My Mother's Birthday

Today is my mother’s birthday. She is the most amazing woman I have seen in this world. Her life is simple. She was born in a little village in delta area. She is the eldest of seven brothers and sisters. She did not get chance to go to school when she was young because of the war and ethnic conflicts in her area. She married with my father moved to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, raised nine kids as a house wife and it is her simple life.

She is not an educated but she could raise highly educated children. She is just a house wife who seldom leaves the house but she did her job very well. She used to say, oh I am working from morning to night in this house. I am not paid. I don’t know what keep me that busy in the house.

Needless to say, it was very difficult for our parents to raise and educate nine kids. All, nine of us are now university graduates and we have a vet, a dentist, two doctors and one engineer among us. My father was the only one breadwinner as we all went school and part time work in our country was usually not an option at that time.

My mother could not earn any money to contribute our study cost but she managed our father limited income very well so that every one of us got proper education without needing to work.

How did my mother manage? She is very good at sewing. She would try any design and any cutting for both boys and girls. A piece of clothe that will give you only a shirt if you go to tailors will produce a shirt for the elder son and a small shirt for the younger one. She can make beautiful blouses and shirts out of extra pieces of clothe. Although our father’s income was limited, all of us had decent clothes though out the year. I still remember our friends admired our new shirts at Christmas and New Year timed and asked where we made them.

She is also a good cook. She would try to cook all sorts of food. India cuisine, Chinese cuisine or you name it. She won’t spend money to buy food from restaurants. In that way, we had good food of larger amount in cheaper rate.

My mother was illiterate because she did not get chance to go school when she was young. But later she learnt how to read and write herself. She learnt together with her nine kids as we went to primary schools.

I still remember one of the events when I was seven and in the second standard. I was a smart boy when I started schooling at five but became less and less studious. I remember I became especially bad in Mathematics. I could not follow what was teaching in the class. My mother used to come to my school during the lunch times to feed me and two elder brothers who went to the same school. One day, she found that I have not finished my Mathematics home works. She asked me to do during the lunch break but I did not know how to calculate. I knew the teacher was going to check our home work after lunch break and I was sure to get beaten because I had not done my homeworks.

I saw some other mothers were guiding their children how to do their home works so I asked my mother to help me. As a child I did not know the fact that my mother was illiterate and she could not help me. My poor mother asked a woman to help me but I said I did not want her help. My mother asked an exercise book from one of the students in the class so that I can see how he calculated. I was very unhappy. I felt like I was humiliated. I blamed my mother for not able to help with my school lessons just like other mothers. I was a bad boy. I could not think how my mother felt at that time.

Later, my mother told me that she could not help me because she did not go to school when she was young. The simple advice she could give me was to try harder to master the subject I scared. She told me not to give up Mathematics because I did not like it. I tried a bit harder. I continued struggling with Mathematics for three or four years more. But I got a Distinction in Mathematics when I passed my tenth standard. The boy who struggled terribly with Mathematics went to a Medical School, became a doctor and got a master degree in Public Health focusing in Epidemiology and Biostatics.

I owe my mother for every success in my life. Her simple advice is “ Don’t give up. Try harder for the things you scare to master it.”

I am miles away from her and could not be with her to celebrate her birthday. I could not even send her a nice birthday present. But I am sure my mother will forgive me as she did for all the wrong things I have done. She will be happy with my phone call. I pray for her to have a happy, healthy long life and God blesses her always. Happy Birthday May May.

