Burmese Times #3

More PV Courses

Working with Alin Ein again, I made a visit to their demonstration farm near Mawhbi, about 2 hours north-east of Yangon. They had contracted to have a solar PV system installed by a local company about 6 months ago and it was already having problems. This was a great opportunity for the class to get on their thinking caps and get out their testers. After being gently led through the troubleshooting procedure, the class determined that the battery was badly damaged and would never work again. I replaced the primitive charge controller with a new one from the US, bought a new battery and the system was able to realize its full potential.

Checking out the solar irradiation level at Mahwbi. Is that the shadow I see on the panel, along with much dust? Tut, tut. I'll have to go over those two items again in class!

Doing hands-on testing with the Karen students in Toungoo. Looks like serious business!

The following week I went up to Taungoo, near Nay Pyi Daw, the new capital. There I had a large class of over 20 people, several of whom already had solar systems, but who still had many questions. There were the same explanations to be given  around why a car battery will never work well in a solar system and why discharging a battery down to zero is the worst thing you can do to it. These are hard lessons to accept for people who are totally stretched just to buy that old car battery.

The Toungoo group in happy mood - I guess it all made sense in the end!

Asia Light Monastery

My last training for this trip was a great experience for me and the participants. It was arranged by my good friend Patrick, (an adopted name, as he is a Pyin Oo Lwin native), and was held at the Asia Light Monastery, just out of town. Asia Light, under the direction of its forward-looking SayaDaw, (head monk), has embarked on an innovative program of trainings for monks, nuns, monastic teachers and lay people. They have already given courses in organic gardening, adobe brick building, globalization  and alternative education. Having heard about my stove training at SMOC, they now wanted a helping of that too. I was really excited about training the monastic teachers because they came from all over the country and worked with hundreds of students back in their home towns and villages. But simultaneously I was apprehensive as it was just after Water Festival and buying tools and materials was not a sure thing. But in the end it all worked out and the young teachers and I had a wonerderful time together.

The Asia Light group in somber mood as they wrestle with Stove Theory 101.

Schools in monasteries are responsible for picking up the 50% of children who do not attend a government school. The young teachers, mostly women, are paid a very low salary, if anything at all, but are extremely dedicated to helping their communities progress. An added bonus was the presence of two nuns, a young monk and an older, aloof monk, who eventually came around and opened up. I started off with stove theory as always and after 30 minutes, I could hear the yawns and see the eyes glazing over. (I must find a way to spice up this section of the training!).

After 6 days of mud under the fingernails and the occasional singed garment, the mood had changed to one of happy camraderie. Notice a difference in body language?

But next day it was on to practical brick making and that delighted everyone – hands got muddy, a little competition developed  between groups as to who could make the best-looking bricks etc. I wanted to concentrate on my new pet idea, which is adding a Downfeed tube to the existing Sidefeed Rocket stove and this seemed the perfect group to try it out with. At first they were skeptical – wouldn’t the flames escape from the Downfeed tube and not even go into the chimney? But a quick demonstration on my welded steel prototype soon convinced them. I am constantly amazed at how well Burmese people work together, take on responsibility and find inventive ways to solve problems cooperatively. This group was set to study together for the next two months and the training was an excellent opportunity for building team spirit. At first the participants were a little shy of me and of each other, but the end , they were getting down and rocking.

Despite my best efforts to introduce modern workshop practices, like working on benches, my students pushed the tables to the side, crowded into a tiny space and completed the task at hand. My knees hurt just watching them!

I loved the way they pushed back the tables I had so thoughtfully provided for them and they crouched together in very tight circles, banging away with hammers, chattering and joking! They worked with energy, precision and thoughtfulness, and were indeed, a very easy and pleasant group to train. One of the wonderful benefits of working in Burma is the great respect given to older people and teachers, two groups I can now count myself a member of. 

I don't know if Burmese monks, allegedly like true Scots kilt-wearers, eschew undergarments, but this looks like a hot time in old town tonight to me!

The young man second from the Right set his blue longyi on fire while using the grinder. Boy, was he jumping like a cat on a hot tin roof!

We finished our stoves with the new Downfeed tubes and they worked great. Our clay to charcoal mixture still wasn’t right and the bricks turned out a little soft, but it was a good lesson for everyone. On the last night we had a “party” in the Sayadaw’s quarters and the group really started getting wild. We danced free-form to Shan music and in a sweet gesture, they presented me with a beautiful traditional Shan tunic and matching baggy pants. I feel we bonded closely and I look forward to meeting my students again next year. I especially want to renew my contact with the Sayadaw, who is a very progressive monk and sees clearly the important role to be played by monasteries in the development of Burma.

And this was what it was all about - the new Acme Stove Works (Asia) Downfeed Rocket Stove.

Having undergone a rigorous initiation ceremony where I learned the elaborate secret hand signs, and how to hide a spare pen in my hair, I received the traditional sooty-face markings and was finally inducted into the Great Monastic Order of Burmese Stove Builders!

The Ceramic Society

I made a day visit to Twante, about two hours outside of Rangoon, to visit the Ceramic Society of Myanmar, as I was very interested in finding someone with ceramics experience to help me make Downfeed stoves out of clay. I came to the right place. The Director welcomed me warmly and explained how Twante had been the center of the Burmese ceramics industry for hundreds of years, specializing in Celadon pottery. Celadon is a more eco-friendly glaze that uses ashes instead of lead to get the typical brown-green color and sheen.

Some pottery items with Celadon glaze in the kiln, ready to be fired. I hope they remove that plastic jug before lighting her up!

Tragically, Twante was right in the path of Cyclone Nargis, and almost all of the kilns were destroyed. Now over 600 families have nowhere to fire their  pottery. The Ceramics Society is busy trying to revive the industry by building new kilns and finding markets for the potters’ products. Among other things, they are making a clay stove, and next year I hope to help them make it more efficient. Twante is a quiet place on the edge of the Delta and I look forward to staying there and learning more about Burmese life in a small town.

The Director/Patron of the Ceramics Society of Myanmar.