2

A message from the amb

O

n July 4, the United States

celebrates its 239th birthday,
Independence Day. To
many Americans, July 4 is a joyous
occasion to join family and friends
for outdoor picnics on the beach or
in a park, and enjoy music, food,
fireworks, and perhaps a baseball
game. Many families hang an
American flag outside their home,
and dig out red, white, and blue
clothing to wear in honor of their
country.
What actually happened on
this date in 1776? 13 American
colonies formally declared their

independence from political ties

with Great Britain to establish a new
United States of America.
The Declaration of
Independence not only proclaimed
the formation of a new nation but
also explained the reasons for
breaking from colonial rule, setting
forth a political philosophy that
affirmed principles of equality (all
men are created equal); human
rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness); and democracy.
At its earliest foundation,
therefore, the United States
affirmed an identity based not on

any particular ethnic, religious, or

racial identity, but on a common
commitment to a set of values:
to democracy and fundamental
democratic principles. That common
commitment has allowed the United
States for generations to welcome
and be enriched by new arrivals,
making our country stronger, more
successful, and more secure.
The road has not been easy.
Exactly 150 years ago this year,
America concluded a bloody
civil war that tore at the nations
fabric and tested our founding
principles. Successive generations

At its earliest foundation ... the United

States affirmed an identity based not on
any particular ethnic, religious, or racial
identity, but on a common commitment
to a set of values: to democracy and
fundamental democratic principles.
Derek Mitchell
US ambassador to Myanmar

US ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell visits staff and patients at an HIV treatment centre in 2011. Photo: Kaung Htet

MANDALAY

MMID project director sees growth

Stuart Alan Becker

NE American living and

working in Mandalay, Bruce
Reynolds, 63, says he would
rather be in there than Yangon, and
would rather be in Myanmar than
other countries.
Since December 2012 Mr Reynolds
has served as project director for
the Mandalay Myotha Industrial
Development (MMID), an integrated
zone of construction and investment
located an hour down the Ayeyarwady
River from Mandalay. The project
includes a river port, a golf course,
factories and a new town on mostly
empty land. Much of Mr Reynolds
work involves meeting with potential
investors from all over the world.
Born in upstate New York, Mr
Reynolds was the son of a general
contractor and the third of five children.
When he was five, the family moved
to Mesa, Arizona. He and his brothers
grew up working in their fathers
construction business. At Seton

Catholic High School he was student

body president and co-captain of the
football team.
His first paying job outside his
fathers company was at a restaurant
called Sandys in Mesa at age 15. Not a
promising start, perhaps, but it taught
him a valuable lesson: I learned to
come to work on time, do my job and
get paid, he said.
After graduating from the University
of Arizona in 1974 with a degree in
Public Management and joining the
Pima County Sheriffs Office in Tucson,
his first responsibility was to improve
conditions in the county jail as part of a
federal judges mandate.
I learned a lot about human nature
in a maximum security setting.
Later, he spent 16 years working for
the Mesa Police Department, followed
by a year of part-time consulting
and working with a rock concert
promotion company in Phoenix
including acts by Paul McCartney and
The Grateful Dead. Finally he arrived
in Thailand in 1991 to work on a golf

course project with a childhood friend.

His first visit to Myanmar came in
1993 when he helped design a small
golf driving range in Yangon. That led
to a big job on the construction of what
is today Mandalay Hill Resort, then
known as Novotel Mandalay. He also
worked on the Centerpoint Project
in Yangon, which at the time was
scheduled to be a Sofitel Hotel.
In subsequent years Mr Reynolds
worked in Malaysia, Thailand, India,
Vietnam and China on various
projects, visiting 75 cities and
industrial parks in China alone.
When an old friend hed met in
Myanmar asked him if he could work
on hotel projects in the Middle East, he
flew to Kuwait and conducted a project
recovery on an over-budget $250
million resort, hotel and apartment
complex, spending 10 months putting
the project back on track.
Later he worked in Dubai, Saudi
Arabia and Qatar, designing and
building hospitals and schools as well
as working on resort hotel projects.

