Mandalay, Burma: Bagaya Monastery and small, barely alive school

Horse-drawn carriage ride to the Bagaya Monastery. Click HERE for a video of the kids riding in the carriage.

Our fearless buggy driver, a savvy, scrappy boy, not that much older than Griffin

Bagaya Monastery, filled with ornate wood carvings

The over 200-year-old Bagaya monastery is in the former royal capital of Ava and has intricately carved wooden details.

A child in the small monastery school for young children, run by one old, lethargic monk. His lethargy seems to be contagious because all his students slept anywhere they could crash, while one student would take a turn for some one-on-one tutorial squatting in front of the teacher who would lean back, barely whispering corrections back to the student, under his breath.

Another tired student. God, school seems boring and exhausting here.

The tortured, squatting student in front of his monk instructor.

The monk instructor, who sat up smartly in his chair the moment I pulled my camera out. Before and after I took my picture, he slumped back into his chair, barely interacting with the student. Click HERE for a video of the Buddhist monk instructing the squatting student, where the student just does rote repetition of the instructor's words.

Mahar monastery, where the queen housed her monk lover, visiting him in a concubial room regularly.

The queen designed the hallways so the monk could walk counterclockwise in a meditative circle. Now, only young teens meet in the hallways to hide and make out.

Another Mandalay temple, one of the ancient royal cities

The ferry boat we took to the Bagaya monastery and temples

A boy bathing at the ferry dock

The entire family bathed at the dock. Click HERE for a video of the way Burmese families bathe together at the Irrawaddy River.

Typical Burmese woman using a motorbike to deliver goods.

Boat on the Irrawaddy River

One of the usual bikes, used for schoolchildren to get to and from school, with their lunch riding the handlebars.

Outside Mandalay, Burma: Amarapura's oldest, Longest Pedestrian Bridge in Mandalay

U Bein 1.2 kilometer Pedestrian Bridge over Lake Taungthaman

Famously made of teak wood scavenged from the royal palace which had been abandoned in Inwa when the royal capital was moved to the city of Amarapura

There are a couple duck farms on the bridge, herded along the islands and over the water, to return home to their pen at the end of the day, or to be sold at market

Duck Farm

We walked all 1.2 kilometers of the bridge

Duck feeding

Boats on the lake, using a cross-over rowing technique

A local girl walked the entire bridge with us, leaving us wondering if she wanted money, as many poor kids do, but, in the end, it was just a pleasant chat with her practicing her English and observing her same-age American peers with curiosity.

June 15, 2011

Mandalay, Burma: One of many monasteries for over 10,000 monks -- Lunch time!

You get fed twice a day as a monk, once early in the morning and lunchtime, then no more food allowed after lunch. A guide who had been a monk for 8 years said he and the other monks could tell who was sneaking food after the food curfew, by listening for which monk was farting.

You wait in a long line for lunch if you are a monk, practicing your Buddhist patience.

Older monks sit separate from...

Younger monks

They shared their precious yet abundant mangoes with us. LOVE!

Everyone gets a bowl of rice.

The large amount of onions necessary to feed the masses

A big, bad bowl of dried red hot chili peppers - They sure do like spicy in Burma!

The mega-wok required to feed the hordes of monks

Puppies in the kitchen

Drinking fountain

Where the monks sleep

June 13, 2011


Click HERE for a birds-eye view of the many, many golden-topped monasteries and stupas dotting the hills of Mandalay.

Burmese Military Government: “If you think different, keep it to yourself.” -- Burmese Military Government still very much in charge

Our family being taken by a guide to take a walk by a lake in Yangon. But Inya Lake is not just any lake. The guides are prohibited to take you to see "The Lady's" home, where Aung San Suu Kyi (opposition leader) had been under house arrest before and since her party fairly won elections in 1990, for a total of about 15 years of house arrest. Guides know Americans especially love seeing "The Lady's" home. Since the guides are not allowed to take us to see it, they, instead, offer to take us for a walk by the lake. I asked our guide, "So, is that the Lady's home?" I'd get the slippery answer: "Oh, I'm not sure, it's maybe the one on the left or the right." Then, I looked a bit harder and it was glaringly obvious to both of us that the white house with tall fences, barbed wire, and spotlights on it, surrounded by guards was "The Lady's" home. We were both playing roles in a farce written by the military government.