Recall emails

I just learnt a few month ago that we can recall email when we use microsoft outlook. You just need to go to sent item. Then open the message we want to recall. Go to actions and click on recall. It is very useful.
Today, one of my colleagues was jumping because she clicked accidentally while preparing an important message. I was able to help her.
It is always good to learn new thing.

soemthing to keep in mind

What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other. George Eliot

Take them as opportunities

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.
Sally Koch

Elephants

It is interesting to know how elephants make baby elephants. I learnt from the national geographic channel that the penis of the male elephant never insert into the vagina of female elephant. It just spray the semen around and the spermatozoa swim up with the assistance of vaginal muscle contraction. What a pity!

strength for the day

God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try. ( Mother Teresa )

Nude Beach

Nude Beach!! What a interesting concept for a Burmese guy like me. People go around without any clothes. When I was in Hawaii, people told me that there are some nude beaches on the island of Oaho or other islands. By the way, the State of Hawaii is made up of 8 islands and the capital " Honolulu is on the island called Oaho.

I wanted to go to nude beach but I know I am not comfortable to go around without clothes. So it took a while to gather my courage to go to nude beaches. Finally, I went to a nude beach in Big Island. The big island is another island and I had to flied there. My main purpose was to see volcano which is still active and producing lava. But my friends told me that there is a nude beach on the island and I can go without taking off my clothes. Then why not?

To my surprise, there are people around the beach selling drugs. There were group of people who were beating the drums. It is a way of relaxing their minds. Everyone can play the drum and the beat and rhythms change all the times. I also played the drum for a while. It was amazing.

But the most amazing thing was women without clothes..I also saw a family, father, mothers and children of age around 10 running at the beach without any clothes. What a strange culture..Anyway people are different.




Oh, I have to say that I also went to the volcano to fulfil my first in tension of going to the big island. It was not just nude beach.

Here you see, the car road was covered by the lava and you can also see lave flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

Safari in Maasai Mara

When I was ten years old, my mother made a very nice coat for me. She said it was called Safari Coat. I did not know what Safari means but I wore it happily. I came to know the definition of Safari later that it means a trip to see animals in the jungle in Africa and men wear safari coat when they go safari.

Later in my life, I got chance to go on safari without a safari coat. It was in March, 2008, I needed to go to Kenya for a meeting and I decided to go on safari for few days after the meeting.

I had to fly with a small flight for few hours from Nairobi to reach a small camp in Maasai Mara. The camp was on the river bank and the first thing I saw was a crocodile in the river. I also saw a group of hippopotamus in the river. Later on a group of elephants came to other side of the river to drink water. I also saw a small deer came to the river to drink water. I was worried for it because there was a crocodile in the river but the crocodile did not get chance to attack the deer.

Next morning, a jeep was waiting for me to go on the safari. There were other three people on the car too. I thought the jeep to go on a safari must be covered with glasses for the safety but I was surprised to see that it was open. I asked the guide what if the animals attack us. He said we were safe as long as we stayed on the car.

It was not a migration season so I did not see a lot of animals as we can see at the national geographic channel. But I still saw a lot of animals. The guide who drove the car explained the nature of different animals. I was amazed to learn about animals.

I saw lion, elephant, fox, zebra, deer, buffalo, hippo, monkey, giraffe, ostrich and many other animals. Another interesting thing I learn during the trip was lions are not always in the killing mood. They do not harm small animals if they are not hungry. And other small animals also know whether lions are in killing mood or not. If lions are not hungry, they just lay down and other animals will be going around near them. They are not like greedy people who are always trying to exploit each other. I think there are many things we can learn from animals.

Hero in my life

I was eight years old when I heard about him for the first time. His name is Father Damien. He was born on 3 January, 1840 in Belgium and died on 15 April, 1889 in Molokai.

At that time, there was no treatment for leprosy. People with that nasty disease were forced to leave their homes and families and had to stay out of the cities. There is a beautiful island in the Pacific called Moloki. It was a place for people with leprosy. People who got the disease were sent to the island where they did not have any support. They had to live just like animals till they died.

Father Damien volunteered to take care those people in tha little island. He gave them homes, provide moral support and medical care. Finally he got the disease and passed away on the island.

I got chance to study in Hawaii for six months. I determined to go to Moloki to find the footsteps of Father Damien. Above is the photo of the Molokai beach where people with Leprosy were kicked and pushed into the water from the ships that carried them from their home to that isolated island.

