Support for orphanages in Myanmar is described in a number of posts, covering schools and orphanages, labelled 'Education'. You can display them all by clicking here.
Doe Pin orphanage is situated on the Mandalay - Pyin Oo Lwin road, just before you reach Pyin Oo Lwin. I think my last visit was in 2011 (described here).
Our visit to Doe Pin in 2018 was to make the formal presentation of a gift from a Swiss charity, Enfants d'Ailleurs Foundation, arranged by Doctor Hla Tun through Belmond 'Road to Mandalay'. This donation, valued at 2,000,000 Kyat, comprised Rice, Cooking Oil, Gram Pea (a type of chickpea), Onions and Potatoes. When we entered the assembly hall, the purchased food was laid out impressively.
Doe Pin 6th May 2018: The donation of Rice, Cooking Oil, Gram Pea (a type of chickpea), Onions and Potatoes.
The Abbot was informed of our arrival and he appeared, as ebullient and friendly as I remembered him from previous visits. Although there are around 600 boy orphans here, a much smaller number were present for our visit with the balance due to return before the start of the new academic year. Children from 18 different ethnic groups are included in the total. The Abbot summoned the children present, the formal donation was made and lots of photographs were taken to record the event. The younger children sang for us.
Doe Pin 6th May 2018: Dr. Hla Tun, the Abbott and a small group of orphans.
We then drove through the town to reach the Shewe Sin Minn Orphanage for Girls. I think my first visit was in 2011 (described here) but I have made visits since. As at Doe Pin, our aim was to make the formal presentation of a gift from a Swiss charity, Enfants d'Ailleurs Foundation, arranged by Doctor Hla Tun through Belmond 'Road to Mandalay'. This donation, also valued at 2,000,000 Kyat, comprised Rice, Cooking Oil, and artificial meat balls. The open area in front of the buildings was crowded by hundreds of young nuns and orphans.
Shwe Sin Minn Orphanage, 6th May 2018
All told, there are about 600 girls here from four different ethnic groups although not all were present for our visit. I was astounded at the changes in the buildings which had been embellished with typical religious features and re-painted. More new construction was in progress. The orphanage was founded and run by two sisters. The younger one, who is headmistress welcomed us and accepted the donation. The elder sister, who is head nun, appeared briefly. Once again, the purchased food was on display and the formal donation took place with the usual recording of the scene photographically. All the girls then sang for us.
Shwe Sin Minn 6th May 2018: The formal donation of food.
We made a brief visit to Pyin Oo Lwin Hospital, visiting two young Hare Lip patients whose surgery had been paid for by 'Road to Mandalay' guests.
Dr. Hla Tun with Hare Lip patients at Pyin Oo Lwin Hospital 6th May 2018
The Doctor had arranged a visit to the nearby Yadanar Mun Aung monastery. This is a large teaching monastery housed in a number of buildings within the monastery compound. We were given an audience with the abbott, who invited me to overnight in the guesthouse forming part of the monastery but the Doctor declined on my behalf as he had already made arrangements for me to stay in a hotel.
After we left the monastery, I was taken to the Hotel Maymyo. This was a modern, comfortable hotel aiming to encourage tourists. The only problem was that my room was on the 3rd floor (that's 'American' 3rd which the British usually call 'second floor'), the 'Dining Hall' for breakfast was on the 5th floor and there was no lift. I'm a bit slow on stairs these days but it was a minor inconvenience.
Although the hotel served breakfast, it did not provide other meals so I went by car with the others to a tea-shop for dinner. Then they dropped me back at the hotel (they were not staying at the hotel) and I was delighted to find that the hotel had a very usable Wi-Fi.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 13th visit to Myanmar.
The post Travelling again is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link will show the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma-2018 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma-2018 reports
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures from may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums below:-
Doe Pin 6th May 2018.
Shwe Sin Minn 6th May 2018.
Hare lip patients at Pyin Oo Lwin Hospital.
Hotel Maymyo, Pyin Oo Lwin, 7th May 2018.
All my pictures on this trip to Myanmar can be found at Burma 2018.
['My pictures' links added 4-Aug-2018]