"The Lady's" house

The Military-Government-controlled newspaper propaganda. Almost laughable. Foreign, democracy-supportive broadcasts, like "Voice of America" (VOA) are seen as a threat by the Burmese military government.

Enlarged photo on wall of Buddhist temple -- Military leaders coming into the Buddhist temple grounds to give yet another gold-laden object at a ceremony.

A photo up on a Buddhist temple wall of the military general leaders praying at the temple. The military want to make sure that they achieve two aims by becoming a part of Buddhist life in the country: (1) The generals seem like friendly, accessible people who are worthy of being revered by the people, the same way the people revere their Buddhist monks as leaders, and (2) The military sees the Buddhist monks as a threat, ever since the monk uprisings, so they have insinuated themselves into Buddhist life in Burma.

June 12, 2011 Visit to Burma (Written and Adapted on November 26, 2011)

Burmese Military Government-Controlled Newspaper Propaganda:

“People's Desire: Wipe out those who inciting unrest and violence.”

I know the military government is no longer officially in charge, but let's get real here -- the military is still completely in charge of Burma. Let's first go back a bit in time --

In 2007, the Burmese monks rose up against the government, with protests in the streets of Yangon. To the world, the monks seemed fed up with feeling oppressed and the lack of free speech from the military government. The initial spark came because an elder monk, who had been critical of the government, was thrown in jail. The military government (now a civilian government, but in name only) reacted brutally, shooting at the monks and more. Even people watching on the sidelines had photos taken of them by the military and were thrown in jail. Those jailed were not allowed to see their families, who also did not know where they were. If they were released from jail and returned home, they were different, mentally ill people, suggesting torture may have happened in jail. And, their families were not able to make a living because the government made sure their families paid a hard price too. Supposedly, at least 2000 political dissidents are still in jail now. They are given non-political charges like stealing. That may change now that the Burmese government is trying to win international public opinion back. The government's recent "flickers of change" (quote from Obama) have managed to convince the ASEAN nation leaders that Burma deserves to be the next ASEAN chair, in its rotating chair position.

Still, the suppression of the monk uprising wasn't that long ago. Brutal suppression of dissidents and minority ethnic groups continues. How does living in this kind of fear, even if it is a bit milder, affect a community and its interactions with each other on the ground? It breeds mistrust and paranoia. One of our guides explained that you cannot even trust your neighbors since they dress as a common man but are really spies for the government. The mistrust extends to the rampant corruption practices by the military government wanting to control everything. You have to pay brokers if you want anything, even to buy a piece of land. But, unlike the U.S., the Burmese brokers are an extension of the military government, and you have to pay a bribe to the government broker to buy the home.

Our guide believed that even friends can’t trust each other, because when it comes to money they will turn on you. They smile, turn on the charm, then they will take your money behind your back, he said. 

Even our most cynical guide believed that there was some, small perceptible change now that the government was no longer officially controlled by the military. He judged the change using the "Tea House Indicator." Tea houses are a haven of late-night male citizen conversations criticizing the government. When the military government was at its worst, tea house conversations had to be whispered, since it was believed that spies were planted at nearby tables, waiting to overhear and report dissident conversations. After the military stepped down recently, the guide felt more comfortable chatting openly with his friends at his local tea house, because there seemed to be less government spying going on.

Our guide also had a very different view of Buddhism in Myanmar, compared to “the people.” He thought the Myanmar people gave millions of dollars to the Buddhist temples to gold-plate them because they prayed to Buddha like he was a god who could grant their wishes to make them more money. But, it seems like Buddha’s writings do not suggest he wanted to be prayed to like he was a god, and he didn’t think praying should be used to get things. Desire for anything, including money, went against Buddha’s teachings.

