Hello America

I'm back! And missing the students, missing football, and thinking that someone saying, "It's a mistake," is Pu Myat Thwe calling out, "It's Miss Kate!"

Though I am very homesick for Burma, I am thrilled to be back and working to promote the Zaytawun Scholarship Fund.

During my stay, I started supporting two boys' education. One was mentioned in a previous post as Maung Khaing. He was the boy who had been working in the tea shop to support his family. The money I raise for him, will go to support his family so that he may attend the Zaytawun School.

The other funds raised will go to pay for the high school education of a boy named Hein Lei Aung. This boy is incredible. He is hilarious, selfless, and absolutely brilliant. He was at the top of his class when I was teaching at Zaytawun. He can speak English very well (remarkable in a region where i met only two people proficient in the language). He loves to learn. He brought friends every night during the last week (after he had realized that I was not a whitish pink alien who had come to eat small Burmese children) to my hotel to study his English.

(Me, Pu Myat Thwe, and Hein Lei Aung)

Unfortunately, Hein Lei Aung's family is very poor and cannot afford to put him through the government high school. Because Zaytawun is only a free school for grades 1-8, next year he would have to find a low paying job instead of continuing his education. He had plans to be a fisherman or postcard dealer, despite dreams of becoming a doctor or diplomat).
 He would thrive in higher education and we are making sure that he has the opportunity to do so. I even see him accepting a scholarship from an American University one day.

To raise money for the two scholarships for these exceptional boys, I have bought many of the shirts/skirts/pants (that I mentioned in a previous post). I designed them, paid someone to create them, and then had my students design and paint Zaytawun tags that an artist later sewed onto the inside. If you would like to purchase anything, donate to the scholarship or hear more about my or the school's plans, please email me at kmcdonough0@gmail.com. If you are going to Burma also send me a shout out.

Thanks for reading!

Kate McDonough

University of Virginia (UVA '18)