Events of Saturday, September 22nd 2012
After spending a little time at the Bagan Medical Clinic (described here), Doctor Hla Tun had arranged that we would go by road to Htee Pu village and make a distribution of stationery at the school. The Doctor had arranged to hire a decent air-conditioned vehicle from Bagan Monastery so, once the stationery was loaded, we set off. The route to Htee Pu is now becoming quite familiar to me - taking the Mount Popa road from Nyaung Oo, and finally taking the dusty, unmade road to Htee Pu village.
On the final leg, we got stuck behind a bullock cart on a narrow section and there was no alternative to creeping along behind the cart until it reached a spot wide enough for the driver to pull over and let us through. I found this a timely reminder of just how different life in Htee Pu is from what I'm used to.
We parked and started to unload the stationery when Ruth and Linda arrived by car with San to take part in the distribution of spectacles to a number of elderly villagers. We were greeted by the head monk and we first looked at progress on the new, large assembly hall which is still unfinished but already in use.
The elderly villagers were squatting in the school yard and Doctor Hla Tun, Ruth and Linda organised the distribution of reading glasses and the selection of the spectacles which gave the best results. This was a very light-hearted event with a lot of laughter, particularly when one recipient managed to wear her glasses upside down.
The head monk then proudly showed us the new computer department with, I think, three computer stations. Although it was Saturday and not a school day, four girls were carrying out keyboard exercises on the computers - some exercises in Burmese, some in English. The computers appeared to be powered from large wet lead-acid batteries via inverters. There was also a large solar panel in the yard outside presumably used to re-charge the batteries.
We met the headmaster who took us to look at the primary school classrooms. School day or no school day, all the pupils were present. I was surprised to discover that, even in Grade 1, English is being taught. In the mean time, a group of teachers had set up tables in the school yard and unpacked the stationery we were to distribute. All the pupils were now summoned from the various schoolrooms where they had been quietly waiting and they formed four lines to receive their stationery.
The teachers were rapidly making up 'kits' of stationery to be given to the pupils so Ruth, Linda, Doctor Hla Tun and Jan were able to complete the distribution quite quickly.
Once the stationery distribution was complete, the children returned to their classrooms and Ruth, Linda and Jan continued on a tour of inspection.
At many schools, toilet provision remains primitive and comprises a couple of small wooden shacks with a hole in the floor. The 'Road to Mandalay' Social Contribution has donated a number of solidly-constructed toilet blocks connected to a septic tank at various schools. One such block was completed at Htee Pu in 2011 and a second was under construction.
The 'Road to Mandalay' Social Contribution has donated a number of school buildings at Htee Pu. I was delighted to see that the building which I had the honour of opening in 2010 (described here) has had the original dirt floor upgraded to brick.
In one of the classrooms, a group of girls performed a traditional dance for the visitors.
Before we left, we were invited to a simple meal. Hospitality is an important part of the Burmese culture. One of the larger trees had a low plinth built around the trunk, with a thatched roof circling the trunk at head height. This formed a very pleasant, cool shelter where we could relax for a few minutes before moving on.
The next destination for Doctor Hla Tun and I was the school at Nga-Minn-May where the 'Road to Mandalay' Social Contribution had recently funded refurbishment of the school building, described in a separate post.
Photographs:
Visit to Htee Pu School.
[Expanded 23-Oct-2012]
