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| This was my first Thingyan in Myanmar. Noticed the car no. plate? LOLs |
So it was, 9 years ago, 19th May 2012, I left Cambodia, the Kingdom of Wonder and arrived on a rainy evening into Mystical Myanmar. Yup - mystical it had been. In fact, enigmatic may be a more appropriate term for this Golden Land.
As I sit here reminiscing those early days, I cannot help but crack up as some of life's most frustrating moments had happened here. I guess, it was those lifetime experiences that you get to regale your friends and families with. Let me try to put down some of those moments that is making me LOL right now. Getting into a taxi and for some reason back then, the drivers a) will never switch on the AC, b) at every red light they turn off the engine and c) they think turning on the headlights use up gas! Also remembering some drivers required you to hold on to the door in case it swung open when they take corners. 😅😅😅 Yup, I remember what I called the "Flinstone Taxis" with holes on the floor of cab! There was one stormy night, we got into a taxi, the AC wasn't working, and the windscreens were fogging up. The driver had faulty headlights and faulty windscreen wipers. He was driving (not slowly, mind you) with one hand, while the other was holding a cloth to wipe at the foggy screen. MOH and I just shook our heads in disbelief.
Speaking of cars and driving, my driving test experience was a ball! Arrival at the office for registration, you can see it was filled floor-to-ceiling with files and papers. How anyone finds anything in that stack is beyond me. Anyway, theory test! We had a translator because everything was in Burmese. He could barely distinguish left and right in English and I mostly had to back-translate things with him just to confirm that we understood the questions correctly. But one question stood out :
"If you were driving down a narrow lane at night and going to turn the corner, what should you do?"
A. Honk
B. Slow Down The Car
C. Switch on your lights
Obviously, we chose B. It could've been A cos that's what they do here. But the correct answer was C!!! So I argued with the agent and said "But it's at night! The lights should already be turned on!!" He just grinned and said the answer was the answer. Anyway, we passed that. On to the Road Driving Test. And surprise!!! It was a Daytona machine!!! Ooooh yeah. Bring it on. Dude manning the machine said just to follow all instructions on the screen. I passed with flying colours man. On my screen, there were not a single car anywhere. Just me driving down a scenic road. LOLOL! After this road test, I could well and truly understand why the drivers in Myanmar drive the way they do. Finally the Parking Test. Firstly, we had to bring our own car. Now, ours was a small car. Know what they did? They readjusted the car parking lot size (they used 4 metal poles) and made it smaller. I was in disbelief. I mean, do parking lots auto-adjust their sizes out there? No! Anyway,.... when it was my turn to do it, MOH said to me "You bang my car, you pay!" So much for the motivation eh? Whatever, so that's how I got my Myanmar drivers' license.
Other things that cracked me up - first nevermind the lack of high-speed internet. To make a phone call, we had to dial like a hundred times before the call gets through. We used to joke that someone was actually sitting in front of a huge panel, connecting the calls manually and that is why sometimes when we called someone, somehow, the call ended up with someone else! Ordering of gas and water supply to your home - my gas guy was a breeze. You know why? Cos back then, there were few foreigners in Myanmar. All we had to do was call the gas guy and said "Hello! Malaysia! Malaysia!" and he would know exactly where to bring the gas. This worked then because I could hardly speak Burmese except for mingalabar, kyezu tin bar tal and ngai yote thee. LOL! My water boy back then was legit LMAO. The water brand name was "Superman" and without fail, each time he would call me and be like "Hello. I am Superman. I am now outside your door." Or "Hello. I am Superman. You need water?" 😂😂😂 Sadly, Superman closed his shop in 2014. So I no longer had Superman standing at my door! It's an amazing non-existent system that worked, somehow.
