Myanmar Trip - Day 7

We make our way down Mountain Top Hotel and then travel to Shwegyin. Shwegyin used to be very rich place in the pass as much gold could be found in the waters in the rivers there. In fact the name "Shwegyin" comes from the chinese word Sui Jin which means Water Gold.

(left, part of the school has been converted to sleeping place for FFM volunteers)

The gold are gone now and village is again poor. FFM has been supporting Venerable Aggasara and the schools built by him. While the school provide education and acts as a monastic school for the children, there are christians attending the school. In our stay there, we were treated to cultural performance put up by the children who were both buddhist and christians. It is really inspiring to see that even in poor villages here, there is a high degree of religious tolerance and the monastic school built by the venerable is providing all children basic education, irregardless of their religion.

We spent the night at the school and slept at one of the classroom that have been converted to our bedroom. In the late afternoon and into the evening, the children volunteers of FFM played with the children from the village. Each party take turn to introduce games they play to the other children. They played until it got dark and the children could not see each other before dispersing.

One of the impression I got from my stay in Myanmar was that while the children in the villages are poorer materially compared to those from the city area, they are happier. Perhaps contentment is indeed the greatest wealth, as the Buddha have said.