Interestingly, after the 2007 Buddhist monk uprising and suppression, the generals made sure that the generals were painted into murals of them praying at Buddhist temples and giving inaugural golden temples to "the people." The oppressive government is trying to use Buddhism as a way to control the “people,” along with using the words “democracy” and by using the education system to control them. 

In the military-controlled newspaper, the word "democracy" was used very differently than in most democratic nations. In the military-controlled media, democracy is operationalized as: A democratic people do not do "uprisings." They wait until the constitution is changed. If you wait for the constitution to change, I’m not so sure it will ever change, at least not the way you want it to change.

As far as education goes, the educated are a threat to the government here. How so? The 1988 uprising against the socialist government was led by the university students. This military government took over after the student uprising had overthrown the socialist government. Then, the military government learned from the weaknesses of the socialist government. The military then changed the entire university education system. Before the military government, there were 5 very large universities in Myanmar. When the military got in power, they saw the congregation of large groups of students as a recipe for unrest and dissent. So, they broke up the universities into a few hundred universities scattered nationwide.

What’s wrong with having so many small universities? When there was only 1 medical college in Yangon, pre-military, all the high quality teachers were located in Yangon. Post-military, there are multiple medical colleges all over Myanmar, staffed by many more professors than pre-military, leading to lower quality professors being hired. Now, people are scared to go to the doctor – people have lost respect for medicine, as a result of the military-led changes in the university system.

Such change is all a part of the military’s efforts to squash free speech and unrest. Same is true for the cost of cellphones and the internet system. Cell phones are over $900US, if you factor in cost of sim cards and the phone itself. Only the very wealthy can afford cell phones. It’s said that the military is keeping the phones expensive to avoid human rights issues from leaking out of Myanmar. The internet is hard to get access to and it’s said that most Myanmar people are not allowed on yahoo among other sites. One guide said each email received and sent is checked by the government, even thought that's hard to believe. There is probably selective screening of certain, threatening citizen's emails.

Parents are complicit with the government suppression of free speech too, with one guide’s mother saying to him from a young age:

“If you think different (criticize the government or Buddhism), keep it to yourself. Do not tell anyone.”

Burma: Non-Governmental Buddhist Free School

Buddhist nuns-in-training. The poverty in Burma is so bad that a large number of children go live in Buddhist schools, living as mini-monks and nuns year-round, spending every night at the dormatory. Their parents cannot afford to house them and, surprisingly, to even school them because "government, public" schools are not free, even though they give outsiders the impression that they are free. There are enough cumulative small charges that are prohibitive for many families to send their children to government schools. But, the Buddhist schools are FREE. Like in Malaysia, religion does the job that government does not do. In Malaysia, the government won't school the refugee children, who are largely from Burma. So, the Christian groups school the refugee kids. In Burma, the Buddhists school the kids in poverty.

Both adult nuns and government teachers (in traditional teacher white shirts with green skirts, who must be moonlighting for extra money) do the teaching in Buddhist Free Schools.

One of the nuns as teachers

One of the youngest nuns-in-training getting clean, filtered water from a tank.

The tank was donated by Burmese Buddhists who escaped to the U.S., donating the clean water tank, perhaps to accumulate Buddhist merits for the next life.

Preschool for mini-nuns and monks. Preschool nap time. No one slept. Just a few feet away were multiple outdoor classrooms with kids chanting loudly.

The monk preschool teacher, glaring at and threatening the preschoolers if they didn't lay down and pretend to sleep.

Older students, with their sun protecting hats laid by their side, along with their signature Burmese bags used to carry their school books.

The students painstakingly copy what the teachers write on the board. Not much critical thinking promoted here, or at the government schools.

Happy nun student.

Chanting their lesson, learning in pairs.

This charming monk student, on the left, reminded me of Zander, my nephew, charming, witty, crinkly smile, and a harmless, disruptive cut-up in class.

