There is something magical about the sea ...

February news ...   There is something magical about the sea … the ocean, about the way it moves.  How the moon pulls high tides and low tides in and out at certain times of the day.  Each day the sea is different, the landscape changes from champagne sand to aqua oceanic  sea, to a spectacular orangey-red sunset.  This makes the day magical with full of possibilities!

 In mid February we had a Cuso Annual Volunteer Conference, some 15 hours bus ride from NayPyiTaw.  The conference was held at GnweSaung Beach, where all Cuso volunteers from various ‘pockets’ of Myanmar met to share their experiences in their field.   Evidently, we talked about the successes, the milestones, the challenges, the next steps ...   At the end of the conference, instead of travelling back with the Cuso group to Yangon and on to NayPyiTaw,  Kevin and I used our 2 day travel departure time to stay in GnweSaung Beach. We moved to Eskala resort for a couple more days to enjoy a small holiday by the sea. Aside from enjoying Cuso’s volunteer company at the conference, Kevin and I had a lovely time soaking up the sun, swimming in the sea, strolling on the beach.  All we had to think about was 'how we wanted our eggs done ... '  Just what the doctor ordered!

It is clearly the dry season.  As I step on every stone, slightly raised on dirt lanes in our neighbourhood, on the way to the market, mound firmly in the ground on the way to the market,  I’m reminded of the time  when local Thanakka men, women, children collectively worked together, racing against the anticipated monsoon to fix the pot-holes with soil and stones of different colours, shapes and sizes.  With the dry season, children are now home from school for the next 3 months and return to school mid May.   On our return from Gnew Saung Beach, Kevin, at the market, was greeted with a pleasant surprise.  The main area where he normally buys produce, the bamboo poles were raised approximately 2 feet higher, above Kevin's head so that he wouldn't bang his forehead against the pole.  The locals were quite delighted with themselves, making a point of letting Kevin know that the bamboo poles were raised up for his benefit ... :)

February was month where more shuffling occurred among parliamentary staff and officials.   Like the House of Cards, officials and staff are conveniently, regularly shuffled to different departments throughout the Hluttaw – the parliament.  The big boss, whom we, developed a close relationship, whom I worked with throughout my time at the parliament, he too was moved to another department, a mile away from HR department, so it seems, without any explanations. The HR staff that I’m connected to went on with their business as per usual. One of the parliamentary staff, a few days later, had quietly and discreetly placed a tattered note in room 5,  in my class, on my desk with instructions of the big boss’s whereabouts.

 The following day, the big boss approved, the people’s book that we created from the grassroots up, to have it printed in late March, before the end of the Cuso fiscal year.

Elsewhere in the parliament, an official celebration of a 2-year term at the Hluttaw took place at the large parliamentary-dining hall.  The Tatmadaw, the MPs, Cuso Volunteers, Officials, some parliamentary staff and expat business staff were invited for the luncheon to hear the Lady give a speech on peace, in Burmese.  The Tatmadaw, MPs and expat business staff sat at the front, while Cuso Volunteers Officials with some parliamentary staff sat at the very back of the room. 

February ended with some confusion for some. Though it ended with both the EU and the UN jointly imposing sanctions against the government for the ongoing atrocity, others are not in sync and are  turning a blind eye to all available queues:  2 expat business staff, a branch of the UN are still providing lavish lunches in lavish hotels for workshops that could easily be conducted at the parliament for $0 – zero dollars.   Could it be that the $2million funds, (which these expats are receiving per month) be redirected where it counts?   Another competitive expat business tourism staff also placed at the parliament is planning in mid March to take a group of staff to Germany for a tourism experience. They too, like the 2 aforementioned expats blindly go about business as usual.

Cuso as always, step up to the plate where things are done in a timely way and successfully with spending $0 dollars at the parliament.   Oronie managed to merge the 3 chambers on intranet within 2 hours and yours truly was able to produce a curriculum that make sense to the people from the grassroots up. 

More later ... in the meantime, wishing you fun reading and lots of laughter for March 2018….:)