Htay Kon Village, Pakokku

Today is the anniversary of Richard’s death. It is good to have something useful to do.

U Thain Htay Win, owner of the Royal Palace Hotel in Pakokku told us that nearby Htay Kon Village is a particularly poor village. It is nick-named Sandstone Village because the surface of the land is thickly strewn with sandstone chips. Of course this is not good for farming.

Two or three of the houses (there were 70 in all) were of woven bamboo with a corrugated metal roof, but the majority of houses had walls and thatched roof of woven toddy palm leaves (more attractive but much less strong). We stop at just such a house.

A very old man appears from the gloom at the back, leaning heavily on a stick. This is U Lor aged 93. He has never learned to read, but would like to try a pair of wegies so he can look far away. He put on the glasses and then looked around at all of us and asked if we could see him too!  That was a first! He was joined by his wife Daw May age 90, she found glasses to suit her too. Daw Gyi (67) arrives. One of her eyes constantly runs tears and is almost sightless. Fortunately we had some glasses that suited her. Elderly Daw Thein Su (75) can read so she is very happy with sa kyi reading glasses.

Fifteen villagers have gathered for the show. Win San explained we were giving first to the old people (who need them) then to younger folk (if they need them). U La Chaung (67) looks great in some glasses with black and red frames. We tell him he looks like a movie star. Saya Htay notices U Bein (60) has found a pair of glasses that suit him but they have lost their arms! Don’t worry, I can fix them, came the reply! Daw Thein Oun (72) went to see a ‘doctor’ in Pakokku two years ago. The ‘doctor’ sold her a pair of sunglasses despite her saying she could not see any better with them. She was cheated, but could do nothing about it. We were so pleased we had some to suit her.

Win San took a woman outside into the light to photograph the very large lump on her neck. She explained it had grown like that over the years, it did not hurt her but she could not go to the hospital because she had no money. We felt helpless to help. The only small thing we could do was to give her a pair of sunglasses – with which she was enormously pleased!

I was still wondering why this village seemed so much poorer than most others, bearing in mind they were able to grow butterbeans, yellow beans and peanuts in the fields that were not too thickly strewn with sandstone chips when two flocks walked by! One flock was of goats, the other of sheep. Now we were really puzzled and then we learned the answer. In 2013 toward the end of the dry season when there was no water around 22 houses were lost when a fire raged through the village. Many people lost everything. Many have had to go looking for work as ‘coolies’ in Pakokku.

U Ka La (75) took the one pair we had with a detached lens. Fortunately Saya Htay found the lens in the bottom of the bag. He assured us he could fix it! To our surprise in walked U Ya Maung (78) wearing a thick lensed pair of glasses he’d been wearing for 18 years! They had been fitted back together many times judging by the accumulation of string and elastic bands wound around the bridge and ear pieces..

Win San had as usual to answer the battery of questions about me. He tells people I come from KL. They say they don’t know KL, so he explains. Then, invariably, someone points upwards and says she has come from the sky, she is a good nat.