Singapore

On the day after we arrived back at Singapore, we were greeted by some of the heaviest rainfall in the last 75 years. This is a deep contrast to the sunny weather we had at Myanmar(although it is suppose to be the winter season).

I'm sure many of us were left with deep impression of the trip and are trying to adjust back to reality. We like to think of ourselves as donors and volunteers, but to a very large extend I think we received as much as we gave. What we gave in money and material, we received back in spirit.

Its been four days now and I think the strongest impression that stayed with me are the resilient and strength of the people. Although most of the villagers are materially poor, inside they are just as rich and happy.

Another thing that stayed in my mind are the smiling faces of the children. They are so innocent, and yet displayed much disciple, readiness to learn and give fully to what they do. The video clip below are some of these children. They discovered that I was taking a video clip of the dance performance with my handphone and readily volunteered themselves to be the 'stars' of my video.


I am also deeply impressed by the monks and nuns for taking the lead to try to take on the challenges of providing for so many orphans and other children who's parents were simply too poor to send them to school.

Myanmar Trip - Day 9 (Last Day)

It was the last day of our Humanitarian Mission in Myanmar. This is the fourth time FFM has organised a mission like this to Myanmar and is the biggest turn out thus far, a total of 83 of us. For many, like me, this is the first time we've been on a trip like this.

We spent the morning on last day visiting another orphanage and nunnery, both located in the Yangon area. While it is sad to see so many orphans, we were also glad that the local buddhist communities are taking the lead to provide for the needs of the children. FFM and the volunteers, for their part also try their best to help these centers.

One of the volunteers taking photos with the orphans at the centre







The 10 preceptors queuing up to receive offering of robes, medicine and other basic necessities from FFM volunteers.


After the visits, FFM volunteers then split into two group. One group went to do some last minute shopping before heading off to the airport. A small group made pay a visit to another venerable monk and to look at the center he is running. It was also a short educational tour for many of us to look at the padi field farmers have planted.









The venerable monk showing us the crops that has been planted.


After our visit, we make our way to Yangon Airport. Our flight is four plus in the afternoon, we took our last photos and say our good byes to the tour guides and drivers who have been so helpful throughout the trip.

Myanmar Trip - Day 8

In the morning we visited the site of a new school that the venerable is building. Two of the building is already completed but there are still much work left. The land was donated but lay devotees and belongs to the Sangha and not specific individual monk. The Sangha (or the community of monks and nuns) acts as the trustee for all properties that have been donated. This practice dates back to the time of the Buddha and is still in practice here in Myanmar.

School library that is still in the early stage of construction





Although they have wells, the lead contend in the water is too high thus the water is not fit for human consumption. As a result, rain water need to be collected for drinking and cooking. These are some of the challenges faced by the venerable when he tries to set up the school.







Small hydro-power generator is used to generate electricity to be used by the school. A few kilowatt of electricity can be generated in this way.


We spent the rest of the morning playing with the children in the school and giving out toys, sweats and balloons to them. By late afternoon we bordered the coaches that will be bring us back to Yangon, back where the journey first begin. All the other children from the village, it seems, and some of the adults also turn up to say goodbye to us.

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.

Myanmar Trip - Day 6

Day 6, we traveled to Kyaityo, the Golden Rock where we spend a night at Mountain Top Hotel located at the top of the mountain.

The journey up the mountain itself was interesting. We covered much of the journey on lorries that have been "converted" to transport passengers and then walk the rest of the journey up Golden Rock.

The slope is steep but still manageable, however some volunteers decided to take a more comfortable way up and let others do the walking for them.

Opting for an easier way up the mountain, some volunteers took "human-powered" transport.

The hotel is simple but comfortable, any shortcoming is more than made up for by the fantastic view it offers. We spent much of the late afternoon and evening at the Golden Rock Pagoda pasting gold leaves on the Golden Rock and taking in the beautiful scenic views.









Left, a volunteer pasting gold-leaves onto the golden rock.

right, a beautiful sunset over the golden pagoda.

