Student Infusions: Wishes, Inspirations, and Democracy

Mona Lisas:

Please find the newest recruits from students' writings below. Read a few or all, and get a sense of their lives and my luck to have come across them.

Tiddlywinks-
:) L

My Greatest Wish

My greatest wish is to be wealthy and famous in the future. For example, I would have a good job and have a lot of income. I don’t want to worry about anything. I said that I wanted to be famous and I mean not literally famous like singer or actress but to be a good person to everybody. For example if I am a teacher, I want to be a good teacher to my students, a good daughter of my parents, a good wife to my husband and a good mother to my children.

My typical day

I have two typical days in my life. My typical day is not the same as everybody who lives here. I think some people have a simple day in summer. They can take a rest for the whole summer.
I don't have a simple typical day in the summer. When i was in my early teens until now i have had no holiday in summer. I have to work on our rubber plantation. I wake up at 1 at night and cut rubber until the morning and then I sleep. It is very hard work. I have no time to stay at home. I can't do whatever i want.
When I am attending school, i think my typical day is the same as everybody. At that time, I just study. There is no need to do house work when I am at my dormitory, but I do have to cook, wash and clean.

Wonderful Days

It was in December when students from Mon National High School celebrated sports with students from other schools. The sun was so hot for students to play games at midday that they were resting in their hostels.

I walked along the road to the office looking at some students chatting with their parents who were visiting them beneath the trees. Fortunately, i saw my parents, my two sisters and my nephew walking to me and i felt very happy and surprised as i had not seen them for so long.

I left them for four years. I longed for my parents very much whenever i saw some student's parents visiting our school. They gave me several clothes and food. They stay with me for two days.

I could introduce my parents to other students. We talked about many things for a long time. They also watched students compete with each other in sports. After two days, they went back home. I had never felt happy as much as when i saw my parents unexpectedly at school. I'll never forget my feeling during those days.

My Greatest Wish

My greatest wish is to changing Burma to democracy. People who are living in Burma have no rights and no chance as others do. Burma's situation is so bad. Two –thirds of the population of Burma don't have jobs. The government can't give a job to them. The people who are rich are so rich and people who are poor are so poor. The government can't solve that problem.

The civilians are facing many troubles. Some people are facing in health problems and some people are facing economic problems. The young people are problems in educations. There is not enough electricity is not enough in Burma. We can't use computers and the internet everywhere. Even though we have chance to go to foreign countries passport and visa are so high living standards can go. There are a lot crisis in Burma. The fomer political prisoners haven't had peace until now. I want to change Burma political system is my greatest wish.

What Inspires Me

I feel excited when we talk about the environment. There are many things that I want to change in the world and in my own life. For example, I don’t like having a lot of industries in the world. Using a lot of plastic carelessly can destroy the earth. Most people know that we will have air pollution from burning plastic, so I want to reduce using it.

I also don’t like cutting a lot of trees without using common sense. I don’t mean we can’t use natural resources. We can use them but not too much of them. In addition to these cases, we also have to care about animals. Killing animals for food is a bad concept in the world. About all, I want to change Burma from a military regime to a democracy. One thing I don’t like about Burma is that people who work on plantation and on farms never have a lot of money even though they have to work harder than all other people. There are many things left that I want to change in the world and in my own life.

My Saddest Memory

Now my father is over 50 years old. My mother is about 50 years old. Although they are old they have to do hard work. When i took the exam in tenth grade, they had to sell something and they gave some money to me. If we look at my family, everything is different to others. Other people also do not care about us, because we are poor and we are not educated well. If i dream about this, i feel so sad.

The Hardest Time

There are seven people in our family. My father worked hard for his income. It became difficult for my father to find a job after Burmese currency became useless over twenty years ago. He lost his job and some property and had to leave my village. My brother and sister had to stop their studies and work with my father

I continued my studies with less money. I couldn't afford to attend school in the city. I studied at a Mon National High School in a small village. It didn't cost much to study there. I needed to walk for many hours to get to school. I had to stay at a hostel. All students needed to do self-study a lot as there were insufficient teachers. I also had to find vegetables and food in the rain and sun. I faced many hardships during my time at school. I didn't feel sad. I intended to pass tenth grade.

Finally i finished my high school and received a certificate. I'll never forget those hardships throughout my life.

Difficulties of My Life

Before the ceasefire between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), SPDC soldiers came to my village and abused my village. Many students in my village didn't attend school. We also had to run from their abuse. They used men and as porters and raped women. We had to run far away from the village and we had to live in a jungle for a long time. At that time the school closed. After the ceasefire between the NMSP and SPDC , my family moved to Yee Township in a small village in NMSP area until now. It is my luck to get the opportunity to learn English.

Sorrow Came up to Me

I had arrived home for only three days from Weng Sapaw village when my grandfather felt seriously ill. I stayed with him and was responsible for what he asked for because he could not move well after he felt ill.

My grandfather loved me so much. He brought me up for several years while I was far away from my parents. I stayed with my grandparents during my time in school. My grandpa wanted me to be a medic. He encouraged me to attend the medical treatment training. He was a reliable person for me at that time. I asked him for advice for whatever I did.

After he felt ill, he could not remember things easily. I found that he acted and spoke like a child while i took care of him. I didn't know there might be sorrow coming to me. A few days later, my grandpa died from his illness. I felt sad as i was not an adult yet.

The thought that i had lost him for the rest of my life threatened me for many days. Later I came to understand that it is natural for people to die after they have lived their lives.