bassador
of Americans before and since
continue to struggle to overcome
challenges in law and practice
to make real the promise of our
founding.
But the genius of democracy is
its ability to adapt and to evolve.
Central to Americas success
and its stability has been our
Constitution, the worlds oldest. Our
Constitution has been amended and
re-interpreted as required by the
times to ensure continued progress
toward liberty and justice for all
in the United States all toward
the goal of a more perfect union
amidst our great diversity.
The identity of a new Myanmar
is now being defined. What will be
its founding principles?Upon what
values and ideas will the country be
defined, and who will define them?
And how will that new identity be
understood and accepted within
this enormously diverse country?
Elections offer an important
opportunity to hear the voice of
the people on these issues. The
United States will be watching
closely the upcoming elections,
and fervently hopes they will be
sufficiently transparent, inclusive,
and credible to gain the confidence
of the Burmese people. Likewise the
ongoing peace process, efforts to
promote intercommunal harmony,
including in Rakhine State, and
constitutional reform will be
essential to ensure lasting peace,
stability, security, and development
in this great and beautiful country.
The United States honors all
who have committed themselves to
this countrys democratic future.
That is what we celebrate on July 4,
U.S. Independence Day not just
the birth of the United States but
the eternal commitment to those
principles of human rights, human
dignity, and equal justice for all
everywhere.

Winners and officials pose at a ceremony for AMCHAM Myanmars scholarship program. Photo: Supplied

Towards a better future for Myanmar

The American Chamber of Commerce Myanmar Chapter on supporting the best and brightest

he American Chamber
of Commerce Myanmar
Chapter (AMCHAM
Myanmar) recently awarded
scholarships to 30 undergraduate
students to pursue their studies
at Yangon University. U.S.
Ambassador to Myanmar Derek
Mitchell personally presented the
scholarships and congratulated the
students at an official ceremony
at the US Embassy in Myanmar.
The funds for the scholarship were
raised through the Chapters sports
tournaments and social events.
AMCHAM Myanmar believes in the
empowering effects of education
and has decided to invest in
Myanmars future by supporting its
brightest minds. The scholarship
program is part of AMCHAM
Myanmars Corporate Social
Responsibility efforts.
AMCHAM Myanmar was
established on October 31, 2013,
and it is an independent, nonprofit membership organization.
The objective of the Chapter is to
provide a unified voice for American
and non-American businesses to
engage both the U.S. Government

and the Myanmar Government on

issues of mutual importance and to
spur the economy.
The Chapter has grown to over
100 members since its inception
in October 2013. It represents a
diverse collection of industries and
nationalities, but with a common
goal of expanding commerce
between the U.S. and Myanmar, and
in the regions.
Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) is of vital importance to
AMCHAM Myanmar and its
members. Giving back to the
community businesses operate
in is one of the core principles of
ethical and responsible business.
As part of the Chapters CSR
initiatives and thanks to the
generosity of AMCHAM members
such as Chevron, in its first year
of existence AMCHAM Myanmar
managed to raise enough funds
to provide scholarship for 30
promising but underprivileged
Yangon University students.
The Scholarship Program
carefully selected students who are
not only needy but also outstanding
academically and very enthusiastic.

h opportunities for US, Myanmar

Finally in 2012, he returned to
Bangkok and connected with Mandalay
tycoon Aung Win Khaing through an old
friend. Hes been working with U Aung
Win Khaing since 2012 on the massive
MMID project, running the project
office adjacent to the MCDC offices in
Mandalay and visiting the site about
once a week.
His wife, June Chow, a
Singaporean, lives in their Sukhumvit
condo in Bangkok, where he visits her
regularly. But he says he is committed
to Myanmar and describes the MMID
project as one that has the potential to
change peoples lives.
I like working with Aung Win
Khaings family ... I was very happy
to come back here. I knew what I was
getting into, he said.
Mr Reynolds sees the MMID
project as a place where an expanding
Mandalay can locate a lot of business.
Mandalay is going to grow and
some of the land in Mandalay is going
to be used for other purposes. That
wont happen until there are options