The row of boys are standing up, chanting into the ear of the teacher on the left (the teacher is in the white shirt with jasmine-garland-laden hair). The classroom is structured with the teacher going round the room, row-by-row, listening to the chants that were memorized by the row of students, while she listened to students in other rows. It is interminably boring for those waiting long periods of time for the teacher to come, and when they see her coming, they get scared and race to memorize their chant, the closer the teacher gets to their row.

Everyone learns English from a very young age, but it's a very superficial understanding that doesn't translate well to communicating English in the real world. You can see the English above: "It is a doll" translated into Burmese below the English writing. All I know is the Burmese writing looks much more graceful and lyrical than the English version above it.

I was scared of this nun too! Check out how she wields that big cane with deft and aggressive impact. She had the younger, elementary students who were less docile than the older students. This aggressive, intimidating threat seemed to be used as the teacher as a socialization tool to whittle them into more docile, malleable chanting learners, fitting them into the square Burmese school system like she was crafting a square peg.

The teacher's glare, combined with her cane, is focused on one side of the class at a time. Turn-taking in learning as a collective group seems to be the system in Burmese elementary schools. She directs one side to chant while the other side learns the chant, then the other side takes a turn chanting, not unlike going to a Buddhist temple where there is a certain chant where one nun up front leads one half of the room in a standing chant while the other nun leads the other half of the temple in the same whispered chant in a prone, prayer position, then they take turns taking the other half's role.

A fascinating corporal punishment tool unique to Burma, or perhaps to all of Southeast Asia -- Standing in front of a room with your arms overhead, as a form of public humiliation that causes arm exhaustion. Interestingly, when you do corporal punishment in the U.S., you notice more anger on the children's faces. In Asia, especially for the more beaten-down, docile students of Burma, students laugh in these punitive moments, since anger is taboo to express towards adults, particularly adult authority figures. I suspect that the authority figures in Burma socialize the expression of protest and anger out of their child students at an early age, just like the Burmese military government has socialized any "protest" out of their populace for decades now.

This may be my favorite photo of a nun-in-training that I have taken. A look of wonder.

A bad-ass monk-in-training who refused to sit in the classroom but wandered outside in the covered raised hallways, sitting on the railings, chatting with any male friends who would periodically come out and visit him. That is one difference I noticed between the Buddhist "Free" and the Government "Public" (but really "Pay") schools -- The Buddhist Free schools give more "free"dom to the students to come and go in the classrooms and to and from school, whereas the government schools crack down with tighter control over student movement, physical location, and attention.

June 9, 2011

The Buddhists provide an education that the government won’t provide for the most poor students. In other countries, like Malaysia, NGO’s would provide an education that the government will not provide. In Burma, there are not local NGO’s and the international aid organizations like UNICEF and Save the Children do not have the ability to do so here. I am finding that the more oppressive governments in Southeast Asia do not educate the most needy in their countries, leaving other groups to fill in the gap for those in poverty. Often those who fill in the gaps are religious groups.

Outside of Mandalay, we visited a Buddhist free school taught by Buddhist nuns, monks, and volunteer government teachers. Click HERE to see what the entrance, and loud, more free-wheeling Buddhist school feels and sounds like. As the title suggests, it is truly a free school where you don’t need to pay for the small number of items the government schools make you pay for – uniforms, ceremonies, renovations, etc. -- which makes school prohibitive for so many poor children in Burma.

Even with such free schools, many poor parents still cannot afford to have their children be educated. It’s said that over half of Burma lives on $5 US a day. Many of these families feel like they cannot feed their children when times get rough. So, in Mandalay (2^nd biggest city in Burma) rural parents send their 8 year old and older children into town to live, indefinitely. These kids are serving tea and food at tea houses all over Mandalay, and at midnight you can find them exhausted, passed out asleep on the tea house tables, after they have cleaned up. Then, they are up again the next morning serving tea. These children do not get to be kids.

