The Walk of Life

It took me so long to come to terms with what I called A Broken Promise. It was in October 2005 that I met and come to know P a social worker among the poor in the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar. I traveled through rough and bumpy roads for 6 hours in a cramped bus to reach my destination. It was a small village town in the Delta area and I guess about 300 Km from Yangon.

On arrival and as I get off the bus, there he was, standing there with his warm smiling face greeting me! It did not take much effort to identify me since I am the only foreigner on that bus. After a light meal to stretch my aching muscles, we proceeded to his home and it was an eye opening experience for me.

His house was not more than 300 sq ft. and it was truly open plan living. You can see where the family sleep, cook, live and dine! I noticed there were no bath-rooms within the house except for a tiny little hut built out of the house at the back and poised on stilts over the murky waters of the Irrawaddy Delta. The access was along bamboo walk ways.

As we entered his home, there to welcome me was his wife and two children plus about 20 over other children. These children were from the farming neighbourhood. It seems that they don't attend the local Government schools and all of them were unable to read or write. These farming folks assumed that their children will grow up to be farmers and hence no need for any education! Another problem and I guess and I believe the main issue was the lack of money to buy books, uniforms, etc for school. They live from the produce of the land and hardly have any money left for anything else.

P and his wife together with another co-worker, a young local girl taught these children how to read and write. Just the basic and literally they provided all the study materials for the children as well. P received a monthly allowance of RM $45 for doing this job! According to P it was hardly sufficient but he got to make do with what he was given. The lessons were free and actually P could have opted to work in Yangon where he could earn a bit more. However he and his family were from the Delta area, so he wanted to contribute back to his own society by doing this as a voluntary social work. What a wonderful caring residence of the Delta. Of course he and his family have a lot to sacrifice for these poor children of the Irrawaddy Delta.

It is hard for people to accept that bad things do happen to good people, including myself. The Hurricane Nargis in 2008 came and took the lives of my friend P and his family! The sad thing was, P was away somewhere in the area doing his social work when tragedy struck! To date no one ever heard of P but rescue workers could only confirmed the death of his wife and two children. Their bodies was found among the debris. The humble house was totally washed away.

On the day I left P, I promised him that next year I will be back for visit around Christmas time and I would bring some goodies for all the children. Circumstances did not allow me to fulfill my promise for in October 2006, my wife had a stroke and ever since then I was not able to make a trip to Myanmar till this very day. I feel rather remorseful about not being able to fulfill a promise to my dear friend P.

Of course I can buy the goodies to be taken there by whoever traveling there but it’s not about the gifts or the money! It is about a 'promise'. I was told by someone else who visited P the year after me, that P was asking how come uncle John was not going there anymore! To me this is one remorseful, unforgettable incident in my life. I could not keep my promise to a friend! For this reason alone, that's why it took me so long to be able to talk about this and I am glad that P and his family are in God’s Presence forever! I pray that you can forgive me, my brother!