for businesses to move to, and thats

what we are offering. It has been done
successfully in other countries, and
can be done here as well.
Mr Reynolds noted Myanmar has
tremendous natural and human
resources, qualities which once enabled
it to lead the world in rice production.
The Burmese people are honest,
sincere and they can do anything.
They are very adept at whatever they
choose to do and now finally they are
getting a chance to take a bigger place
on the world stage.
He does caution the change is
going to take time, however, and feels
the US should be more engaged here,
albeit with sensitivity.
Im not a politician but I think
democracy is something you cant put in
a box and take to another country, open
it up, and expect good things to happen
immediately. Our own American
democracy is a work in progress. We
fought a civil war and we still have
serious problems. Our political system
is a mess. It is not about doing the

greatest good for the greatest number;

in America it is about how bad you can
make the other guy look.
Despite his criticism, he says, I
still think America is the best country
in the world. But we could be better.
We should be better.
Mr Reynolds says hes been outside
the US so long he doesnt think he
could adjust to living back there. But
he says Myanmar today reminds him
of Thailand 20 years ago a good sign.
It took a long time for Thailand to
improve but they did it and they are
still doing it. There is a similar process
here in Myanmar. They started a
process of change here they cant stop.
Theyll never get the genie back in the
bottle. What I believe will happen is
Myanmar will have a democracy, but a
form that suits them.
His recipe for success?
Treat everybody like youd
like to be treated; treat them with
respect. People will rise to the level of
expectation you place on them. Thats
my experience.

Additionally, the program has

a set of criteria that applicants
have to satisfy in order to be
eligible for the scholarship award.
Each scholarship is eligible for
annual renewal until the recipient
graduates, so long as they meet
AMCHAM Myanmars renewal
criteria.
The 30 scholarship recipients
are from seven different towns and
are all students at the University
of Yangon. They are majoring in
11 subjects: anthropology, botany,
chemistry, computer science,
English, history, industrial
chemistry, international relations,
law, mathematics and physics.
AMCHAM Myanmars
Scholarship Program does not
just give financial support to the
students, but ensures that the
students get the most benefit out
of being AMCHAM Myanmar
scholarship award winners. The
program makes sure that it helps
the students effectively, not only
during their studies but also after
graduation via the Scholarship
Engagement Program.
The program arranges talks

and presentations given by key

persons at AMCHAM Myanmar
member companies to the students.
The program engages those future
leaders with the Chapters members
and businesses to widen the
students perspectives, creativity
and critical thinking.
The program plans to increase
the number of scholarship
award recipients to 35 next year.
AMCHAM Myanmar plans to
hold more events such as golf
tournaments as fundraising
sources. In the future, the Chapter
will arrange factory and company
visits, internship programs and
mock test job interviews for the
students to help them thrive after
graduation. The Chapter aims to
enlarge and widen its CSR efforts,
to initiate school renovation
and teacher training programs
throughout the country.
AMCHAM Myanmar believes
that the key to driving the country
toward a better future is to enrich
and build the capacity of the youth,
who will in turn benefit Myanmars
society as a whole. The Chapter
gives a fishing net rather than fish.

4
Hillary Clinton addresses Fulbright winners, including Megan Quirk (sitting to the right of
the empty space reserved for Ms Clinton), prior to an official group photo. Photos: Supplied

Myanmar i
Huge growth in mobile
payments set to
redefine banking

From publishing to city planning

Initially in Yangon on a US government program, one American scholar has decided to extend her stay

N September, 2006, thenVenezuelan president Hugo

Chavez held up a copy of MIT
professor Noam Chomskys book
Hegemony or Survival at the
United Nations. That act caused
the books sales to skyrocket
good news for New York Citys
Metropolitan Books, where
editorial assistant Megan Quirk
was getting her start learning the
publishing trade.
We reprinted the book several
times over and it was a very
exciting time, said Ms Quirk, who
now lives and works in Yangon.
I like Chomsky, Ms Quirk
said. Hes an amazing thinker. He
unpacks these theories in a way you

pursue a masters degree in urban

planning at the Wagner School
of Public Service at New York
University.
It was during her studies at NYU
that Ms Quirk attended a banquet
at the mansion of then-mayor of
New York Michael Bloomberg,
and went to work as an intern
for New York Citys transport
commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
She participated in the battle
against automobile traffic for the
streets of New York City, led by Ms
Sadik-Khans claims for bicycle
paths and more public plazas
including more automobile-free
space in Times Square.
Then, in the summer of 2013,

When you see what has gone

wrong in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur,
you can make plans for Yangon
now to avoid those mistakes.
Megan Quirk
Urban planner

can relate to.

