme 2011-2012

After getting the sponsorship, we started building the toilet. This is a photo of the construction project. Although it was tiring, we all feel truly happy in our heart to be able to help.

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law, human rights and loads of fun Aye Mu & Nay Kaw Students of Peace and Law Academy In May, our PLA school headmaster, U Thein Oo, announced some good news: some Hong Kong students would come and teach us about International Law for two weeks in June. He said “you all are very lucky” in the class. All students were very happy and excited about the news including me because I had never met any Hong Kong people before in my life. I guessed Hong Kong students would be old. However, when I saw them things were different. They are young and very active. They first explained Hong Kong’s situation and the connection between the Hong Kong government and the Chinese government in the class. On other days, they taught us about some articles from ICCPR such as the Right to Equality, Right to Religion, Right to Education, Negotiation skill and Refugee Law etc. We gained a lot of knowledge about human rights and it is very useful — not only for us but also all human beings. I was flabbergasted by how useful their lectures have been for our freedom fighters. I did not know anything about human rights before. Now, I understand human rights. Human rights are very important as we are human. So, I am really thankful to Hong Kong students for teaching us about human rights. I had a lot of fun during those 3 weeks that they were here. I will not forget that day we played volleyball, table tennis, sang, and joked. I cannot believe that they came here as volunteers, but we felt like they are members of my family. I had never seen young people like them, who have good relationship skills and are able to get familiar with new people in a short period of time. They helped me develop lead133

ership skills and taught me how to give a speech in front of the public through the debating and presentation programs. They explained repeatedly to us with a lot of examples and they encouraged us to raise questions in class. I enjoyed sharing experience about different ethnic groups, cultures, religions, peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s welfare, and how they stay alive in a society. On the other hand, I learned not only about the different education systems in different countries, but also various Governmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; institutions. My words are not enough to say thanks because they are so good, so kind, patient in teaching and very friendly to us during the days in PLA even though they are young. Finally, I hope Hong Kong students will come again and join some Myanmar NGOs and share knowledge about International law using activities as in our school in the future.

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a set of eyes that i don’t dare to look longer Nay Satkyar Naing, translated by Thu Ta Sen Founder of Young Generation Note, Mae Sot That day I was talking with a friend of mine casually – but with an unexpected impact on my perspectives. “It’s about to be the 100th birth anniversary of our General. I want to see a youth to emulate General Aung San. One or two will do, and hopefully there will be more in our country’s future. By the way, Saya Nay, I want to tell you something.” I just nodded my head deliberately, and he continued. “There is an old saying: to be a great person, fix yourself first and then try for your family. Then, progress with doing the same for your neighbour, your community, your city and so on. Do you agree with it, Saya Nay?” “I totally agree with it. I don’t believe that a person, who cannot do anything for their family or their neighbour, can work hard and sacrifice for the country and people. If their family cannot rely on them, how can we depend entirely on him?” At that time, he shook his head vigorously. “It is normal for you to think that to work for the others, one must take care of his family first. Yet, it isn’t totally right. I will tell you one thing, Saya Nay. It’s about General Aung San and his mother.”

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“Please tell me,” I said and my ears pricked up. He told me at a slow pace. “Here it goes. His mother told him one day, ‘some houses have a meter and it is comfortable with electricity at night. Although my son is the National Leader (at that time he had already resigned from the Army and become a Minister), I don’t even have a meter in my house.’ When his mother said that, our U Aung San replied, ‘the day when everyone has a meter, Ahma (Mother) will have one too. What are you worrying about, Ahma?’ So Saya Nay, let’s think about our previous talks about the steps: family, neighbour and so on. If it were so, our General would’ve lit his mother’s house, and later on others’ houses. But a young man who is Tha Khin (Master) Aung San – General Aung San didn’t do that.” “As for us, after managing our family responsibilities, we spare our time for philanthropic work as much as we can. But General Aung San chose to work from the top and let the impact trickle down to all of society. He tried to establish a system, which would provide every house with light, rather than to illuminate his house first. For him, it would be simple and straightforward to attend the university, get a degree, work for the government, and take good care of his family. And if he had done these step by step, the day of our independence would have changed. In hindsight, he may as well have been a son who was not trustworthy whether he had got a meter for his mother’s house or not. But why did he become our Father of Independence and a trustworthy martyr for all our nationalities?” 136

