Now, I am sending you some photos of our school’s canteen was destroyed on 30/09/2012 at 4:30 PM. Since that time we scare to teach in the primary school and we didn’t ask the primary students to come to school as well because we have seen some creaks appear on the wall and floor. it is very dangerous for us.

This is the shock news that came in an email from Say Hai, Headteacher of CDC School.  It seems that an external wall of the assembly hall collapsed with no warning. Nobody was hurt. However, there are also large cracks in the primary school building that are alarming school managers and staff and so the primary students can’t come to school. In another email, Lisa Houston tells us more….

This is Aung Ko. He suffered severe eye injuries after a work accident in Burma. We referred and paid for his treatment at Mae Sot Hospital where unfortunately they had to remove one of his eyes. Thankfully he is back at the clinic and is recovering well. You can read his full story here: http://maetaoclinic.org/health-services/our-patients/meet-our-patients/

If you read this and other stories in the link, please be aware that the Mae Tao Clinic is struggling for funds to support the health needs of these desperate Burmese people, who have so little compared to our plenty.  Mae Tao Clinic has the biggest heart and wants to help all of these people but funds restrict the help they can give.

How on earth do we answer that question?  The simple way would be to say, “Yes thank you.”  But that does no justice to the experience we had so I find myself saying, “It was extraordinary, like nothing I have ever experienced before.”

To be in Burma after thinking, writing, working with Burmese, Karen, Rhakine, Shan and Mon people (some of Burma’s ethnic groups) for 7 years was mind changing.  I have always known our friends as minority groups – in Thailand, in Scotland, in the world – and yet, this was their home.  Nobody thought it was great that we knew a little Burmese, everybody knew more than we did about Burma’s history and politics and life – quite a turnaround.   And life in Rangoon/Yangon seemed OK – there was food in the markets, a lot of cars/taxis on the road so on the face of it, apart from being old fashioned with no bank machines, no mobile reception, less media presence, it seemed OK to begin with.

But then we began to piece together the fact that we were living in a rich hotel in a ‘wealthy tourist area’, that poverty is widespread outwith Yangon, that we were being watched by ‘informers’, that CCTV footage of us was on national TV!, that local people are not allowed to watch The Lady (film of Aung San Suu Kyi), that it was not possible to visit a state school, that politics is not discussed and we know the changes are little and superficial and aimed at ensuring the West lifts sanctions.

We also became aware after our Saturday night in Shwedagon Pagoda and Sunday morning in the Anglican Church in Yangon, how spiritual a nation the Burmese peoples are.  So different from our own. I’d sum up Yangon as a huge learning experience and a city we have been privileged to spend time in.

And our days in Mae Sot, visiting CDC and Hle Bee, were a joy, as ever.  Spending time with our friends, sharing learning, catching up….. felt like coming home.  We love Mae Sot.

All in all, we learnt a lot, experienced a buzz of activity and action, renewed dear friendships and made new ones - a perfect holiday.

Khaing’s grandfather was watching national TV on the 18 July, the day we visited him in his Yangon home, when a news item came on about the first day of Bogoyke Aung San Museum being open to the public.  He was astounded to see Geoff, Louise and I on the TV.  They’d filmed us when we were visiting the museum! Cannae believe it!

We haven’t got a single photo of this museum! However, I found some pics on the web so have included them.

 Aung San Suu Kyi’s father is the general that negotiated Burma’s freedom from Japanese and British rule in 1947.  He was assassinated with 6 of his colleagues soon afterwards on 19 July 1947, now known as Martyrs’ Day.

The Bogoyke Aung San Museum (Bogoyke means General) is only open one day a year in Yangon – on Martyrs’ Day, 19 July, which was the day we were leaving Yangon.  We told Khaing’s dad how disappointed we were not to be able to go there.  The museum is the detached villa on a hill that Aung San Suu Kyi grew up in, the house where her mother and father lived.

We were astonished the next day when Khaing’s dad told us that the government have decided to open the house for 3 days a week starting today, 18.7.12!  So we were going to go there before lunch.

We drove up in our minibus and piled out, cameras at the ready.  We were astounded to see about 30 armed soldiers/police around the house, having seen very little evidence of them over the previous week.  We were sent back to minibus to leave cameras, phones, bags, everything.  We went through the equivalent of airport security, all very intimidating and then directed to the house.

Each room is set out as it would have been with the family books, pictures, letters, photos and even the late general’s car.

The dining table has place settings showing where the family would have sat.   They had a tall toilet!  The children’s bedroom had 3 wee beds, one was Aung San Suu Kyi’s cot, as the youngest of the children. Sadly, in the grounds, is the large pond where Aung San Lin, Aung San Suu Kyi’s brother died. It was an amazing place to visit, full of personal story, hope and tragedy.  The government have set it out beautifully and it was probably the best visit we made in Yangon.  So frustrating not to be able to share a photo…. and of course… no postcard stall here!