My celebration of Karen New Year at

[saw-aung@xxxxxxxx]

Subject: My celebration of Karen New Year at Vancouver B C.

Dear Burma Net Editor, Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year!

As I feel that maintainance of our Karen culture and heritage is
extremely important for the Karen people all over the world, I would like
to share how much it is important to teach our children to learn their
own language. I have the opportunity to speak at the Karen New Year
celebration at Vancouver B C on december 26,1998. I would therefore like
to share with all my fellow Karen people as a reminder that Maintaining
of our Karen culture and heritage is exremely important  and how we can
do it in simple way. 
                      Yours Sincerely.
                                                   Saw Aung Khin.

Happy New Year to you all.
It is a great honor and pleasure for me to speak at  our Karen New Year
Day. This is the second time I have celebrated Karen New Year with my
brothers and sisters in Vancouver B C. First of all I thank the Karen
community here for let me speak at this important occation of our Karen
New Year. Last year I shared about my experience how I celebrated Karen
New Year in my boyhood till I have become grown up man. This time I 
would like to stress the importance of maintaining our Karen culture and
heritage. As different ethnic people has their own culture and heritage,
our Karen people are also unique and have our own culture and heritage.
Had it not beenfor the Karen community in Vancouver B C, we will not be
able to celebrate Karen New Year to day with Karen
musics and dances which reflect our Karen culture and heritage. Thank you
so much 
for maintaining our Karen culture and heritage.
To maintain our culture and heritage, we have to learn own language and
literature. With out learning our writen language and literature, we will
not be able to maintain and up keep  our culture and tradition. With out
knowing our writen language, it will be very hard to learn our history.
When I was in school we learn Burmese History from Middle School through
High School and I have not come across the words " Karen or Kayin" in the
text book although Karen people are the second largest minority in the
country. From then I do beleive that the word Karen was not included in
the History text book, because we Karen people did not have writen
language of our own during the Burmese Monarchy
days. Thank God , during the British colonial Rule The American
Missionaries who came to Burma introduced Karen alphabet, probably
borrowed from Burmese alphabets, and from then on we have our own writen
language and literature.
In Burma, not long after the Military took over the country all schools
were nationalized and all ethnic minority languages were not allowed to
be taught in the school any more. Only minority people who live in
resistant group areas have the opportunity to learn their own language.
When the Mon resistant group signed cease fire agreement with the
Military Regime, they were promised to established Mon National School,
but  later the Regime broke
its poromise and ordered all Mon National School to be closed. In Chin
State in remote Chin hills where there is no school, villagers hire their
own teachers and established primary School. Those schools were also
closed by the Military Regime. So in Burma, ethnic minority people who
live within the control of the Military Government do not have the chance
for their children to learn their own language.
Now let me share about my family and my children. My children were born
in Burma during the Burma Military Regime and they do not have the chance
to learn their own language. They can not read and write Karen. I also
partly blame myself for not being so enthusiastic at that time as I am
now. If you do not know Karen writen language, how can you maintain Karen
culture and heritage!
At prensent we have small Karen community in Vancouver B C and it is not
easy to build a school so that we can teach our children our culture and
tradition. Never the less we can do so in Church and Monastery where we
go for worshipping. I beleive that if we set aside  one hour or so  a
week and teach our children their writen language and heritage, it will
be wonderful to inherit  our children with our precious 
Karen culture and heritage. Besides, Vancouver Karen community is blessed
with  two wonderful teachers. One is Sgaw Karen teacher thramu Naw Loo Lu
and the other is Pwo Karen teacher none other than Naw Loo Lu's beloved
husband thra Aung
Mya Thein. There are only two major Karen languages and you have it all.
In conclusion, I would like to thank Vancouver Karen community, visitors
and friends alike who come and join us in celebration of our Karen New
Year. My special thanks to those who worked very hard last night  to
prepare food and those who practice so 
hard for musics and dances to make  our Karen New Year celebration
possible. Thank you very much again and God Bless you all. 

                                                                         
                  Saw Aung Khin.

Saw Aung Khin
(206)244-1938
saw-aung@xxxxxxxx
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