Then it made me scratch my head. I thought for a while and resumed my talk. “That’s General Aung San. He sacrificed his family for the whole country, unlike us who give priority to our family and our life. I can say for sure that he was a responsible soul for others and could fight for independence as a father figure.” “So, Saya Nay, youths nowadays can be rather inconvincible! Everyone who is reliable for family may be trustworthy for the others, and vice versa. Those who stand wholeheartedly for others might ignore his family and his own welfare. Everyone has their own way of interpreting how and when to serve others.” “But we are not General Aung San. He was one of a kind. Not everyone could be General Aung San. We all are different.” “That’s why I told you before, Saya Nay, I want to see one or two young people like Tha Khin Aung San to show up in our country. We don’t need many, just one or two.” As soon as he finished his sentence, I looked at the image of General Aung San hanging in the living room. “Would I work only for my family, or work for others and sacrifice my family and my life like him?” I asked myself. I didn’t dare to look at his eyes any longer. I turned my face away.

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still waiting Thu Ta Sen Manager of Young Generation’s Note, Mae Sot All knows the truth, who tricks the dark Who will break, light up to real We’re still waiting for 1,2,3,…. 50, so on. Waiting on the world to change Still waiting …. Hard to beat the system So we keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change One day, Our generation is gonna light up But still waiting Waiting on the world to change Hard to beat the system But if we have the power, Oh bring all from fear We just know that we’re fighting for fair We’re still waiting Waiting on the world to change (12/12/2014 International Human Rights Day)

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十年 ‧ 勵「緬」 Tony Chan

自從2004年第一次踏足緬甸之後，彷彿與這個國家結下不解緣。我的朋友和學生還笑說，這裡是我第二個家。十年前我是跟隨教會牧師來緬甸的，第一印象這個國家真是十分落後：仰光國際機場舊得恐佈（即現時的仰光國內線機場，但現在也翻新了），機場連X光機也沒有，海關會在行李上用粉筆打上記號表示要查閱；滿街都是日本的二手車，是舊得連冷氣、咪錶已壞掉的那一種，街上還見到五、六十年代的印度巴士在行走；手提電話沒有漫遊，要報平安，只能在酒店打八美金一分鐘的長途電話回香港；連貫仰光和臘戌兩大城市的「高速公路」顛簸不平，坐車要得花十多小時才到達。凡此種種，今天已成回憶。仰光只是我的中轉站而已。我最常去，也是我最愛的地方，始終是緬甸東北部撣邦的臘戌(Lashio) 。臘戌是一個以華人為主的社區，它雖然遠離大都市，但卻保留了一份純真與人情味。每年總會走進城鎮外的山區鄉村，與當地學生唱歌、玩遊 140

戲，還帶來了不少這裡缺乏的物資，如文具、衣服等。然而年復年的探訪，讓我感到要幫助這裡的孤兒院、學校和家庭，不能單靠這種每年一次的到訪，要嘗試做一些能持續發展的事情，「緬甸兒童助養計劃」就因為這種想法而設立了。這個計劃嘗試連繫在香港有興趣關心緬甸兒童的朋友，每月定額捐助港幣200元，從2011年先試行助養 30個小朋友，發展到今天每月有79位兒童獲得計劃的幫助。正如我開首所說：我與這個國家有緣。前年認識了Connecting Myanmar的朋友，讓我對這個國家有另一個層面的認識，也有機會合作讓中大的同學參與Connecting Myanmar所舉辦的服務活動。而我自己也在中大開展了緬甸的玩具圖書館計劃，連續兩年帶領學生到臘戌，為當地的孤兒院、學校及學生中心建立玩具圖書館，讓當地兒童能享用玩具、學習彼此分享，更為他們帶來歡樂；這亦是一個環保、分享、互助的可持續發展項目。不過我卻沒有想過，十年來所帶給我的感動，一 141

