This archive report was first published on 24 December 2019.
Yangon, Myanmar - December 24, 2019
For 18-year-old Dhama Theingi, a life of prayer and alms collection is a far cry from her dreams of becoming an engineer and playing football.
She is one of 66 girls at the Mingalar Thaikti nunnery in Yangon, all from the Palaung ethnic group and born in eastern Shan state, where conflict between local rebel groups and the military has been raging.
"There was a lot of fighting," Dhama Theingi explained, recalling why her parents sent her hundreds of kilometers from home nine years ago. "It wasn't easy to study and the schools were far away."
"There was a lot of fighting," Dhama Theingi, 18, told AFP, explaining why her parents sent her hundreds of kilometres from home nine years ago. The Buddhist-majority country's borderlands have been plagued by conflict since independence, with ethnic insurgencies battling the state over autonomy and natural resources. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to make peace, but fighting continues. According to Sein Maw, Yangon director of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, there are nearly 18,000 child nuns and novice monks attending monastic schools in the commercial capital. Monastic life is often harder for girls than boys, as Myanmar's strict Buddhist hierarchy and conservative society mean monks are offered far more respect than nuns, who generally receive smaller donations. The girls of Mingalar Thaikti rise at 4am for two hours of prayer before breakfast, and then criss-cross the neighborhood to collect alms, chanting outside houses to receive a spoonful of uncooked rice or small change. Collecting enough money early is crucial, as they use this to buy snacks or lunch. On other days, the girls attend a school staffed by volunteers, following the national curriculum in Burmese. Head nun Wara Nyar Ni, who also joined as a child, said that nobody speaks the language when they arrive, but they are not forced to stay. Trips back home come rarely, if at all, and even Khin Mar Thi, 17, who was sent to the nunnery with her four sisters, has resolved to remain a nun rather than returning to the secular world. But even Khin Mar Thi confesses to the odd pang of envy when she sees normal teenage girls. "I sometimes wish I could be beautiful like them," she said, adding she also misses her parents. Dhama Theingi, however, is itching to leave and start training as an engineer – if she obtains the grades. "There are lots of things we can't do as nuns and it really annoys me," she said. Her passion is football, yet she has not played for a year and a half because doing sport as a nun is frowned upon. "I just love scoring goals," she said with a smile, adding that she – like many in football-mad Myanmar – roots for Manchester United.