It had always been the kindness and warmth of the Myanmar people that won my heart right from the first day. They were always ready to help. I had witnessed myself, how taxi driver charged me 2,000Ks for my ride, and halfway through, he would donate 1,000Ks to an old beggar. Or this young garbage collector with punk hair, running across a main road just to give a few hundred kyats to a beggar lady. Back then, the simplicity and honesty of the people was just so, so, so..... heartwarming. In our first apartment, one of our neighbours from downstairs, climbed all the way up to the top floor to welcome us, and told us that if we needed anything, she and her daughter were just downstairs. She told us she knew Myanmar was a bit "rough" for foreigners. I also remembered those communal cooking of the Hta Ma Nae - a seasonal traditional delicacy of savoury sticky rice that is usually cooked at the end of the cool season. We had been invited to quite a fair few of these communal activities previously and I had enjoyed myself immensely. Of cos, as the nation developed and leap-frogged, all of these started evaporating away. People became less communal. They had their faces (like many of us in Asia) stuck to their phones when mobile data grew by leaps and bounds with the entrance of new telcos in 2014. And by then, there was just too many foreigners arriving into Myanmar to check in on them. It was no longer a novelty to see a foreigner or interact with one. Systems like the "Malaysia! Malaysia!" above no longer worked. People also became less honest. Days of taxi drivers driving all the way back to look for you to return your phone or camera or whatever you left behind in the taxi were rare now. (happened to MOH before!!) Before, there used to be donation boxes along the roads, filled to the brim and no one touched them. By late 2013, early 2014, these were gone too. That was indeed the price to pay for development. Yet, through it all, I still saw pockets of inspiration from the local people with their kindness and warmth. Of cos, by then, I also had my fair share dealing with greedy ones and bad ones too. Particularly after having to move from one apartment to another for literally the first 5 years!! But literally for the first 2+ years, I somehow didn't think bad people existed in Myanmar!
Looking back at my own journey in this country, I too had learnt, had grown together with them. From the first day that I consulted at the largest retailer in Myanmar, when the then Marketing Manager told me her story of how she took 10 years to graduate due to the political situation, I had made a promise that I will help her to the best of my abilities and capabilities. I coached her, mentored her, helped her build up the marketing department and the marketing team and eventually saw all her promotions and finally as Marketing Director. Our 8 years of partnership had turned into a grounded and solid friendship, despite all of the face palms and bang-head-on-wall moments. I was seconded to the Group Level after that hence our partnership ended. But she recently told me that it was so hard to find this kind of trust level these days. I miss her and I miss working with her but she is doing well despite all the crazy circumstances. I always loved her for her positivity and optimism.
The same promise I made to her, I extended to the people of Myanmar. I started a Youth Centre in 2014 after 2 years of spending time at the orphanages and monasteries we supported - and witnessing the evilness of the whole system (which I don't really want to talk about right now) - it is from seeing and hearing all these evil that I decided to start my own Youth Centre. And then we established SoyAi, a social enterprise making tofu and soy milk to self-sustain and to help support the rest of the children for their education and some daily needs. Both the Youth Centre and SoyAi had been the steepest learning curve of my life. It's not that I couldn't make soy milk or tofu or to sell them. It was the whole coaching and mentoring of these youths who had so much baggages and had been placed in a system that was all wrong, that I was unprepared for. The kids from Children of Tomorrow came from northern Myanmar and hence, I understand the ethnic problems and challenges even back then. I had my fair share of fighting the "system" and trying to right the wrongs. But the system failure was far bigger and definitely something beyond me (and even when I reached out to UNICEF, I heard nothing back despite them paying USD90,000 per month for their rental of a military-linked property). I focused instead on empowering the kids and the youths. And well, what a f***ing ride it had been! And I say that with gusto yeah. The Youth Centre was up and running all the way till Covid-19 last year, with computer classes, math, arts, classes - supported by MYME (Myanmar Mobile Education) team of teachers and in-between, some of my students who volunteered. Of course in the earlier days of the Youth Centre and SoyAi, I had many, many friends both local and overseas who helped made it all happen and helped spend time with the kids and the SoyAi boys too. SoyAi is still selling their delicious and nutritious soy milk and tofu, the SoyAi boys survived Covid-19 and they are now trying to survive Coupvid. I continue to order from them particularly for their Feed Myanmar Programme to donate to poor communities every month. Last week, one of the boys got arrested simply because he was standing in line to get a token for the bank so that he could access his cash. As people would know by now, the banking industry here, something that had took 10years to build up is now crashing down right under our noses. Anyway, back to this boy - reason for arrest was for nothing. He wasn't even protesting. Just wanted to access his cash! One of my students introduced a lawyer to me and I paid a hefty sum for his release. Thank Buddha, he was out by that day's afternoon. It was a very stressful ordeal for me and I'm sure it was for him too. But anyway, SoyAi is still striving. This is one succession planning I did well. Htet Shine is a stellar example of an underprivileged youth who worked hard and believed, and therefore had the chance to turn his life around positively. He even managed to graduate in between and invited me and MOH to his graduation ceremony. The rest of the children, wow, some are grown up now. Some are also in fact married with kids! Can you believe it?? I. FEEL. OLD. NOW. But I am thankful that none as far as I know had gone astray. Some have rejoined the army up in the north (not the gomen army ya), some are in mining, some had gone over to China, some had become pastors / monks themselves..... wow. For this, as a Sayarma, I feel very thankful to have had this opportunity to touch their lives, no matter how small.
Both my parents were teachers, in fact my Papa was a Headmaster when he retired. I never thought I'd become one. But it happened here in Myanmar when the founder and owner of Strategy First University took a chance on me, despite my tattoos and blue hair - far from a model teacher here in Myanmar - and I taught for 5 years, until this Coupvid happened. At least during Covid-19, we moved to online classes. But this Coupvid shit, well with limited access to internet, online my ass is more like it. So, I feel really sorry for that last class. They had to stop due to Covid-19 lockdowns and when we were almost finishing the term online, the shit hit the fan again. Looks like they'll never ever get their certificate of completion! Anyway, I've had students from all walks of live walked through my door and I've seen some go off-track whilst others I've seen grew so much. It was a joy for me really to coach all of them in digital strategies, marketing communications and branding. This was one of the field that was sorely way far behind in Myanmar. Back then, agencies in Myanmar were far and few in between and even then, their work and service level was appalling. But this had improved drastically over the years. I'd like to think that I had inspired a handful of them to be great in this field. I know I wasn't the best Sayarma they had, but I truly and honestly gave my 200% heart and passion into making sure they got the right foundation to spearhead and lead this industry in Myanmar. I've coached teams to start their businesses, I've mentored students when they go off-track for a bit. No matter what, as long as they need, I would make sure to keep my doors opened for all of them. And I encourage them to give back to their own country. Once a year, during the Thingyan period, I marry both my worlds - my students and the Children of Tomorrow where my students supposedly "volunteer" at my request to put up a party for the kids. But these students, they are doing their own good deeds elsewhere, I know. I'm proud of them. I may be a very no-nonsense, don't-try-to-be-funny-with-me-I-will-beat-the-shit-out-of-you Sayarma, with my very threatening kyein lone, but at the very bottom of it, these young adults need someone who believe in them. And I believe in them. They just need to believe in themselves in whatever they choose to do. Sayarma arr paye ni par tal naw. I had even groomed some of them to take over my roles here in Myanmar as I prepared to maybe look into moving to another country. I was more or less asking some of these students to take over my place for a lot of those public speaking seminars and stuff. I always believed the young people should pave the way and the old ones should please move aside and don't stop the world from revolving. I felt at that time, the country was on the right trajectory path and I felt my students, they were already grown ups. They've got this. Time for me to go save the world. Till this day, I still cannot believe it - January 2020, MOH and I were SERIOUSLY making plans and enquiring on travels to either Syria or Palestine. Look at the SHIT that I am facing now. 🤦🤦🤦