樣可以在這九天感動這班中大同學。或許是因為一切從無到有，再加上孤兒院的小朋友與他們一起協力，短短幾天將一個簡陋的教室變成了一個不一樣的玩具圖書館。我的學生更分享道：「我開始時並不懂為什麼他們會愛我們，後來想想，或許僅僅是因為我們千里迢迢來到這裡，他們就已心存感激、愛我們。」十年來眼見這個國家改變了很多，確實有不少地方是進步了，但進步的只限於城市和經濟發展，我還是看見制度的腐敗、貧窮無處不在、教育凋零，不少人民還是每天吃不飽、穿不暖、小孩子無書讀。雖然我不能改變什麼，但我願意在未來十年繼續服務這個地方，為這個國家祝禱。

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我在緬甸的日子 Manwa Yip

我在緬甸的日子只有一個月，卻為我過去兩年的生活帶來翻天覆地的改變。初到仰光，對這個國家的印象並不太好：悶熱的空氣充斥各方的各種氣味，雨水無休止地下著，一不小心可便會陷入路上大大小小的破洞，與我想像中簡樸莊嚴的緬甸有著天淵之別。最令我感到無力的，一是了解個人的能力相對於林林總總的問題多麼有限，二是當地人民對民主人權的美麗幻想。修讀法律的個人體會是所謂憲法、人權法，要麼虛有其表、要麼含糊不清，更甚是蕩然無全，或淪為政權粉飾太平的工具，總是理想遠比現實更美好。當我看見一群志願機構的領導聚精會神地學習如何以人權為主發展一個近乎烏托邦的國家，又親耳聽到8888起義的學生領袖因收藏一本國際人權宣言而被判無期徒刑時，我的第一反應是為他們單純的追求及無謂的犧牲感到無奈。哀其不幸，怒其不爭。最令我憤怒的，是當地人 143

民對那丁點的甜頭改革感到滿足，又甚或全不在乎。猶記得為緬甸剛公佈的新聞法初稿訪問一位記者。她坦然告訴我們她並沒有看過初稿，她在社論的意見其實是她爸爸的意見，而有很多地方上的新聞她會避免採訪以免惹上麻煩。又一名年長律師認為緬甸1908年通過的民事訴訟程序無須任何更新。還有太多太多匪夷所思的事，例如記者聯盟既輕信政府又不懂利用「外國勢力」、志願機構不擅管理和運用資源、當地小販朝七晚十一靜坐攤檔、旅店掌櫃的英語遠勝大學教授……這個國家滿目瘡痍，該從何處救起？錯就錯在我這種救世主心態，妄想將自己的一套加諸當地人民。當地人民已從長年累月的壓抑找到他們喘息的空間和生活的方式。在絕望的環境中不失希望。他們強大了心靈，完好地保存了雞蛋殼內對未來的憧憬。當兩三年前發電郵是嚴重罪行，但現今華威智能電話隨處可見，誰會不滿足？如果他們像我這般急進反叛，早已死了很多遍。當地問題，當地人民解決，我可以做的就是 144

看看可否從旁協助。走的時候，一位被流放泰國二十五年的人權領袖溫柔微笑的地說：「不要失去希望，永遠不要失去希望，我們的國家教曉我們永遠不要失去希望。」我感到很渺小。回到香港，我參加了Connecting Myanmar，認識一群志同道合但性格迥然的好友，亦贏得幾個不好聽卻挺親切的花名。對緬甸的情意結愈繫愈緊時，我不得不反思我對我城悲觀冷漠的態度。香港、緬甸，正經歷最好的時光，最壞的時光，在信仰、疑慮、光明、黑暗中，緬甸人民告訴我：「不要失去希望，永遠不要失去希望，我們的國家教曉我們永遠不要失去希望。」