Myanmar Trip - Day 5 (Part 2)

After our visit to New Generation Youth Parahita Centre, we went back to the schools we have been to the day before. The school and children from the villages put up this cultural performance as part of their appreciation to FFM for the support FFM has given to the communities and villages in the area.

The performance were incredible to say the least. Having visited the village yesterday, we know how materially deprived they were. Most children belongs to family where their parents are farmers. Yet the children put together this incredible program for us. By comparison, we Singaporean may be rich materially, culturally and in spirit we are much poorer than these children. The dancers and performers in these video clips are probably only between the age of 10 and 14.

Myanmar Trip - Day 5 (Part 1)

On day 5 we visited more schools that have received support from FFM. In fact, I was really impressed by the out reach by FFM and the impact they have on the communities in Myanmar. All these would not have been successful if not for the dedication and hard work by the main FFM members, all of them have full time jobs and family to care for.


Wherever we go we seems to be warmly received by the local community. At Shifu Hill Monastery School we were warmly welcomed by the performance put up by the children from the school.

New Generation Youth Parahita Centre









As part of our mission in Myanmar, we also visited orphanages and schools that we have previously not been in contact with. New Generation Youth Parahita Centre is one such centre.

Located outside the 'tourist belt', the center receives little support from foreigners like us. Even our tour guide has not been to this centre before. Very evidently the physical condition at this centre is the worse we have seen so far.

The monk who set up this center explained to us how the centre was set up and how he try his best to support the children in this school. The government gave support in the form of rice to the students, but it is not enough to support the school. The monk have to give dharma talks and write books to raise money to support the school.



Not captured in the above video clip was part of the conversation where the venerable told us sometime children would be taken by the truck and 'dumped' by the road side. These children would stand by the side of the road and look out for venerable and other monks passing by and hoping these monks would take pity on them and take them in.

What can you see at night when there is no light? ....Firefly!
We were in one of the hall talking to the venerable, the teacher (speaking in Myanmese) incidentally asked the children what can they see at night when there is no lights.... and the children replied: 'Firefly'

Myanmar Trip - Day 4

Mountain View Hotel is located in the country side and is very close to nature and except for the mild inconveniences caused by the short blackout that occurred daily, the stay was wonderful. We were awed by the stars filled night, counted shooting stars and watched sunrise in the morning.

(top, in the morning on the first day of our stay this white horse appeared and was roaming around in the nearby forest)

We visited schools and hospital built by venerable and played and sing and dance with the children, and talk to the villages.

Watch the video clip of FFM volunteers playing with the children



Watch the video clip of FFM volunteers singing with the children



More photos:
FFM volunteers taking photos with the young students from one if the school build with monetary support from FFM.












































Offering of equipments to the local hospital. FFM have previous provided much support to setting up of this hospital.







The doctor(center) with two nurses working at the hospital.

Myanmar Trip - Day 3

Our first visit on the third day was to Zamburatana Buddhist Cultural Course center. We were greeted by eager youths from the center who were aware that we were coming.

For the pass few years FFM (Firefly Mission) has been a strong supporter of the venerable and the center. Support in the form of monetary donation and computers were well utilized by the center. One of the senior Firefly member shared with me that when FFM send the first computer over to the center, it was so over utilized that the machine broke down. The venerable then requested to FFM to send over more computers. FFM gladly reciprocated by sending computers donated to them from various organisations in Singapore to the center.

The students at the center presented to each of us a Firefly Mission T-Shirt they have printed and one of the student even put together a video clip to thank FFM for their support to the center. The youths chatted with us while the younger ones draw pictures and later presented them to us.




Our next stop was to Naga Cave Monastery. The Monastery was set up with the objective of educating the monks in both Buddhism and modern academic studies. The monastery is currently home to about 1200 monks and nuns and we were fortunate enough to offer food to them on the third day of our stay in Myanmar.









Left, Bro Chong Jin offering food to the nuns








Left, young novices going to wash their bowls after their meals.








Left, another young novice after taking his meal









We then took a 5 hours coach ride to Bilin where we stayed at Mountain View Hotel for the next three days.

Myanmar Trip - Day 2

On day 2 we visited another nunnery that also acts as a orphanage, a Nursery for orphans up to age of 5, a Home for the Elderly and had a dinner Presentation of the Scholarships and Penny for School Ceremony.