The kids who can still live with their families but are too poor to go to government schools can go to Buddhist free schools. We visited one in Mandalay that was busting at the seams with hundreds of students, and we visited another one filled with only 8 students at the ancient, glorious Bagaya monastery. The larger Buddhist Free School was located in the hills outside of Mandalay, in an area called Sagaing Hill populated by over 10,000 students in serious Buddhist study at monasteries in the golden stupa-studded hills. The school had young Buddhist nuns, monks, and civilians.

There was much less structure at this big Buddhist school, compared to the government schools. The government schools lock their entrance gates at 9am, not letting in latecomers. The Buddhist school let kids come and go from class as they please. And, it was a loud school. Supposedly, that is similar to the government schools because both institutions use repetition via incessant chanting of memorized text. Click HERE for a class of younger students incessantly repeating the letters the nun points to on the chalkboard.

The older students would sit around class, chatting with each other and sometimes practicing their memorized chant. The only impetus to studying was if your turn to chant for the teacher came up. They you’d practice in a hurry. Click HERE for some young monks avidly reciting their chants all in their row, looking like they were worried what might happen if they got it wrong. I wondered about the consequences too. Note that their chants were not necessarily of religious text. Often they were of English, reading, or even math.

The youngest among them were going through the motions of taking a nap, supervised by a very bored monk. The early elementary school students were given the toughest nun, even draped in pink with her shaved head. This nun teacher in her 20’s did not mess around. There was discipline in her class, loudly wacked onto the tables of distracted students by a long cane that supposedly was intended as a pointer for the chalkboard. She would use it to wack the table, or really close to the offending children’s bodies, to start the chanting of one subgroup who would yell out their chants then she’d wack the table of another subgroup, always keeping them on their toes over whose turn was next. In the front of the room stood the greatest offending nun girl students who had perhaps been disruptive or not paying attention, and they had to stand with their arms high over their heads, fingers clasped at the top. Even that stance wasn’t strictly enforced, with the girls breaking down in giggles, dropping their arms to their sides often. That’s behavior management in the classroom, Buddhist Nun-style.

Click HERE FOR VIDEO titled: Burmese Buddhist Nun at the Buddhist Free Schools -- Wielding her cane to inspire chant-based learning and corporal punishment via standing with your hands over your head for a video of the nun teaching her class, wielding her cane like a harsh conductor of a symphony.

I think this Buddhist nun saw it as her job to break the kids in, literally, to the rigid, chanting system of learning in Burma. The government schools also are said to start harshly socializing the youngest children to a strictly obedient way of learning that requires you to memorize then be checked by the teacher, in small groups. Not only is harsh corporal punishment used in the early years, or so I’ve been told, by the teachers, but the harsh punishment may be part of a larger system to squelch “free thinking” or critical opinions being expressed. So, the government, the teachers, and the parents all silence the free speech by “wiping it out.” Maybe the harsh punishment is used for simple disruptive acting out, or is it used for dissent in class? Or for “unrest” in response to the harshly controlled chanting learning style?

Outside of this 10,000 Buddhist student hill was a huge propaganda sign placed by the government. I think it was placed there because these 10,000 Buddhist students were also a part of the 2007 Buddhist monk uprising. In fact, after their protests were squelched by the military, the military made most of them return to their rural villages, so there weren’t so many potential dissidents causing an uprising in the same location, all together. In the end, the Buddhist students only left for a few months, and they return to study again, all 10,000 together. Click HERE for a video of the monks lining up for lunch, the monks' last meal of the day, at the monk dormitory, with the young monks-in-training chanting a prayer before lunch. These meals are precious to the monks and their parents who can't afford to pay for their children's meals at home.

Now the monks, who were formerly protesters, study under the big propaganda sign that the government placed in front of their schools and in town, that said this:

“The people desire: Oppose those who do not support stability.” I’ll have to put a word into the military about my desire that they avoid double negatives in their propaganda. And, this desperate effort by the military to oppose critical questions and disruptive behavior in “the people” trickles down to the management of child behavior in the classroom and home.