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我們

Patricia Chen

坐在雙條車(line car)裡，外面的雨順著簾子被吹進車內，儘管是泰國的六月，清晨的涼意伴著雨絲還是讓我不禁稍稍打顫。就這樣，我來到了美拉營(Mae La Camp)─ 泰緬邊境上最大的難民營。幾乎不帶著任何想像，我觀察著、也接收着周遭的一切 ─ 泥濘的路；大雨造就的大水窪；綠得很精神的灌木和大樹；氤氳著霧氣的山。好像必須由此開始回憶，才可以不遺漏所經歷的一點一滴。距離我當年在ALCC任教的第一天，已經三年多了。你們的面容都開始變得模糊，但正正經過時間的過濾，深刻的部分才真正顯露出來。你們白襯衫，黑褲子，黝黑的皮膚，帶笑的眼睛。白襯衫，黑裙子，明淨的臉，羞澀的微笑。你們逐一介紹你們的名字，我卻似乎沒有辦法記住，並訝異於你們沒有姓氏之分。好不容易記住 146

了你們的名字以後，最快樂的事情就是每天早上倚在欄杆上看著你們穿過學校門前的小路，跟你們打招呼，看著你們或大笑或微笑。有些男生總是在午飯時間打乒乓球，我一開始以為你們只是因為貪玩，所以才草草吃飯。後來才知道，你們的家裡沒有足夠的米、黃豆和魚露給你們帶來學校煮午餐。你們隔三岔五地請假或者遲到，我一開始有點生氣，但後來才知道你們的身體狀況不太好，很容易因為淋雨，或是屋頂漏水，又或是晚上睡夢間不知道被子濕了而在雨季病倒。你們當中有些人很容易在課堂上睡著，後來才知道你們可能凌晨四點就便起床幫家裡幹活，所以到了早上十點，你們已經忙了六個小時，就更不用說下午的課了。實在有太多的「後來才知道」了...然而，你們總是說：teacher, no problem。但凡學校的校友或者鄰居有紅白二事，你們就去幫忙，一幫就一整天。這個挑水，那個做飯，忙得不亦樂乎。一開始我還在想學校組織得是不 147

是有點太鬆散，隨隨便便停課，你們昨天剛剛學到的東西經這樣的喜慶或哀傷的情緒應該就會沒剩什麼了吧。後來我卻開始欣賞這樣的做法。“Brighten the Corner Where You Are”是你們的校歌，也是學校的精神，哪怕只是一根小蠟燭，也要照亮你所在的小小角落。校長說：「能夠讓學生幫助自己的鄰舍是很好的，哈哈哈。」你們對我是有多好啊！你們把最好的飯菜給我吃；你們送給我親手編的圍巾；你們邀請我到你們家；你們帶我去野餐。怕義工老師在來往學校的山路上滑倒，你們就到小溪裡搬石頭給我們鋪了一條從山腳到學校的路……你們的美好，我要珍藏一輩子。你我真的不敢想像，沒有你當校長的話，ALCC會是怎樣。一開始我覺得你不是很好接近，因為你對學生比較嚴格。不過後來住在你樓上，偶爾跟你聊天，才知道你有多愛學生。你讓他們在傍晚到你這裡補習；儘管你已經七十多歲，還是在教書；你了解每一個學生，跟你談起他們的時候， 148

你都會告訴我很多很多；談起他們學習積極性不高，你就恨鐵不成鋼……學生們都那麼愛你，親切地叫你Pyi Pyi─ 祖母；但你也知道他們怕你。哈哈，你總是爽朗地哈哈大笑，哪怕是學校有困難的時候。我很想念你，真希望你身體健康，腰腿都不再疼痛。古靈精怪的你，你幾乎每天都精心地為我準備晚餐，怕我吃不慣。我都不知怎麼感謝你無微不至的照料。你教我緬甸語和克倫語（學校大部分師生都是克倫族人），而我就教你普通話。你會跟我講說不同學生家裡的情況，甚至是小八卦，比如誰喜歡誰，哈哈。你是那麼努力地想要進步，想要做更好的老師，我真的由衷地佩服你。加油！你，你對世界充滿好奇，也很刻苦，但你的視力越來越差，上課時常常瞇起眼睛看黑板，因為你總是看書看到很晚，而那些充電小檯燈的光用到最後就越來越暗。而我總說，你為什麼不早點起來看呢，非要到那麼晚。我後來才知道自己有多傻，因為你一早起來就要幫家裡幹活，哪裡有時 149

