Second of two parts

Thingangyun township is a slum area in the eastern part of Yangon where over 200,000 people live in tiny huts in the most basic conditions. As we walk through the narrow and slippery mud paths between the shelters, it is hard to imagine how people can live their lives in such poverty. The shelters are made from anything residents can obtain – tin, bamboo, wood or plastic. The homes are so tiny that there is hardly space for people to cook, eat or even sleep. Their few possessions, maybe some cooking pots and utensils or perhaps some cloth or a broom, are stored carefully on the ground or thin walls. There is no electricity, no sanitation, no water and no privacy. The stench of rubbish and rainy season damp is everywhere. It regularly floods. Many of the residents eke out a living selling flowers, food items or collecting items to sell from the rubbish. Children miss school to help their families earn some kyat to buy rice for a meal. A daily meal is by no means guaranteed. Families living here are vulnerable to sickness and malnutrition. Many live here because they are excluded from economic and educational opportunities because of entrenched ethnic and religious discrimination. Belonging to the wrong ethnic group prevents them from obtaining the necessary identity documents to get a job or enrol in school. It is as though many in Myanmar society close their eyes to the conditions in which they are forced to exist. In contrast, here, amongst the marginalised residents of Thingangyun, the Jesuits accompany poor and vulnerable families, affirming their dignity and providing practical opportunities to improve their lives.

The Jesuits have established a housing project to improve their living conditions, micro-credit opportunities for small-scale loans to establish livelihoods and a community school. This is only possible through the building of trust and friendship with the residents. Community development workers visit the homes to identify and assess needs and monitor ongoing welfare concerns. In contrast to the squalid physical conditions, the meetings with the families were characterised by warmth and respect. Small basic houses are being built using new materials which provide a little more space and a clean area to live and sleep. Still no power, water or sewage but something more sturdy that provides some safety, privacy and dignity. The microcredit loans help families purchase equipment that can support their efforts to earn a livelihood such as a trolley to collect rubbish, a sewing machine to make clothes or a tricycle to transport people or goods.

This is the context for the small community school that has been built to provide children and young people of the area opportunities for education. In contrast to the spacious buildings, landscaped gardens and modern facilities of many of our schools in Australia, this school is small and sparse but it provides a dry and safe place for students to learn. Volunteer teachers run classes and study groups in the evening for children whose motivation to learn is not stifled by the precarious conditions of their lives. Poverty presents all kinds of challenges that affect the students’ ability to learn and progress. However the commitment to accompany and support these young people affirms that their lives are valued and encourages a tangible hope for a future of inclusion and participation in their developing nation.

An overnight bus trip brought me to Taunggyi, the capital city of Shan state, a bustling city located on a mountain ridge and home to a number of different ethnic groups. Here I was able to visit the Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (SAG) Institute where over 400 students study English, Humanities and Social Science. The students themselves represent the ethnic diversity of Myanmar coming from Kayah, Kachin, Intha, Karen, Shan and other ethnic backgrounds. Students from poor backgrounds and/or from distant regions can board in the hostels and access the nutrition programme provided by the College. The experience of learning and living together breaks down barriers and promotes positive relationships between different ethnic groups and religions. In this way SAG provides a space where dialogue based upon mutual respect can be promoted, so important in building peace in a society that has known so much conflict and division.

Jesuit Mission helps to provide student scholarships which includes their boarding and food expenses and also provides funding for teachers and administrators of the school. Classes for younger students are provided through the weekend and summer school programmes. The educational opportunities greatly serve the local Church in Myanmar. How inspiring it was to visit the monastery schools with the teacher interns from SAG in Taunggyi. Young, committed women from different ethnic groups and faiths running free English language classes at the monastery schools crowded with young children from outlying villages, many of whom are orphans. They run these after school hours every weekday. There might be up to 80 students in a class. The children live in very simple conditions at the monasteries. Classrooms are basic tables and benches in a hall that we might call a shed. The lessons were well-prepared and engaging, reflecting the passion of the young teachers and the students’ hunger to learn. The next day we visited two more monastery schools with a larger group of male and female final year students to meet the monks and students in preparation for their forthcoming classes.

