Excursions in Burma: Paya Ngoto School & Pottery Village
After the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, Audley wanted to raise funds to help a community affected by one of the worst natural disasters of all time. Our local agent in Burma helped us to identify a small primary school in Paya Ngoto village which had been virtually destroyed and was in desperate need of a donor to help rebuild the school and move the 55 students out of temporary bamboo classrooms back into the main schoolhouse.
Paya Ngoto School & Pottery Village
Rangoon, Burma
After the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, Audley wanted to raise funds to help a community affected by one of the worst natural disasters of all time. Our local agent in Burma helped us to identify a small primary school in Paya Ngoto village which had been virtually destroyed and was in desperate need of a donor to help rebuild the school and move the 55 students out of temporary bamboo classrooms back into the main schoolhouse.
After months of fundraising and the hard work of a local contractor and workforce, the school was completed and the children moved back into their brighter, larger and better equipped schoolhouse. This is a project that we are immensely proud of and we would like to encourage all of our clients to visit, particularly as so many generously donated and supported our fundraising efforts.
Paya Ngoto is situated near Twante and we recommend that you also pay a visit to the small pottery industries that are located here.
After breakfast your guide and driver will transfer you to the jetty in Rangoon for the short river crossing to Dala. From here you will be driven to Twante, the journey should take around one hour. The town is visited by very few tourists and offers a fascinating insight into local life outside of central Yangon.
After a trishaw ride to the Shwe San Daw pagoda and market in the town itself you head off to the small surrounding villages where some of the locals make a living from pottery. Here you will witness how pots of all shapes and sizes are produced inside local homes. With skills inherited from their ancestors, a man can shape a pot in a matter of seconds before the pots are taken to the giant kilns for glazing and baking.
From Twante, you head back towards Dala but stop enroute to spend time at the Paya Ngoto Primary School. At the school, you will have chance to meet all of the children and schoolteachers, as well as observing lessons and helping the children with their studies. If you would like to provide lunch for the children, we can arrange this for a small fee.
After visiting the school you will be driven thirty minutes to Dala for the short ferry crossing to the main jetty in Rangoon. A car will be waiting at the jetty to transfer you to your hotel.
More about Rangoon, Burma