Myanmar

Disabled but not really

26 November 2019
Dilek Elçiçek
0
1230

My name is Ko Htwe. I am a 40-year-old single man. I am from Wama, Myanmar. I come from a big family, I have 7 siblings. Only the youngest and I are not married. I am living with my mother. I was born without arms, I am the only one from my family who has got a disability.

I make my living by drawing and painting. At first glance, people do not expect someone with a disability to be good at what he does. However, when they learn how much effort we make to improve our craftsmanship, they begin to respect and understand that we are exceptional at what we do.

I have had many great teachers throughout the years, my first teacher was my beloved father. He taught me how to draw, play with colors and integrate my imagination into everything I do. In the beginning, painting used to be just a hobby for me. After 25 years of drawing and painting, now I am proud to say that I am a painter.

During the tourism season, my sales go up; therefore, I make more money. I have no special dreams or plans for my future, I am happy as long as I make enough money for my mother and myself. Actually I am not planning to get married so that I can look after my mother just like she did when I was little.

Ko Htwe
Inle Lake, Myanmar, 20 January 2019

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Rings for a lifetime

My name is Moh Khara; I am 67 years old. My husband died a month ago. I have 5 children. Now I am living by the Inle Lake. In my hometown we were just farmers, and we had a hard life. When we came to the lake, we started to make knitwears and sell them to the tourists. My income differs according to the number of tourists visiting.

According to our culture, women who have long necks are more beautiful and attractive. I started to wear 13 rings at the age of nine. The number of the rings increases as our people get older. When I was seventeen, I was wearing 14 rings. At the age of twenty, I reached the maximum number of rings that could be worn - 25. There are two different, separate parts in a ring. The rings are made of solid bronze and are worn as one piece. When you reach the number of 25 rings, the total weight of them is 10 kg. There is one extra ring for sleeping, and when we sleep, we turn the rings to the front side, but normally we wear them backwards. No matter what, we never take off the rings for our entire life.

The color of my dress is our traditional color. I think that I look beautiful with my dress and the rings.

Moh Khara
Inle Lake, Myanmar, 20 January 2019

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Life at the river

04 March 2019

Serpil Aybirdi

1216

My name is Daw Khaıng Mar Cho. I was born in, and I am still living in, a riverside village named Gyıng Gyı. I had only primary schooling. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. I’m married, and I have four children. My husband is a boat driver.

Before we entered the tourism sector, I and my husband were farmers, but we went bankrupt. We had a lot debt. It was really hard; we even suffered from hunger in those days. Then we bought a small boat, a ferry to go back forth from Mandalay to our village. After the tourism boom in Myanmar, in 2012, lots of tourists started to come here. I have decided to organize boat tours at the river for tourists with our boat. I love this job because it makes me very happy to meet with new and different people.

I don’t have any idea for my future, because I have all the things that I need. I’m happy, my family is together, and they are happy also. My only regret in life is that I feel I could have planned it better. From now on, all that I want is to live my days happily till the end of my life.

Daw Khaıng Mar Cho
Mandalay, Myanmar, 17 January 2019

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Hopes in the basket

04 March 2019

Serpil Aybirdi

2326

My name is Ma Cho. I’m 46 years old. I was born in, and still am living in, a village that we call Min Nan Thu. I’m a farmer, and I love my job very much. I’m proud of being a farmer. I put what I grow on the farm in a basket and sell my harvest at a bazaar.

I lost my family because of a disaster that affected my village, and my husband had a paralysis for three years because of it. I tried to look after him as best as I could. But after he came around, he went away with another woman and left me alone. After that, my life became more difficult. I regret that I’m not an educated woman. I want to see my children become educated persons.

I want to live as a farmer till the end of my days. I like farming in my fee farm, but I feel sad when I can’t spare enough food for my children. In the future, I hope I can make a little bit more money. I want to give special and good things to my children.

Ma Cho
Bagan, Myanmar, 15 January 2019