Karen New Year 's Speech by Saw Aung Khin in 1998

Happy New Year to you all.

It is a great honor and pleasure for me to speak at our Karen New Year Day. This is the
second time I have celebrated Karen New Year with my brothers and sisters in Vancouver B C. First of all I thank the Karen community here for let me speak at this important occasion of our Karen New Year. Last year I shared about my experience how I celebrated Karen New Year in my boyhood till I have become grown up man. This time Iwould like to stress the importance of maintaining our Karen culture andheritage. As different ethnic people has their own culture and heritage, our Karen people are also unique and have our own culture and heritage. Had it not been for the Karen community in Vancouver B C, we will not be able to celebrate Karen New Year to day with Karen musics and dances which reflect our Karen culture and heritage.

Thank you so much for maintaining our Karen culture and heritage. To maintain our culture and heritage, we have to learn own language and literature. With out learning our written language and literature, we will not be able to maintain and up keep our culture and tradition. With out
knowing our written language, it will be very hard to learn our history. When I was in school we learn Burmese History from Middle School through High School and I have not come across the words " Karen or Kayin" in the text book although Karen people are the second largest minority in the country. From then I do believe that the word Karen was not included in the History text book, because we Karen people did not have written language of our own during the Burmese Monarchy days. Thank God , during the British colonial Rule The American Missionaries who came to Burma introduced Karen alphabet, probably borrowed from Burmese alphabets, and from then on we have our own written language and literature. In Burma, not long after the Military took over the country all schools were nationalized and all ethnic minority languages were not allowed to be taught in the school any more. Only minority people who live in resistant group areas have the opportunity to learn their own language. When the Mon resistant group signed cease fire agreement with the Military Regime, they were promised to established Mon National School, but later the Regime broke its promise and ordered all Mon National School to be closed. In Chin State in remote Chin hills where there is no school, villagers hire their own teachers and established primary School. Those schools were also closed by the Military Regime. So in Burma, ethnic minority people who live within the control of the Military Government do not have the chance for their children to learn their own language. Now let me share about my family and my children. My children were born in Burma during the Burma Military Regime and they do not have the chance to learn their own language. They can not read and write Karen. I also partly blame myself for not being so enthusiastic at that time as I am now. If you do not know Karen written language, how can you maintain Karen culture and heritage! At present we have small Karen community in Vancouver B C and it is not easy to build a school so that we can teach our children our culture and tradition. Never the less we can do so in Church and Monastery where we go for worshiping. I believe that if we set aside one hour or so a week and teach our children their written language and heritage, it will be wonderful to inherit our children with our precious Karen culture and heritage. Besides, Vancouver Karen community is blessed
with two wonderful teachers. One is Sgaw Karen teacher thramu Naw Loo Lu and the other is Pwo Karen teacher none other than Naw Loo Lu's beloved
husband thra Aung Mya Thein. There are only two major Karen languages and you have it all.
In conclusion, I would like to thank Vancouver Karen community, visitors and friends alike who come and join us in celebration of our Karen New Year. My special thanks to those who worked very hard last night to prepare food and those who practice so hard for musics and dances to make our Karen New Year celebration possible.

Thank you very much again and God Bless you all.


Saw Aung Khin.