A Visit to the Palel Myintta Orphanage
Last week we once again visited Palel Myintta. You may remember this as the small child-care facility for about 20 HIV positive kids either orphaned by the disease or abandoned by their caretakers. This is where I first met May Mi, a four-year-old girl whose grandmother had been seeking a lethal injection so she wouldn’t […]
A Story of a Very Industrious Monk
I’m delighted to share with you the story of one of the finest Monks I’ve ever met. This man is named Ashin War Thithta. He is the Head Monk, called the Sayardaw, for the Kabahlone Monastery in Hpa-an, Myanmar. That is my good Myanmar friend and our Myanmar Country Director, Treasure, in the background. I […]
Coaching the Future Leaders of Myanmar
Along with my colleague, Peter Scontrino, I’ve just finished four full days coaching the future leaders of Myanmar on leadership and management skills. How, you ask, did that come about? Well – it all happened because our wonderful colleague in Myanmar, Treasure Shine, working with a local head-monk, along with the Hpa-an Education Foundation, pulled […]
Village Meeting About Organic Farming at Rak Phan Din
My good friend and fellow Rotarian, Carol Acosta, asked me to help with a meeting so that the people in a local Hmong village called Rak Phan Din could explore the possibilities of organic gardening. Sure. Why not? We had no clear idea about their real agenda, but we sorted that out during the first […]
San Leung Village Visit
Today we visited Lahu village of San Leung, about 40 miles south of Lashio, Myanmar. There we met with the Village Leader (a nice fellow called U-Tone-See) his village committee, and many of the villagers. San Leung has 31 households with 15 kids in the 3 to 5 age range. They have a pre-school for […]
Hpa-an Education Foundation
This evening we met with the Hpa-an Education Foundation, including the current Chairman, a dedicated man called U Khin Shein. This is a group of 300 local citizens dedicated to filling the gap between what the government provides in the way of education and what is really needed. Each of the members contributes monthly to […]
Safety for Girls – Koenawin Monk School
As a long-time advocate for educating girls, it is gratifying to visit the various Monk and Nun schools to see first-hand their fine work being done in this regard. Up until this recent trip to Myanmar I have heard very little about this issue of “keeping the girls safe”. I heard a lot about it […]
Visit to a Lashio Nun & Monk Schools
Today was a busy day in Lashio. In the afternoon we visited the Nayar Thiri Nun School. There, in the interest of safety, 40 girls from the local villages become nuns and attend nearby government schools. Two long-time nuns run the school and see to it that the girls are well cared for and get […]
A Day With The Kwan Hlar Village Youth Group
Today was a delightful day in the Mon village Kwan Hlar. I was invited there because their youth group (a few of whom I had met while working in the Nath Maw Village last year and on a previous visit to Kwan Hlar) requested that I return to provide them with a “training session.” My […]
A Visit to Poon Mon Village
Yesterday we visited the Lahu village of Poon Mon, located about 14 miles north of Lashio, Myanmar – up close to the China border. These people were relocated here in 1995 to escape the ravages of the civil war fighting. Since then they have grown from 12 households to 40. Now, with a newly elected, […]
Pain Sar Village Visit
Today we visited Pain Sar, a Lahu village located 26 miles north of Lashio, Myanmar. Highly agricultural, this village of 52 households and 320 people is struggling mightily to improve their life situation. With help from a European organization they now have a very nice pre-school for their 30 children aged 3 to 5. They […]
Khone Suu Village Visit
Today we visited Khone Suu Village, in the dry zone south of Magwe, Myanmar. Getting there was quite an adventure. I’ve driven on some pretty bad roads in my time exploring our U. S. Southwest desert country, but, never like this. Dirt road all the way, of course. Miles and miles of roadway covered with […]