She had the chance to speak to
the renowned linguistics professor
and political commentator on the
telephone several times, but even
with the success and excitement
of the Chomsky book she realised
a career in the publishing industry
would be difficult, especially in the
United States.
She had grown up an overseas
American anyway, living mostly
in Kuala Lumpur, where her father
worked as an electrical engineer
and her mother worked for the US
government.
During the course of her
publishing job she had worked
on a books about urban planning,
specifically housing policies during
the 1940s and 1950s, and decided to

Ms Quirk got the news shed been

awarded a position as a FulbrightClinton Public Policy Fellow.
She got to sit next to Hillary
Clinton at the reception, the
same night Ms Clintons name got
added to the longtime Fulbright
program.Hillary is polished and
impressive, Ms Quirk said. I
think shed make a great president.
Ms Quirk arrived in Yangon
with the original idea of being
placed in a Myanmar government
agency, but after some delays ended
up meeting U Thant Myint-U
in Bangkok and going to work
for his Yangon Heritage Trust
(YHT), a downtown organisation
of architects and urban planners
who advocate thoughtful and
coordinated town planning for

Yangon as well as the preservation

of historic buildings.
The aim of the FulbrightClinton program is to place us
in government agencies, but the
Yangon Heritage Trust ended up
being a good fit, she said. I was
able to do some workshops with
Yangon City Development Council
on loan from YHT and developed
some good relationships there,
including with director and board
member Daw Moe Moe Lwin.
Bringing her New York
experience to bear, Ms Quirk says
she feels strongly that Yangon
needs to make room for more than
just automobiles. As she finished
up with the Fulbright-Clinton
program in November 2014, she
worked on the planning of the
three-day World Monument FundYHT Conference at Strand Hotel.
You cant just plan for growth
in cars, she said. You need to start
thinking about light rail, subways
and walking areas for pedestrians.
Ms Quirk suggests the money
YCDC charges for parking
downtown should be put back into
upgrading sidewalks and streets.
She also attributes a lot of the citys
automobile congestion to taxis.
There is a huge volume of
taxis with one person inside. That
accounts for a lot of the congestion
you are seeing. You look at a
downtown like Yangons and you
realise the need to do something
like what Singapore or London
have done, like getting the traffic
lights timed well, she said.
Yangon has small city streets
and you need to balance it out so
that pedestrians cross safely. I
strongly believe in making streets
safer for pedestrians and I think
thats something Yangon has the
ability to catch up on more quickly.
When you see what has gone wrong
in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, you
can make plans for Yangon now to

avoid those mistakes.

She praises the work of YCDC
head of urban planning U Toe Aunt.
Hes one of the best urban planners
this city has, she said. She has also
met Yangon Mayor U Hla Myint.
The urban planning unit was
created only a couple years ago,
she said. I think YCDC are getting
better all the time.
After the Fulbright-Clinton
fellowship grant ran out, Ms Quirk
and her husband Jason a graphic
designer who works for a local
firm, Bridge had to decide if they
wanted to return to the US.
My husband had tonnes of
work here and had built up his
portfolio. So I looked around and

got in touch with public relations

firm Agar Communications which
is run by Anthem Asia, an Asianbased investment firm.
Both enjoy living in Yangon.
We love Myanmar; we love our
friends here and we see ourselves
here for at least another year.
We have a lovely balcony that
overlooks Sule Pagoda. It still feels
like a dream.
- Stuart Alan Becker

YANMARS Visa
transaction growth rate is
the highest in the world,
reaching triple digits and outpacing
anywhere else for the global financial
services company, according to
companys country manager.
Hiro Taylor, 33, says mobile
payments will grow at incredible rates
in Myanmars near future creating
a new financial paradigm for the
country.
I think Myanmar has the ability
to grow much more quickly than we
have seen in other countries less
expensively and more efficiently.
When you think about Myanmar
and this countrys infrastructure,
there are only 1000 bank branches
whereas in Thailand there are
10,000, he said.
Mr Taylor sees the opportunity
here for fewer bank branches and
more mobile payments technology to
leapfrog the country into a modern
mobile payments era.
He gave the example of a young
businessperson in Pindaya who might
need to drive to Taunggyi for work,
paying K5000 in fuel each way. That
expense of time and money could be
eliminated by mobile payments, he
said.
million US$

