Rendezvous en Lower Myanmar

We had been traveling on the road since 6.30 a.m. I struggled to keep my balance as our jeep traverse the humps and bumps of the �highway�. The early morning sun shone mercilessly on the wide expanse of land as palisades of trees part to disclose sleepy villages. We are on the Yangon-Mawlamyine highway, the only road leading from Yangon to Mon State in Lower Myanmar. My traveling companion, Alex, was comfortably asleep. Our destination is Bilin, where the medical center is being constructed.

Last year July, I initiated Project Somanassa together with a group of year 2 medical students to assist in the setting up and operation of a rural medical center in Bilin. We are now on a reconnaissance trip to survey the construction.

We arrived at Bilin after a 4-hr journey. Khemauk village was our first place of visit. We were accompanied by two personal bodyguards from the military, Lieutenant Htun Linn Oo and Sergeant Zaw Aye Maung from the 44th Infantry Division of the Burmese army who took us to the village hall and monastery where a group of children have gathered. Protein malnutrition is prevalent in the village as evident by the thin scrawny children with their bulging abdomens. Scabies and fungal infections are as ubiquitous, with prominent red patches found on their faces, hands and feet. Most children do not wear slippers and they run about the gravel-filled dirt tracks, the fields and the village bare-footed.

The sugar cane fields are a couple of meters away. There were men harvesting the crop, their bare backs glistening with sweat as they swung their machetes repeatedly at the stubborn stalks. Bullock-carts carrying the sugar canes trudge slowly along the linear tracks dissecting the field to the sugar-cane mill nearby. Sugar cane and rice are the main agricultural produce of Bilin, most of which is handed over to the government. There is no market economy here and barter trade is the only form of commerce present at the village level.

The medical center was strategically located along the main road 3 miles away from the Township hospital and will serve a cluster of 5 villages around it � Khemauk, Daukyat, Daukyat-auk, Shweindon and Taunggale, a total of 3,500 families.

It is more than 60% complete, the building walls are up and only the roof, plastering and painting remains. Near site of construction, there are laborers digging a well to supply water for the medical center upon its completion. Electricity will be provided by a generator. The medical center will be part of the local healthcare system under the Township Medical Officer who will send doctors and nurses to operate it either daily or weekly depending on the manpower requirements at the Township Hospital in Bilin town itself. The work-force constructing the building consists of some children under 10 years of age carrying buckets of cement, laying the bricks and oiling the engines of the driller. Child labor is a common sight throughout Myanmar. They should be studying in school, but at least they are paid for their work.

  We spent the night at the village hall. The villagers were very warm and hospitable and they served us with whatever delicacies they can lay their hands on � duck eggs, pork, and roosters. Meat is considered a luxury and is only consumed during festive occasions. The ladies were smoking cigars wrapped in green and invited us to have a puff with them which we kindly declined. There was nothing much to do at night except watching television and singing Burmese karaoke in a small hut besides the communal hall where the entire village stayed glue on a screen no more than 14 inches. A lady, upon hearing from others that we are �medical people�, came to consult us with her child who was down with high persistent fever for the past 40 hours. We thought it is malaria and implored her to send the child to the Township hospital immediately. She seemed reluctant to do so and simply shrugged and walked away. We later learnt that anti-malarials commonly used in Myanmar like mefloquine and artesunate are too expensive to be afforded by the poor rural folks. I wondered how many children died each year as a result of undiagnosed and untreated malaria.

This is my second visit to Myanmar and my understanding of it is still less than superficial. The problems besieging Myanmar are more real, complicated and multi-faceted than it seems. The country has been under international economic sanctions for the past decade and humanitarian assistance has gradually trickled to a halt. Government spending on health and education is almost nil. There are drugs lining the shelves of pharmacies in the major cities, but most people cannot afford it. The problem is not medical, but political, and it is not likely to be resolved in the near future.

For me, it is the beginning of an inner odyssey. It begins with the realization that there is more to life than our own obsessions, desires and possessions. I believe everyone has the ability to do a little to alleviate a bit of human suffering in the world if only we will try. Let us plant the earth with seeds of goodness and embrace the world with universal love.