間看書。三年過去，你也長大了，不再像以前那樣喜歡粘著我了。作為哥哥，你在家裡的擔子也越來越大了。有時候付出了努力，卻好像得不到回報，但是不要灰心，你答應過我never give up。你，那麼大膽自信，總是在課堂上踴躍表達自己的想法。當你因為是同性戀而被嘲笑和歧視時，你總是挺起胸膛面對流言蜚語。你亦會跟其他同性戀夥伴一起幫助你的鄰居，你說，只有這樣做才能消除他們的歧視，才能讓他們知道同性戀者跟他們沒有什麼區別。你的故事讓我感動不已。有一次，你突然請假幾天。後來才知道那幾天你和你的夥伴們去了做訪談，把被歧視的情況告訴了聯合國的官員。那樣的維權意識真的讓我驚訝。你，說想當總統的你，好嗎？有一次你邀請我去修道院（美拉營裡面有佛教修道院），你說你住在裡面。那天下著雨，你拄著拐杖，路很滑，你卻走得比我還要穩，那拐杖好像已經變成了你身體的一部分。你說你是因為小時候發燒所以一條腿才不能用了，你的聲音裡連一絲沉重都沒有。 150

是呀，因為你是想要成為總統的呢。你，還是像從前那樣愛跳舞嗎？很高興知道你終於成為了護士，那是你一直以來的理想。你，沒想到這麼快就結了婚，還有小孩子了！你是我班上最年長的學生，當時已經快三十了吧。你還是常常哼著歌兒，非常樂觀。現在，你的女兒都學會了你哼的歌，她真的非常可愛！你，中途就輟學了，我是突然之間被告知你再也回不來了。你非常擅長也熱愛彈結他，你說你的夢想是當個結他手。後來聽說你去當兵了。你們姐弟倆，因為家庭的緣故要輟學去打工。在工廠見到你們的時候，你們還是掛著那樣的微笑。你們說現在正在學縫紉，能賺到一些錢幫補家計，有機會的話還是想繼續讀書。現在你們在曼谷，雖然沒有合法的身份，卻還是覺得已經很好了，因為可以賺更多的錢。你，也是後來輟學去打工。我還收著你替我畫的 151

肖像和你畫的一位老婆婆的肖像。還記得當時你給我看你畫的畫嗎，我是那麼驚訝。你說你跟一位老師學了兩年。我想，如果你有更多的機會，現在，你應該可以幹自己最喜歡的事情吧。你，很愛研究電腦呢，那時候跟我說你想當黑客。現在你已經是個小老闆了，幫著你的叔叔打理一家茶座(tea shop), 成熟了許多。謝謝你請我喝奶茶，還是你親手做的，特別好喝。我還有好多好多的“你”，但是看下去怕你都覺得厭煩。有機會我會把他們一個一個寫下來的。最近一次回去已經是半年前了。好多人已經不知道到哪裡去了。回想當時，我真的並不覺得自己教了他們什麼。反而是我自己學到很多很多。總是在說，我想幫助他們，但其實我能改變的事情少之又少。不過，是不是凡事要看到一個什麼結果才會去做呢？總是覺得自己要「幫」他們， 152

把自己當作「救世主」，這樣的想法又好嗎？其實我有在消費他們的不幸嗎？對我而言，美拉營是個充滿美好事物的地方。我媽媽卻潑我一身冷水，說：「當然啦，你在那個地方又沒有什麼壓力，而且大家都對你好，因為你是去幫忙的嘛。」對呀，這也是真的。這盆冷水讓我清醒。我在做什麼呢？我做很多都是為了自己的吧。為了自己的體驗，為了自己的快樂。如果這個地方的人們讓我失望呢？如果我的付出都得不到回應呢？我還會繼續嗎？我怕受傷嗎？……其實這些問題，日後我都一直在問自己。我願望希望每次我都能把自己放得更低，更能真正去愛。但不管怎樣，我真的很感恩、很感恩。因此我打算就這樣結尾了。