As much as I do not want to talk about this whole Coupvid situation, it is unavoidable as I am right smack in the middle of it. 3 months into the Coopers doing the shit they did, I suddenly can't see the future for Myanmar. When I think about this current situation, my heart starts feeling heavy and it sinks. I can only shake my head in dismay at how much good had been thrown out overnight. Everyone lost. Everyone loses. Sometimes, I cannot understand the human race. Is the greed for money and power so necessary to cause so much harm and hurt and destruction? Why can't everyone just always aim for a win-win situation? Maybe I am being very idealistic. But I can never ever understand such kinds of greed and such kind of hateful need to dominate against another. I guess, I will never understand because I am not made that way. I was brought up right by my Mama, Papa and my family. It's a very simple living concept - Be A Good Person. Earn An Honest Living. If you do bad things, you're gonna get struck by lightning (this is provided my parents don't get to me first!). So, I will never understand these people with their warped fascists mentality and f***ed up brains, on the path to destroying every good thing in sight and yet, believe they are doing God's duties. Err... tell me how?
And this whole global Covid-19 situation is probably someone up there really hammering down on human beings. It's maybe a way of saying "Stop the bad shit that you are all doing." But we human beings - we never will learn, will we? Greed, power, over and over again this vicious cycle. The work that I do for climate change has opened up a whole new world of greed under my very nose. As this greed continues, we will cease to exist by 2050. I can hear the aliens from another planet saying "Well done, Hoomans." Sigh.
I derailed from my Myanmar topic. After 9 years here, what's next for me? As many may well know by now, MOH is no longer in country. Things are not looking good here at all and he still has his ambitions unfulfilled and honestly, at our age, we don't have time to waste. I agree too. At this moment, I am just thankful that I have internet that enables me to continue working, especially on the climate change work as that is kinda new for me (1st day of the Coupvid, was my first day reporting for work with the global network of activists!) Keeping my brains focused on work had truly kept me sane during the whole Coupvid situation. Especially after I lost my fight training gym in a bombing in Yangon. I'm still dealing with this episode, but I'm still training hard because I'm gonna keep my fight coaches' legacy alive. (Ok, I just laughed at my own statement. I am prolly the last person to be able to keep their legacy alive because when I spar with them, they said I don't look cool as I scream "Mommyyy!!" and run in the opposite direction 😅😅😅)
As for the banking and cash situation, well, during Covid-19, MOH told me I should go cashless. "It's digital transformation! Cash is no longer king!" and pestered me to pay from apps and go cashless. Well, aren't we all lucky that I ignored him and continued believing that cash is king? Look at the shit show now. Mattress it will continue to be! AND years ago, he refused to get WiFi at home. He said mobile data was so fast, just use mobile data. NOW, look at where that got us. All mobile data is still a blackout (Telcos - you should have some balls and say switch it on or you leave. No? No need to issue more woke statements everyday). Well, our kind neighbour one day came over and said "I see you do not have any WiFi cable to your home." And bless him, he gave me his WiFi password. These days, I can use the WiFi while I am seated at my doorsteps. Still, this is what I mean when I say the Myanmar people has come back out to take care of one another during troubled times.
As for Myanmar itself, I am really at a loss for words. I don't think it is going into a pariah state. It IS a pariah state right now. The one thing that stuck though was one of my students said to me (see I told you some of them are grown up!) "Eileen, you have to believe in the seeds you planted over the last 9 years. You have to believe that these seeds have grown, will be smart and are strong enough to survive." Yes, I believe in these seeds. So I pray everyday that these seeds keep growing, and keep thriving and will one day be part of the nation-building when the country is once again ready for it. Maybe at that time, the "Hello I am Superman and I am now outside your door" would come back alive again.
🙏🙏🙏
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