(Donation items being loaded onto the 3 coaches in the morning before our trip)

At the nunnery, we gave out balloons and other toys to the orphans. There was a brief moment of awkwardness initially as the children simply sat quietly as we gave out the balloons and toys. I was told the children loves balloons before the trip, but now it seems they were totally cool and indifferent to the toys we were giving them. Then with little warning, when every children received a balloon, all of them spontaneously started playing with the balloons!

It was here that I received my first lesson on Myanmese children. They were really discipline and listen to what the teachers and elders say. We see this being repeated over and over again during our stay in Myanmar.

Watch video clip of the children playing with the balloons

The nursery we visited house orphans up to the age of 5. One of our volunteers visited this nursery two years ago with Firefly Mission and was deeply sadden when she saw the diluted formulate milk the children were given. On this visit, she donated a thousand dollars worth of milk power to the nursery.

(left, one of the more sickly young orphan in the nursery)

We then visited Hninzigone Home for the Elderly. This Home for the Elderly is truly amazing. While their equipments may not be as advance as most Elderly Homes in Singapore, the residents here were physically and mentally very healthy. We could sense that most of the residents here were really happy individuals and very contended. The Home was run based on the Buddha's teachings.

A 90+(left) and 80+(right) years old resident at the Home. Both sat in the meditative posture for the whole 30 mins or so we were there. The older resident has some hearing problem but is otherwise very healthy. The younger resident was still reading and writing and even asked us to write our names in her book.

Is this the secret of their health and longevity? Everyday the residents here have three sessions of 1 hrs meditation each. Having done meditation ourselves, we were very impressed how well they could sit in the meditative posture despite their advance age.

At night, we were present to witness the presentation of Scholarships to students who has done well for the studies. Firefly Mission is working with Border Areas Development Association to help provide scholarships to students who has done will in their studies.

Humanitarian Trip to Myanmar with Firefly Mission

I've just returned from a 9 day humanitarian mission to Myanmar with the Firefly Mission. It is one of the most fulfilling thing I have done this year and one of the most unique and meaningful oversea trip I've been on.

In the short 9 days stay in Myanmar, we visited 8 schools and orphanages, 3 majestic pagodas, 3 Nunneries, 2 monasteries, 1 hospital and 1 home for the elderly. We offered dana to thousands of monks and nuns, play with children, treated to cultural shows by the children. We watched sunrises and sunsets, counted shooting stars and awed by the beautiful display put up by thousands of stars in a dark night sky.

(right, the main stupa of Shwedagon Pagada)


Day 1

We arrived at Yangon at 1145am and got right to work, to collect the items we brought with us. All 80 of us have put aside half of the luggage we can carry by weight to bring the donated items over.

The logistic team, with the help from rest of the volunteers and airport staffs were able to collect the donated items quickly and the checkout was fast compared to the previous trip. We checked in to the hotel with little hassle and by mid afternoon we make the way to our first stop, Samiddhodayasukhitarama Daw Nanacari Myanaung Nunnery.

Samiddhodayasukhitarama Daw Nanacari Myanaung Nunnery

Throughout the trip, Firefly Mission gave strong support to nunneries because nuns generally has lower status than monks in society and thus receive less support from the community.

Money and part of the items we brought from Singapore were donated to the nunnery. The 10 Preceptors (technically, they are not nuns thus the pink robes) then chanted to bless us and to share merit made through the offerings. So deeply moving was the chant that and many of us shed tears.

More Photos:











left; the Nunnery
center; shoes belonging to the 10 preceptors placed neatly at one corner
right; the 10 preceptors waving good bye to us when we leave





Shwedagon Pagoda
After dinner, we visited Shwedagon Pagoda. It is the most majestic pagoda I have seen. Surrounding the main pagoda were hundreds more smaller Buddha images and shrines and it took us more than an hour to circumnabulate the main pagoda as we try to take in the scenes that is constantly unfolding before us. The pagoda is said to enshrine the hair relic of the Historical Buddha and relics of 4 previous buddhas.