One of our purposes in making this tour of Myanmar is a charitable one. Our Myanmar hosts, who made the local travel arrangements and provided our guide, are the people of Zarmani Travel, who arrange tours and then use some of the revenue to subsidize the charitable work of providing education and basic medical services to children of poor families. Each of us has brought extra suitcases packed with donations of clothing, school supplies, and basic medicines to aid in this cause. Some of our group have made substantial donations of cash and other ongoing support, as well.
Basic primary education is made available, though not compulsory, for all children by the government of Myanmar. This is slightly misleading, though, because students are required to wear stipulated uniforms, buy required supplies and pay other fees to attend the government schools. Some families are too poor to afford these costs, and there is no governmental provision for assistance to them. Their children must do without formal schooling unless it can be provided by monasteries or organizations such as Zarmani Travel and its sister organization, the Parami Foundation.
More information about Zarmani Travel is available at www.zarmani.com. More information about its registered charitable arm, the Parami Foundation, is available at www.paramifoundation.org.
Today we are visiting one of the schools supported by Zarmani, the Tharyargone School in Thanlyin Township, just across the Bago River from Yangon. We will meet some of the kids and the staff, observe classroom teaching, hand out some prizes, and watch the children enjoy a popular activity -- lunch (for some of them it is the most substantial meal they will get today).
Crossing Pazundaung Creek
On our way to the school we happen to see this odd sight, with several rafted ships stuffed to the gills with blue bales of something, and a floating island of rubbish forming in front of them.
Tharyargone School
The school is situated on a bit of land belonging to a monastery. Besides the classroom building (donated by a Belgian couple, above right) there are temporary structures providing a canteen (below left, where children can buy small treats) and a dining hall (below right). It was recently discovered that the dining hall location encroaches on land owned by a state-owned oil company. Permission for the school to replace the pole-and-mat structure with a more permanent building was denied, along with hopes of building a charity clinic and library. Oil interests and government interests are never far apart in Myanmar, and between them there is no room for educating indigent children.
Some of the Kids
Are they to be left behind because their parents are poor?
Chris Kogut stands behind a group of the kids, left, and again behind a group of teaching staff, right.
Classrooms
Lunchtime
When it is time for lunch, children line up in neat rows and march to the dining hall when it is their turn.
Below: washing up before eating, while steamed rice awaits.
The staff makes sure that every child gets a nutritious hot meal every school day.
Each child rinses his or her bowl before returning to the classroom. A litter of very young puppies hangs around, hoping for leftovers.
The dining hall staff poses for a group picture, wearing T-shirts and caps donated by a group of New England yacht clubs.
Homeward Bound
Tonight we will board a flight to Bangkok for the first leg of our journey home. This is the end of my narrative, and I hope you have enjoyed the photographs and learned a bit about Myanmar. Please drop me a comment or an email if you have any feedback.