160
Value of Visa-facilitated
transactions in Myanmar
since 2012

If he can get money transferred

via his mobile phone and doesnt have
to make that drive and can instead
focus on what he does then the banks
dont have to build more branches, Mr
Taylor said.
Mobile payments are a win for
banks, a win for consumers and a win
for governments priorities, including
bringing people into the financial
mainstream.
Headquartered in Foster City,
California, and with 8500 employees
worldwide, Visa is a global payments
technology company that connects
consumers, businesses, financial
institutions and governments
in more than 200 countries and
territories, enabling them to use
electronic payments instead of cash
and cheques, primarily via memberissued Visa-branded credit, debit and
prepaid cards.
Taylor, who arrived in Myanmar
in July 2012, was born in Kansas, the
son of an African-American father
and a Japanese mother. While still in
university in Pennsylvania studying
finance and accounting, Mr Taylor
won an internship in New York City
at private banking house Merrill
Lynch as part of a think tank team
and ended up helping build a business
that grew to US$2 billion.
Mr Taylor joined Visa in 2008 just
after it became a public company,

is Visas fastest-growing market

Mobile payments are a win for banks,
a win for consumers and a win for
governments priorities, including
bringing people into the financial
mainstream.
Hiro Taylor
Visa country manager for Myanmar

working in product innovation.

Our mission was developing
new product lines including mobile
payments and money transfers, he
said.
Today, Visa facilitates $7.4 trillion
per year in transactions, through
14,300 financial institution clients
and more than 35 million acceptance
locations.
Visa is quite a big system to
manage, Mr Taylor said. We want
to make sure that there are product
features that make our cards more
secure. As the mobile phone and
internet becomes more prevalent,
security becomes a priority and
there are more tools to mitigate risk,
like geo-locating, multiple factor
authentications.
Hes been full-time in Myanmar
for more than a year and coordinates
teams of Visa subject-matter experts
who help banks implement the
procedures that enable them to issue
Visa cards.
We try to find the balance between
the business opportunity and the risk
in order to make our products as widely
and easily used as possible. When you
deal with peoples money you have to
take a secure approach.
Mr Taylor said Visa does not
issue or extend credit, but is a global
technology company that provides
financial services technology to
banks.
We are a company of servers,
networks and routing endpoints, he
said. Our business model is businessto-business and our clients are
primarily banks.
Since 2012, more than 2000
Myanmar merchant customers
have been added to Visas network.
The first priority when Mr Taylor
arrived was to make sure that visitors
could use their Visa cards at as many
locations as possible.
The immediate need was
tourism, and we operate a two-sided
market: card holders and merchants.
Its a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing.
VISA has eight client banks in
Myanmar: KBZ, CB, AYA, AGD,
MAB, MOB, MCB and UAB.
That compares to Visas 9000
client banks in the United States and
more than 200 in Russia.
Much of Visas work in Myanmar
involves training people at banks.
We have between 30 and 50 people
who fly in to Myanmar on a weekly
basis and oversee specific functions,
he said.
When we came in 2012 we didnt
know what to expect, he said. What
we found were very capable, willing,
smart individuals, some of whom had
formerly worked at Microsoft in New
Jersey, for example, or worked for a

Singapore bank. These professionals

were able to get this system up in
Myanmar faster than in any other
market, he said.
Mr Taylor says the 5 million
visitors to Myanmar projected for
this year and the 7.5 million projected
by 2020 is still undersized compared
to Thailands 20 million visitors
annually making him confident of
continued steady growth.
Visa has facilitated $160 million
worth of transactions in Myanmar
since 2012. At present, four of

Photo: Supplied

Myanmars banks issue Visa prepaid

cards: AYA, KBZ, CB and MAB.
Eventually all the banks will issue
Visa cards, he said. They are in
different stages of development.
Mr Taylors older sister Yumi
is a medical doctor working at
Stanford University in California.
His youngest brother, Kenji, works
at the University of California in San

Francisco as a doctor in residency.

