Win Thuya establishes a public library in Bagan

To Myanmar With Love

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Excerpted from To Myanmar With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, available from ThingsAsian Press.

This excerpt is from our favorite chapter in each volume in the To Asia With Love guidebook series. In "Paying It Forward," our writers share ways in which travelers can give back to the countries they visit.

Apart from local government schools, when I was growing up in Bagan there were no places for students to enhance their educations, such as libraries, computer centers, or language institutes. The turning point in my life came at the age of twenty-two when I moved to Yangon and trained to become a tour guide. Here, in my country's biggest city, I found new challenges, new educational opportunities, and new experiences.

Those experiences included discovering libraries at the British Council and at the Alliance Française, where I took French classes. I like reading, and browsing the shelves and seeing so many books in one place was incredible for me. The libraries seemed to have everything I could want. I observed a lot of youth who spent their time learning vigorously at the libraries in Yangon. I felt pity for my friends back in Bagan, who had no similar facilities where they could expand their knowledge.

This gave me the idea to start a library for the public-especially students-in Bagan. In Myanmar, millions of dollars are spent each year on various archaeological projects, but only a small percentage of money goes for public education. With the help of my employer, Gulliver Travels in Yangon, I found a building to rent in the community of New Bagan. After registering the library and getting a business license, we opened in August 2006.

The library's primary goals are to distribute books, journals, and newspapers, and to encourage a reading habit among local youth. The library opened with around eight hundred books and magazines, mostly in the Burmese language. This included secondhand books, out-of-print editions, new books, and also some English versions of Burmese novels. We started with just two bookshelves, two long tables, and a bench, all of which were donated. Since our opening we have added two more shelves and hundreds more books-thanks again to donations. We have a staff of two, and one of my friends takes care of the management.

You might think the opening of such a small library is not big news, but it is indeed for the people of New Bagan. This library is not for a minority, but for all the people in the community. There is no charge to use it because we want it to be a place that the public can access easily. In the future we plan to hold symposiums and writers' conferences. We also want to organize summer classes such as English conversation, computer basics, and supplemental courses for those who are working in the tourist industry.

I am based in Yangon where I collect books, magazines, and journals for the library. I usually take the donations with me when I return to visit my family; if I am unable to go myself, I arrange for friends to take them to the library.

Besides increasing the selection of books, my hope is that that the library will eventually expand to include multimedia and computer rooms. Though there is enough space for these facilities, there is not enough money to do everything I want to do. But with the help of donors and tourists who visit Bagan, we can make this a reality. It is my dream that Kuthodaw Library will play an important role in assisting Bagan's youth in their continuing quest for knowledge.

FACT FILE:

Kuthodaw Library
Near the morning market on the main road.
(+95-61) 60593
New Bagan
http://kuthodaw-library-bagan.blogspot.com/
www.gulliver-myanmar.com
nanopost@mail4u.com.mm (Library)
wthuya@gmail.com (Win Thuya)

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Published on 2/13/09