Click on any picture below for an uncropped image.
Only slightly revived by a couple of hours sleep at Mawlamyine, I prepared for our departure. We briefly met the Organiser's husband. He was a professional writer on archaeology and history and had just been discharged from hospital. He graciously gave me a copy of his latest work on Mon History.
It’s important to realise that early Burmese history was the history of a number of distinct ethnic groups who could be quite belligerent. Various kings attempted to unify the warring tribes and, when the British took over, they considered the problem solved which, of course, it wasn’t. The exploits of the Japanese in Burma during WWII probably did more to unify the various factions than any previous event. Mon National Day was created after the conclusion of WWII and, when the British granted independence in 1948, the Union of Myanmar specifically recognised the existence of these ethnic groups. For more information, try Wikipedia here.
Mon State, remote from the centre of the land mass, seems to suffer from the problem that in England is called “the North-South Divide”. It is, in general, poorer and in greater need of assistance. We were to visit the network of Drop In Centres (DICs) which are supported by Dr. Hla Tun.
First call was to the ‘Largest Reclining Buddha in the World’ which I’d visited before (there's a report here). There was a network of scaffolding around the head to facilitate maintenance. There’s a second, even larger, Buddha image being constructed on the other side of the valley – it hadn’t obviously changed a lot since my previous visit.
Then it was on to our first Drop-In Centre (DIC) at Kot Kha Pon, this one supported by aid from the Government of Australia and the Care International charity. The Doctor and his son distributed a folding umbrella and various items of stationery to the young people. The D.I.C. has a PC Computer and a treadle-operated sewing machine. A donation of cash was made to the volunteers whose time is essential to the running of the DICs.
Kot Kha Pon Drop In Centre.
We then made our farewells and moved onto another DIC at Nyaung Kyo Mae. Again, there was a PC Computer and Sewing Machine. There was also a television set, I think arranged for playing videos. The Doctor made a donation of cash to students who are being assisted through Government Schools. Jan then assisted in distributing an umbrella and stationery to all the children.
The distribution in progress at Nyaung Kyo Mae Drop In Centre.
The next DIC was at Ka Mar Wet. All the umbrellas and stationery had already been selected into individual piles, ready for distribution.
Jan assisting with the distribution at Ka Mar Wet.
We then drove to Ko Dut, where we would sleep overnight in the DIC, prior to making distributions the following morning.
My Pictures
Kot Kha Pon Drop In Centre.
Nyaung Kyo Mae Drop In Centre.
Ka Mar Wet Drop In Centre.
Ko Dut Drop In Centre.
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[Revised 13-May-2014, pictures added 20-May-2014]