Sometimes what is obvious can be refreshed or seen more clearly in a different setting. Whether in a classroom in Australia or a monastery class amongst the hills of Taunggyi in Myanmar, education opens opportunities for each individual student to fulfil their yearnings and their unique potential. Fostering this potential, nurturing the hope to achieve it, providing the knowledge and skills to reach it and accompanying students through all the barriers that might prevent it, is a commitment lived out daily by the Jesuits and their colleagues in Myanmar. They are supporting the most valuable resource in Myanmar – its people. By choosing to accompany the people who live on the margins of society, they are also fostering the aspiration that all people can live with dignity in a just and peaceful nation.

First of two parts

As a secondary teacher in Australia, school holidays are an opportunity to rest and regenerate. Sometimes they present opportunities to travel and encounter the lives and cultures of people far different from our own. In July I had the opportunity to visit Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), my first visit to this country. Any visitor can’t help but be struck by the landscapes dotted with golden pagodas and ancient temples. Along with opportunities to encounter the diverse cultural life of the people, my visit also gave me some moving and inspiring experiences of the transformative power of education.

Only in recent years has Myanmar emerged from decades of oppressive military rule. Even though civilian leadership and the opening up of the economy have encouraged social reforms and rapid development, the military continue to cast a strong and controlling shadow over political and economic life. Myanmar continues to suffer the legacies of this repressive rule: ongoing conflicts, forced displacement and widespread poverty. While the brutal campaigns against the Rohingya have caught the attention of western media, other ethnic minorities also continue to suffer from enduring conflict and the insecurity and harsh conditions of displacement camps. Health and education services for the general population have been neglected for decades. Yet the country has become one of the world’s top producers of heroin along with a growing trade in human trafficking. Too many people live on the margins, excluded from the opportunities of development and vulnerable to exploitation.

It is at these margins of society that the Myanmar Jesuit community focuses its efforts. Supported by Jesuit Mission, the Jesuits run education projects which give students access to quality education through scholarships, teacher training, language courses and two higher education institutes: St Aloysius Gonzaga Institute of Higher Studies (SAG) and the Campion Institute.

In Myanmar, the Jesuits are unable to offer the quality secondary education that distinguishes their schools in other parts of the world. Catholic schools were seized by the military government in 1965 as part of its nationalisation programme. The government continues to be responsible for primary and secondary schools but the quality of education is poor due to inadequate resources, facilities training and expertise. Passing by one primary school I was struck by the noise coming from the classrooms. The students in crowded classrooms were waving and throwing paper planes out the window. Surprised, I asked about this and was told many teachers had given up trying to teach as the power had been off for the past four hours, a regular occurrence. How else could it be in such heat with no light and no fans?

The Church in Myanmar has tried to address this situation through the development of boarding houses in parishes across the country to enable village children to attend the government schools and also receive supplementary lessons in the boarding homes.

The Jesuit education programmes target students who often face barriers to accessing educational opportunities due to their ethnic background or economic and social circumstances. Hungry to acquire skills and knowledge, students also benefit from an Ignatian approach to teaching – developing critical thinking skills, striving to develop their full potential, actively discerning the best path forward and using their gifts and talents for the service of their community. This is a powerful and long-term vision of education as a vehicle to re-build a nation that values the lives of all its people.

The Jesuits have also established the Yangon Loyola Community College which provides vocational training for young people who are usually excluded from access to such programmes. Training is provided in the areas of accountancy, computers, English and life skills. Work experience placements are also organised for the students. In its first year, 15 out of the 16 graduates were able to find full-time employment. Such a success has a profound impact on the young students, building their skills, confidence and engagement with the broader community. The Iñigo English Academy provides English language training in day, afternoon or evening classes. The classes are structured so that while learning English, the students experience and appreciate dialogue between the different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Such opportunities are significant in this ethnically diverse and often fractured society. The warm rapport between teachers and students nurtures a supportive learning community and helps to build the confidence of students. Between morning and afternoon sessions, the classroom is transformed into a dining area where teachers and students share their simple meals and conversation. Here, the divisions and prejudices experienced in broader society do not exist. Despite its humble surrounds and regular power outages, one quickly senses that the energy and commitment of all involved in this educational enterprise will transform lives and, hopefully, the society around them.