“Memories of home came flooding to me, but the voices and friendliness of the children brought a smile to my face.” First Impressions of Myanmar

By Adriana Silva

After a long haul of changing planes, going through customs many times, we arrived at Myeik in the afternoon of 5/3 to be greeted by Fr. Bruno, his secretary and another gentleman.  The airport reminded me of Dili.

It was a warm afternoon, much cooler than our hot summer.  Driving through, my first impressions were that of Dili, East Timor, and remote parts of Sri Lanka.

Fr. Bruno, Dan and I enjoyed a delicious fresh coconut drink and chatted for a while.  Fr. then introduced us to Katherine, the principal in the school office. A delightful young lady.  We had more chats and were taken around the compound. We were then shown our respective rooms. 

Memories of home came flooding to me, but the voices and friendliness of the children brought a smile to my face, grounding me.

We then had dinner with Fr. Bruno and it was an experience in how they cooked their curries. We enjoyed our dinner and had a palm sugar sweet thereafter.  Katherine, Dan and I walked around the compound, talking about things until we decided to retire.

Mixed feelings arose from being exhausted, but after having a good night’s sleep and waking up at 3 am sorting out bags, I felt more settled to face the next day, starting with Mass on Ash Wednesday and then a lovely breakfast with Fr. Bruno and two other priests.  They even pampered us with toast, butter and cheese apart from rice, soup, curries and a salad. All this for breakfast!  They are feeding us well, three big meals.

There are approximately 200 children; some orphaned, others from under privileged families. 

My room at the convent is on the ground floor.  As you enter the building there are bags and bags of rice, the kitchen and toilet and bath at one end and my room at the other.  The two sisters and the girls aged 5 – 13 years live on the top level. At 5.30am the girls wake up to a bell and sing prayers coming down the stairs and their day begins.  Prayers and the rosary are done throughout the day. Before school the children are rostered for cleaning, cooking, washing, etc. duties. Around 7.30/8.00 after all the children’s duties/rituals, they watch TV with the sisters till 10pm, way past my bedtime.

Funnily enough I have been sleeping well through the sound.  I am spoilt with luxuries such as a fan, hot water jug, desk, cupboard, clothes airer and a thick sponge on a plank bed.  The toilet is used downstairs by many but it is quite clean.  No showers or hot water, only a big plastic barrel with water.  I have got used to the cool water showers!

There are some beautiful buildings around and the town looks quite large. Dan and I have ventured out for a few walks, quite interesting.

Glad tidings from Myeik.

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