Spending part of his childhood
in the small town of Meadville,
Pennsylvania, he often accompanied
his father, who was both a lawyer
and a farmer, and learned from him
the art of dealing with people and
becoming an entrepreneur.
My father taught me you have a
responsibility when you are building a

business to make your relationships

with a personal touch and to honour
the trust that people put in you:
colleagues, clients and employees.
The Visa brand, he says, is all
about trust also.
It has been incredible to be brand
ambassador for one of the most
ubiquitous brands in the world.
- Stuart Alan Becker

General Electric
donates health
equipment to
local hospitals

Newborns in Yangons
Central Womens Hospital
benefit from incubators
donated by General Electric.
Photo: Aung Min Ye Kyaw

MERICAN multinational
conglomerate General
Electric has donated
medical equipment to three
hospitals in Yangon, much of it
centred around maternal and child
care.
In a morning ceremony on June
27 at the Central Womens Hospital
in Yangon, Myanmars Minister for
Health Dr Than Aung joined General

Electric chief country representative

Andrew Lee in a ceremony to
mark the donation of incubators,
baby warmers, LED phototherapy
equipment, vital sign monitors and
ultrasound equipment.
Also receiving equipment in
the donation were South Okkalapa
Women and Children Hospital and
Thanlyin District Hospital.
General Electric, listed as the

Strengthening
healthcare
systems is critical
for Myanmars
economic growth
We are appreciative
to GE and GE
Foundation for
their support.

systems, and we are appreciative

to GE and GE Foundation for their
support, said Dr Than Aung.
Mr Lee said General Electric
employs 7500 people in the 10
ASEAN member countries,
including on oil and gas platforms.
He said the first General Electric
jet engine had been delivered to
Myanmar for use on a Boeing 737
just two weeks ago.
Following a lengthy absence from
Myanmar owing to US economic
sanctions, General Electric
returned in 2012 and officially
opened their Myanmar office in May

2013. Mr Lee said General Electric

would be working with a company
called Sea Lion to provide assistance
to the Ministry of Health and had
already taken 27 people to the US for
training.
Other General Electric programs
include training for journalists, he
said.
Also on hand was Dr David
Barash, executive director and
chief medical officer of the GE
Foundation, part of the GE
organisation that supplied the
medical equipment.
- Stuart Alan Becker

Dr Than Aung
Minister for health

worlds fourth-largest company

by Forbes in 2012, had revenues
of US$146 billion in 2013 and
employs more than 300,000 people
worldwide. Among other products,
GE makes aircraft engines, power
stations, electric motors, weapons
and wind turbines. It also owns
media companies including NBC.
The company is chaired by Jeffrey
Immelt, one of US President Barack
Obamas economic advisers, who
visited Myanmar in 2014.
At the June 27 ceremony, Dr
Than Aung said, As our country
continues to develop I hope to
see GE continue to support us.
Strengthening healthcare systems
is critical for Myanmars economic
growth. We are constantly
improving our countrys healthcare

Left to Right: Dr Daw Pa Pa, medical superintendent, Central Womens Hospital;

Dr Myat Wunna Soe, deputy director general, planning and budget, Department
of Medical Services; Dr Myint Han, director general, Department of Medical
Services, Ministry of Health; Kovit Kantapasara, GE CEO for Thailand, Myanmar,
and Laos; Andrew Lee, chief country representative, GE Myanmar. Photo: Supplied

