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Are We Really Doing Good? (Myanmar Edition)

January 11th, 2012 1 comment

“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.” – Mark Twain. This is the third in a series. The first two posts concerned our child raising efforts in Thailand. NGO’s often hide some kinds of problems if possible. Certainly not the problems [...]

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Mandalay – Our Third Workshop

January 1st, 2012 No comments

Our Third Workshop A young monk elementry teacher acts out the story for the other participants. Gayle sits on the floor to the left. (Picture from Thant Thaw) Our third workshop was held at the Phaung Daw Oo Monastic High School in Mandalay. Here nearly 6000 students receive education completely free of cost, courtesy of [...]

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The New Myanmar

December 30th, 2011 No comments

From Mandalay Workshop. People say what they think here, even criticize the government. No one appears worried about who is listening. (Photo from Thant Thaw) Things are changing in Myanmar. Perceptions outside are changing as well. This time when we got our visas in Bangkok the lines in the street were three times what they [...]

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Fun with Dick and Jane

December 27th, 2011 No comments

It’s easier to tell some stories than others. (Picture Thant Thaw) On the last day of the Yangon workshop Keith was a bit under the weather and did not come. We had boxes of children’s books from Nargis Library to distribute to our participants. The novices had returned from school a little early and had [...]

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Zabu Oak Shaung Convent School

December 26th, 2011 No comments

Zabu Oak Shaung Convent School in Kyauktan outside of Yangon Zabu Oak Shaung Convent School is a 45 minute drive outside of Yangon. It has received some of our books through a community library in the area. Most of the nuns living at this school are 150 novices between 4 and 14 years of age. [...]

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Our Second Workshop

December 24th, 2011 No comments

Class photo for second workshop outside of Yangon Yesterday was the last day for our three day Yangon workshop. Sue expressed some concern after the first day. The participants were different, more sophisticated than those in Bogalay. Most spoke passable English so that translation was sometimes needed and sometimes not. There was some confusion about [...]

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Life in Bogalay

December 22nd, 2011 1 comment

Freight hauling in Bogalay While we had some running around for supplies and other things to assist in the workshop, Keith and I had some time to wander around in Bogalay also. The first thing we noticed as we hit the streets is that almost all transportation is walking, bicycle or bicycle taxi. Next would [...]

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Our First Workshop

December 21st, 2011 No comments

Our first workshop in Bogalay We are in the Inya Lake hotel in Yangon, having just returned from our first three day teacher training workshop in Bogalay sponsored by Nargis Library Recovery. Everyone agrees that it went really well. Gayle Holmes taught with Sue assisting. We met Keith and Gayle in Bangkok a few years [...]

Off to Bogalay

December 20th, 2011 No comments

Keith and Gayle on our River Boat This is our fourth trip to Bogalay but Gayle and Keith’s first. We’ve always gone by road before, which has been pretty interesting judging from the number of pictures I have taken along the way. The trip does take a number of hours on Myanmar’s “hand made roads” [...]

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Another Delta Village

January 8th, 2011 1 comment

Bill Cochran climbing up to the pier. Dennis Taylor and Thant still in the boat. Naw Maureen Kolay, WV director for Bogalay to the left walking up the pier. Notice the jungle at this landing is not so overpowering as at Auk Magyi. While with World Vision we visited Koun Thee Chaung village. They have [...]