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美索義工村 Kate Tsang

第一天到達美索 (Mae Sot) 的晚上，我在一間叫 Casa

Mia的餐廳用膳，看到那兒的告示板上張貼

了各類慈善團體的宣傳單張，這掀起了我探索「義工村」美索的序幕。及後我到了好幾個志願機構服務的地方，親歷由各國義工同心合力營運的魔法，那一顆顆善良正義的心讓我感動不己。美索位於泰緬邊境，因地理關係，成為緬甸難民逃避戰火和政府迫害的避難所。有許多有心人在這片土地成立慈善組織，向緬甸難民伸出援手。我在美索參與了建築學校的工程，為緬甸克倫族學生建設新校舍。工程的兩位負責人Albert和 Jan分別來自西班牙和德國，數年前來到美索當義務建築顧問，迅即愛上這充滿使命感的工作。他們不但選擇繼續留下來，更自組公司，幫助更多有需要的人。工地上有來自不同國家的義工，來來往往，有的只逗留數天，有的已來了半年，流動的人群卻如流水般，源源不絕地把能量供給美索，一磚一木的建成學校。我們來到工地時，基本建築已完成，所以我們負責了一些後期的工 154

序：佈置和照顧花園、處理去水問題、粉刷牆壁和窗户。工作雖然繁瑣，亦消耗大量體力，但有同伴們一起努力，工作都變得愉快有趣。更重要的是，我們明白我們的付出可以幫助克倫族的學生，讓他們有更好的學習環境。這個信念是工作的一大推動力，教義工們一絲不茍地工作。在工作之餘我亦到訪過義診診所。初初走進義診診所Mae

Tao

Clinic，只見一片簡陋的平房，

讓我們一眾城市人不禁面有難色，但漫步開來，探身入一個個治療房後，心頭便泛起一陣暖。這片平房提供的服務非常完善，兒科、婦科、內科手術、針炙、牙科等等一應俱全，除此之外還提供學校教育、職業培訓、糧食援助等服務。每個房間裡都掛著醫護人員的名字和國籍，有澳洲人、加拿大人、法國人、日本人、中國人、香港人……慢慢地我便發現這片土地是一個地球村，不同國籍的人不分彼此，付出自己的專長，讓緬甸難民可得到人道援助。聽說當初診所的創辦人 Dr. Cynthia Maung開診時，資源貧乏得只能用一蒸飯煲來消毒緊絀的幾件儀器，Mae Tao Clinic能發展至今天的規模，實在是眾多善良的人齊心合力之作。 155

和我一起工作的工程負責人Albert說過，美索教他留連忘返，因為這是一個美麗的地方。美索之美並非源自她的風景建築，而是停留在這土地的義工熱熾熱的心太可愛了。這些人願意穿州過省，來到陌生地，付出時間心血，大概只因為他們相信「以生命影響生命」的哲學，希望燃亮自己照亮他人。就這樣，小小的火苗聚集成熊熊火焰，照亮了緬甸難民的生命。

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acknowledgements We would like to thank: • CEDARS Service 100 Fund for funding the production of the book • Joyce Ng and Fiona Li for translating the articles from Chinese to English; Thu Tha Sen for translating the article from Burmese to English • Sandy Yuen, Joyce Ng, Neha Purswani, Kevin Lau, Emily Som, Angus Chan and Jimmy Po for proof-reading all articles • Celine Setiadi and Joyce Fong for book design and layouts • Sandy Yuen and Sammi Hui for coordinating; Patricia Chen, Edward Tsoi, Luxi Fang, Angeline Chan and Fiona Li for supporting

donations

If you would like to donate to any of the schools or organizations mentioned here, or if you would like to support our programmes, please contact us by email at connectingmyanmar@gmail.com. Funding to support Connecting Myanmar is essential to our growth. We have been receiving funding support from HKU on ad-hoc bases. We are fully transparent in our use of funds. We have raised funds for the Umpien Mai Refugee Camp, and for Kachin internally displaced people and refugees. Receipts can be found on our Facebook page.

contact us email: connectingmyanmar@gmail.com  our website: www.connectingmyanmar.org facebook: www.facebook.com/ConnectingMyanmar We sincerely ask you to pass around this book after you finish reading it. A soft copy of this book can be downloaded from www.connectingmyanmar.org. You are connecting people to Myanmar by sharing this book with others.

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