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Richard Humpheries (Black and White) Jason Miller Shwe Koako, Karen State Sylvia Murcfeld Photographs Jean de La Tour Richard Humphries _______________ Version Date June 2004 12/01/2005 Website: Designed, Built and written by Paul Keenan |
Name
Lew K’Paw Age 81 Sex
Male Religion
Christian Occupation
Trainer (present) Place of Birth
Noe Nain, Du Tha Htoo Could you tell me your name and about your family please? My name is Lew K' paw I was born on the
27th of February 1922 in Du Tha Htoo) district Lu Plent town ship Noe
Nain village (Burmese call Ka P’leih). My parents were Christian. They were
farmers. My wife's name is Naw Re Hta Kan. She is Pwo Karen. I have four brothers,
three sisters, and five children. Did you help your parents when you were
a child? I didn’t really do anything for my
parents although I helped them after school closed. What traditions did you have about
marriage and death? In
my village if a groom lived in another village and the bride also lived in another
village, the groom must come to the bride’s village and invite the people to
drink alcohol, the people would sing animist song, break a tree branch and then
they would count how many people would go with them. Once you reached the house
of the bride they would put alcohol in a jar in front of the house and then
they drank together. They came with an orchestra. If they felt drunk they sang poetry
in front of the bride’s house. In front of the house they put down one log for
the groom. He must cut until the log breaks. They say that if the log breaks the
groom can come into the house, if the log doesn’t break then the groom cannot
come into the house. While he climbs the stair, the bride pours water onto the
groom. Then the bride makes clean water, washes the groom, and asks him to
weave. About death, if they were children they were buried. But people
who
die older they burn the dead body. After that they bring back the dead's
bones and keep it one year. Lastly they remember the dead and put down
the bones then they sit around the bones
and sing traditional songs. they make it for three day and night. What is the difference between your village and here? When we stay in our village it is
better than living here, in our
village we find vegetables easier than here, if we would like to eat
something we must buy it. What is your religion? Originally my religion was Anglican,
but when I got married I become Christian [Baptist]. What do you think are the differences between education then
and now? We see now that education is at a lower
level, now students pass tenth standard and they cannot speak English better
than the old people. Those who pass university in Burma also cannot speak
English. The old people who passed fourth standard can speak it well. Did you get money in your job? I never got money in my job. But some times
when I needed to I asked my leader and they gave to me
200 baht
once . Where did you study? I
studied when I was a British soldier. They asked me to go to
China and Indian to study, and they taught me.
What do you do when you have free time? Sometimes I do my house work and weaving. What is the aim of your children? I would like my children to be Kaw Htoo Lei leader. They also will work
for their nation, and then we will have freedom soon. They also will feed us
when we are grandparents.
Did any one encourage you in your work? Most
of people like me; because they know that I’m very clever also my parents were
poor. All of my teachers loved me.
How did people celebrate Karen New Year? Before
1939 until now I saw people celebrate Karen New Year every year everywhere. We
arranged it in the morning. Many people assembled on the ground and talked
about Karen New Year also there were talks about Karen folklore. How many kinds of Karens they came
from (Te Chet Mia Ywa) after assembly they gave one packet of rice.
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