Making a difference at Mandalay University

MY Roberts first became

interested in Myanmar
when she was studying
for her PhD at Indiana University
during the late 1990s. There she
met a Myanmar student named Zaw
one of the students who left the
country in 1988 and made it to the
US as a refugee.
We spent hours and hours
talking together, she said.
Ms Roberts now serves as a State
Department English Language
Fellow, a program administered
through Georgetown University. She
arrived in Myanmar in October of last
year; until her placement comes to
an end next month and she returns
to the University of Wyomings
School of Education as an associate
professor, she is placed at Mandalay
Universitys English department.
Ms Roberts was born in Chicago,
but moved to Thailand when
she was three months old. Her
father was a medical doctor and a
Presbyterian minister. She attended
elementary school in Chiang Rai,
Thailand, during the 1960s and
went to high school in Bangkok,
graduating from ISB in 1978. She
and her son Fernando, 11, now
live on the campus of Mandalay
University, and Fernando attends 5th
grade at Horizon School.
In June, Ms Roberts and English
fellow Marie Snider created and
implemented a symposium on
English language teaching and
learning in the Myanmar context
with support from the US State
Department and others involved in
the teaching of English in Myanmar.
The event was wildly successful,
attracting more than 300 attendees,
triple the number expected.
Seven universities in the
Mandalay area were contacted
and a social media was used
to generate interest in the
symposium. Participants and
presenters included educators,
students, interested community
members, government officials
and administrators. Twenty-seven
presentations were given in all,
with content varying from graduate
and instructor research reports to
workshops and hands-on sessions
for new teachers. All the sessions
were appropriate, meaningful and
useful for educators in Myanmar,
Ms Roberts said.
In addition to her home in
Laramie, Wyoming, Ms Roberts
keeps a home in Costa Rica, where
shes done service projects for the
past 10 years.
I would write grants and
conduct very intensive projects,
bringing people together, working
on curriculum, she said.
English-language training as a
gateway to a better future works as
well for Costa Ricans as it does for
Myanmar citizens, and for others
around the world, she says.
Ms Roberts, whose PhD thesis
was on the subject of comparative
international education, says
the key to successful programs is
sustainability and the passion for
working together, to stay engaged
for long periods of time in the same
location.
Sometimes foreign universities
offer inspiring workshops for a week
or two and then leave. Everything
goes back to the way it was.

Amy Roberts poses with volunteers at the English Language Symposium at Mandalay University. Photo: Stuart Alan Becker

One of my areas is honouring people and interacting in

a very respectful way. That means, for me, creating an
authentic materials curriculum that fits their culture,
their country.
Amy Roberts
State Department English Language Fellow

During the symposium, one of

her graduate students, Nyein Thin
Han, gave a particularly impressive
research presentation on feminism.
She conducted text analysis of a
novel that portrayed gender roles in
restrictive societies, quoting from
leaders in the field. She thoughtfully
presented her own ideas and shared
them using English. She examined

the definition of feminism and why

it was important to understand and
how it applied to peoples lives.
I see these different ideas the
students have of trying out different
ways of thinking about the world
and themselves as kind of a thread
going through, and I think part of
my job is to support them.
The human connection is that,

yes, we come from different places

and we have different ideas and
we come from different education
systems, but we do have something
in common here. Let that bring us
together. Through that we can learn
and create and work on some world
issues and dilemmas. They are all
interconnected to so much more
than that. Thats what I believe.

After she returns to Wyoming

and presents her ideas about what
shes learned in Myanmar, Ms
Roberts hopes to set up a kind of
educational program whereby
Myanmar students can go to Costa
Rica a country easier to get into,
visa-wise, than the United States
and live and learn in a communal
setting with other students.
I want to get people from all
over the world to come, especially
from the Pacific side of the ocean,
and develop a small place to do
projects and bring small residential
groups of people together for
intensive language development in
short sessions, 2-3 weeks at a time,
she said.
She also hopes to return to
Mandalay University in January to
continue her work here.
One of her most important
ideas in education is not to impose
a stand-alone curriculum from
a foreign country onto a group
of people. She seeks to avoid the
imposition of curricula that do not
fit well with local conditions.
One of my areas is honouring
people and interacting in a very
respectful way. That means, for me,
creating an authentic materials
curriculum that fits their culture,
their country. Textbooks can be one
tool but they shouldnt be the final
word, she said.
People have their limits and it
is important to know what those
limits are ... Allowing people the
space to be who they are thats OK
with me.
Reflecting on growing up in
Thailand as an overseas American,
Ms Roberts says she thinks people
who grow up in different places have
a hard time staying in one place as
adults.
People who travel extensively
it becomes a lifestyle for them. And
part of the journey is being aware
being self-taught.
- Stuart Alan Becker