"Would You Like to Meet the Moon Goddess with Me?"

 Dear All,

Today is January 8, and the sun is just crested the hill, reflected brightly on the opened window pane of my room where I sit.  This week has commenced a new more active phase again in my time here, with school having started again. 

6th grade

 I have been teaching 6th and 7th grade, where we’ve practiced the plural “s,” and read and enacted the Aladdin story, as well as their own textbook lesson of Ali Baba. Those classes are in separate facing bamboo huts. The last day I read from Make Way for the Ducklings, one of the books I'd found in their library, and which I'd grown up with. (one side of the room providing the appropriate "Quack! Quack!"s and the other "Honk! Honk!"s on the page where the ducklings and cars almost collide, and reading out the duckling names I'd written on the blackboard when we came to the passages containing them: Ouack, Puack….

6th grade

  The two grade 10 classes are in the large building, where it’s a bit noisier. Yesterday, expanding on the textbook lesson on invitations such as “Would you like to go to dinner with us?”, I had them create their own, encouraging them to be creative. I had Aung translate instructions for me, and he stayed during the class which was helpful. Though sometimes his translations for me were as difficult to understand as the students’ own attempts as his pronunciation is often just as off (Aung’s “book” will sound like “boat” and “mile” like “monk”, et cetera).  

 Fortunately spelling a word out solves the mysteries.  For instance, one creative invitation was “Would you like to walk on the clock with me?” and I was a little bemused but then was remembering last year’s movie with the big clock and I was about to tell them about the movie, when we figured out that the invitation was actually to “walk on the clouds”.  

IBEC upper grade school building grades 8-11

Other creative invitations were to “meet the moon goddess”, “swim the Pacific Ocean,” “meet God in the sky”, “visit the Great Wall in China”, “visit France and touch the stars”, a girl’s “walk on the rainbow.” (The latter received a laughter-greeted reply from one of the novices “No, they’re too fat and the rainbow would break.”  This I was not so happy with as the girls are so shy and reticient already I have to go to them individually to get them to elicit their almost whispered responses.  So I asked the teacher to say something, and I gave some pro-rainbow press such as mentioning there’s a song “Over the Rainbow” (unfortunately don’t remember the lyrics) and sharing the story of Noah’s rainbow which the teacher knew and translated, but they had not known. 

Walking around, little ones will greet me with “Teacher!” and novices of all ages with smiles and hello, and “have you eaten?” (I guess one of the only phrases beside “how are you,” “how old are you” and “what country?” that everyone knows.)  In the evening by the kitchen there are a group of older novices chopping and sawing women. [sic] Last night I saw a few young novices shelling beans, too.  





 











 There are maybe around nine women who work in the kitchen, and spend the day sitting around baskets of vegetables and beans, preparing them for cooking.  Unfortunately, cooking for 400, most vegetables are pretty overcooked by the end…..

women in kitchen preparing vegetables

 

women in kitchen preparing vegetables

women outside kitchen cleaning beans

A couple nights this week Richard has invited me to go with him and Lin Kyu when they've gone for dinner to a restaurant not far away.  As they were lingering over their beers, I heard a little more about the beginnings of IBEC.  It was started by nine monks who were friends and students together at the Sagaing Buddhist University around seven years ago.  They started it from scratch, with no money, no buildings, and often not enough to eat.  Even now it seems to stay afloat and grow through the fiscal juggling skills of the principal.  (And it continues to grow, with construction of a third floor of the long dining/study hall and dormitory, as well as the guesthouse next to it, and there's been excavation on a large area opposite the dining hall for another building.)

construction of third floor over dining/study hall and dormitory

  The nine monks are all senior monks equal in authority here, but a few years ago, because of the government they needed to choose one monk to be the head principal, who is Ven. Sobhita.  One of the other founding monks was Ashin Candavara, the one who was so open, accessible and helpful. Another is the older, very warm (and I hear very strict) monk that is very friendly when I meet him (and the one who warmly gave Aung permission to take the novices from their study period).  One of the nine disrobed and went back to lay life, and I don’t know who the other five are.

One night soon after, I talked more with Ashin Candavara. He said the nine of them were trying to bring good education to Myanmar as the necessary condition for change.  Since the government shut down monastic education many years ago, most people can’t afford the government or private schools, which barely teach anyway.  So far they haven’t gotten official permission to offer a high school yet, but they've been offering classes up through grade 11—they cultivate a good relationship with the local government officials.

[I found this Mission Statement on IBEC's Facebook, on my return:

IBEC is the organization established by nine leaders (nine friends) in 2006. The discussion and desire of nine friends made the first cultivation of IBEC. IBEC is no monopoly but worked by Group. IBEC's mission is to promote the moral and education of new generations to be brilliant in the future and more aim is to serve the benefit and development of community and country. 

Ven. Sobhita, Principal of IBEC (taken at Eye Clinic Opening evening performances)

So IBEC has five projects
      
 1. The Department of Teaching Buddhist Scripture.
Teaching Buddhist Scriptures to novices and monks is to maintain the Buddhist Teaching a long time and to born the Buddhist leader to teach and share the Dharma to people (living beings) so that they can know how to live peacefully in daily life and to know the essence of Buddha teaching.
    

two children from my second/third grade classes

2. The Department of Monastic Education School.
Monastic education is for children who cannot learn the government school. We will support and teach them without taking money. We will uplift of poor-children's education standard and create the work opportunity for them.

 
 3. The Department of Foreign Language.
Teaching Foreign Languages is to teach foreign languages, especially English language. As the world became global village, international communication language became useful too. Therefore, in this centre, English language will be taught as an international communication language. It is also to open the wisdom-eye of international knowledge. New generations must have wide knowledge for their life.

two children from my second/third grade classes

4. The Department of Computer Training
Now we have only one computer, we give the computer training to the teachers who volunteer at here (IBEC). We also teach the basic computer skills to the students. We cannot give the training to all of the students because we haven’t had enough computers and technicians. (IBEC) is growing gradually, so we believe someday, we might need the high technique essentially to communicate with other donors and organizations not only from Myanmar but from another countries also around the world. Networking and cooperation is very essential not only for the development of IBEC but also for the poor children, learning at here. 
 
      5. The Department of Meditation
Any more plans are to perform the better activities to strive for the social welfare. Meditation is to establish the stability of one's mind and we will give the way to do it.

outside the dining hall (construction of more dorm rooms on top floor)

Apologies about going on and on about Downton Abbey in last email. (I guess Downton Abbey being the front page interest story of an email from Burma must say something about the previous week…..)

Into the last two weeks of my trip now, about the place in a plane trip where, after clearing the seat belt signs previously lit during a turbulent stretch, they soon announce that seat belts need to be refastened and trays go up as plane is shortly preparing for descent.

So, off up the hill to the school….

Love to you all,

Zoe

                                  Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys.—Richard R. Niebuhr

p.s.  ERRATA to previous email:  The novices were NOT chopping and sawing women: they were chopping and sawing wood.