My Father

Life is interesting. You cannot be lucky in every aspect. You are winning in some battles but loosing in others. I have been lucky in many occasions but sometimes the luck frowned on me. Many of the happy moments and many of the sad moments fade out as time passes slowly but I have unforgettable stories in my life just like every person. It is a sad one.

I was in Hawaii at that time. You can say it is one of the most beautiful places on the world. The program I was participating was not very stressful. Most of the time, we were having fun, exchanging cultures and learning lightly on leadership and other core issues. Six months passed very quickly and it was time for some friends to go home because the program has two options: to leave after six months or to leave after nine months. I felt sorry to see friends leave Hale Manoa but the hardest hit came suddenly one day when I checked my email.

It was from my sister and she said my father got liver cancer. I saw people laughing in front of the computer screen so many times because they got very good news, hilarious jokes or funny pictures from friends and relatives. To me it was a shock to see the short message. I repeated again and again hoping despearately that message change or I found my self in the bed and realize it was just a bad dream. But it was real.

To make the story short, I went back home quickly in February to take care my father. Good thing was he was not suffering a lot when I arrived back. I have seen a lot of people with liver cancer. They got diagnose and died within few weeks. But my father had a special case. It was not very aggressive and all he felt at that time was some discomfort and loss of appetite.

Then in April, I got messages from both the University of Hawaii and Johns Hopkins that they decided to provide me scholarship to do my MPH. What a bad timing. I have been trying to get a scholarship for a long time and the luck never smiled on me before. At that time, I had two offers.

My father encouraged me to go. I also really wanted to go because it was a very rare chance for me. He was also not suffering so I thought it should not be a problem to go there for a year. Selfishness got better of me and I made the decision to go. I did not tell my father that he got liver cancer because it is tradition in our country not to tell people that they have terminally ill diseases. We just told him that there was something wrong with his liver and he would be fine. It was so difficult for me to tell a lie whenever my father asked me about his health condition.

I arrived to Baltimore in July, 2003 and the first thing I felt in USA was guilt. I am a doctor but I was away when my father needed me most. I called my father every week. He was fine at first but got weaker and weaker. He always said he was fine and to study hard every time I called him. But I knew he was not fine. His voice got very weaker and weaker, he got pain that prevented him from sleeping at night. I promised him to come back and see him during Christmas holiday.

Christmas came, I went back home. I had to stop at Bangkok for the whole night because there is not flight flying in Burma from Bangkok at night. I was thinking about my father. I could not wait to see him. I hoped he would like my presents that I carefully bought from USA. I imagined he would be very happy to see me although his condition was bad at that time. I hoped I could apologize him for my selfishness. I imagined he would be smiling as he listen my experiences in USA and it would at least help him to forget his suffering for a while. I was dreaming about happy Christmas times we had when we were young because it was Christmas Eve. It was one of the longest nights in my life.

I arrived back home on Christmas day. When I stepped in my house, I saw my mother cooking in the kitchen. She did not hug me or even greet me. She was just kept on cooking. Things were strange. Then my sister told me that, my father did not wake up that morning and he got coma. I thought I was being cursed. I rushed into my father’s room. He was on the bed and was not able to answer me or look at me. My mother cired and told me that he was waiting me last night and did not go back till they went to church for midnight mass.

I called my best friends. All advised me to hospitalize him. I got chance to take care of him for the last five days in his life and he passed away on 30th December. His funeral was on the New Year day. For me, Christmas and New Year are never same as before since my father’s death. He got his consciousness at one point at the hospital but I was not sure he knew that I was beside him or not. I was also not sure that he had forgiven his selfish son or not....

most important thing in life

People said they are fighting for peace. But I see hatred in their eyes..
They said they want justice. But I find them discriminate helpless people...

I try to understand them because for me to understand is more important than to be understood.. to give is more important than to get and to love is more important than to be loved...

However, it is very difficult to understand people. I think the most interesting in the world is human nature.