This Christmas let's celebrate kindness

A story about human kindness in Myanmar

This year I decided to spend the winter holidays in South East Asia and visit for the first time Myanmar(Burma). As I was running a series of HacKIDemia workshops in Shenzen and Singapore before, I wanted to use the opportunity for visiting my friends from Go Project who have been living in Myanmar for the past three months.

From the first day in Yangon I felt in love with the country as the people have a unique purity and are so genuinely kind.. it seams like kindness is contagious here as even most of the visitors start smiling at each other on the street and become much more open and helpful.

After my first week in Yangon, I decided to go and visit Bagan and it’s temples during the weekend and try to discover how people live in the countryside. This ended up being one of the most beautiful exploration I experienced..

Waking up at 5 am to see the sun rising among hundreds of temples and stupas, cycle on dusty roads in the middle of villages where I could meet artists, crafts people, curious kids, beautiful old people. I never felt more comfortable in a country because in Myanmar there is no crime and no tourist-predatory behavior. Here you know that if you get stuck with your bike in the middle of nowhere the first person that will pass by will help you (this actually happened to me).

In my third and last day in Bagan I decided that I would go to all the crafts people and try to learn their art. I went first to a stone polishing shop but my attempt was unsuccessful because of the language barrier. I decided then to try the wood shops and after talking to the three shops they all pointed me in the same direction, go and talk to Ko Yan Aung as he will be able to help me.

When I reached his workshop I was welcomed with a smile from this short young man in the middle of his apprentices who was also very happy I knew his name. I asked how much it would cost to learn how to carve wood from him and he start laughing and said:

"You want to learn? To do like us? It's for free of course. Here take my workbench."

Soon enough I realised I would have to use my feet in the carving process, got ride of my runners and socks and took a sit on the round piece of wood facing a stone which was my carving bench. He asked me if I would like to make an elephant and I said I would like to start by making a spoon and it’s my first time trying to carve.

He invited me to chose a piece of wood, drew a rather funny spoon shape, gave me two fishtail tools, a mallet and left. His apprentices, who were carving complex statues next to me, look at me and start laughing still not believing I really wanted to learn.

I start trying to fixate the piece of wood on the stone with my legs and hitting the fishtail with the mallet. After the first trial I realised this is really going to be a challenge, especially for my toes. I wasn't working with the wood and was still trying to figure it out.. the aprentices tried to help a bit and first chops of wood start flying away.

Ko Yan Aung came back after a while. As he saw the little progress I made, he tried to convince me to do a ballon key chain instead. It was too late, I really wanted to finish what I started even if it would take all day.

One hour later he came and start carving next to me giving me more tips about how to place the fishtails, how to work with the wood and how to change the right blades. I was sweating a lot, my hands and toes were sore but my spoon was finally starting to get a shape.

His daughters would come and look, fearful initially because I looked so foreign and curious after a while to see what am I doing for so long. Ko Yan Aung invited me to join them for lunch. Initially I said I wasn’t hungry because I cannot eat when it is so hot but when I saw the grim of sadness on his face I decided to go an join.

In the back of his shop, in a very modest room, on the wood floor his wife and daughters had prepared a feast for us: spicy fish, rice, boiled vegetables, salads. Everyone welcomed me with the warmest smile and start running around to bring even more food. They had me try everything and tried their best to communicate with me. After the shiness went away I discovered their oldest daugther who was now 12 is the best in her classroom and she could actually speak English. She started to translate the numbers for me, and how to do basic conversation in Burmese.

I asked her what she would like to become when she would grow up and she proudly said “Designer”. Her mom was not very happy with that but after we talked a while she agreed that it would be good to encourage her daughter to do what she likes. Her eyes got all teary when she told me she had no education and that they are investing everything in their children education. She was very happy and proud that her daughter is such a good student.

I told them I would go to my hotel and bring her all the books I had with me: an English-Burmese phrasebook so she can improve her English, Burmese fairy tales and a newspaper in English: “The Myanmar times”.

I went back to my carving, determined to finish my spoon. The small daughters who were four years old came and sat next to me and start painting their home-made dolls. Suni, the mother also came and joined me and start finishing one of the elephants as all the men went to get tea after lunch.

One of the little girls jumped on me and I even managed to cut myself when I was almost done with my spoon. The little girls came close, saw my shaking bleeding hand and made very big eyes while not knowing how to react. When Suni saw my hand, she sent someone to the pharmacy and two minutes later my hand was cleaned and bandaged and we resumed carving. She would order tea for us and start telling me funny stories about the little girls and how she spends the day around the house with them trying to satisfy their curiosity.

Ko Yan Aung came back and laughed at my finished spoon. He was nice enough to tell me I should be proud if it's my first time and helped me sand and polish it. I asked him to let me pay at least for the materials but he refused categoricaly.

I thanked them and went to my hotel to bring the promised books. On the way I was thinking what can I do to repay them for the pure and limitless kindness. I decided to buy chocolate and to put signs announcing his workshop all around the town and on wikitravel.

I went back, shared my gifts and ideas, brought a friend who would buy some souvenirs and we all exchange smiles and jokes. They asked me if I would come back.. and I promised I will and I shall.

This story has probably been told in many different ways many times before, people who have nothing share everything. In the Christmas eve I felt the need to share it again, the story of kindness and pure humanity hoping that it would inspire all my loved ones to really appreciate what they have and start responding to hardship with kindness, which is the most precious gift.

To Ko Yan Aung and his family who touched my soul.