Support Monastic Education and Sustainable Agriculture in Burma

The Hinman Foundation launched an online campaign to help raise funds for one of our partners in Burma and we need your help!

Campaign Overview

We hope to buy a rice milling machine for a Buddhist monastic school to help this school feed itself and generate income for ongoing school costs. If the campaign is successful, the school will be able to buy a rice milling machine, an essential tool for rice cultivation, that will propel their agricultural program and help them become sustainable.  The school grows much of its own food, and needs the tools to maximize and complete the cultivation.  A rice milling machine will dramatically increase this production and generate income for the school’s operating costs.

Monasteries serve as a space for community gathering and spiritual practice, and often also house schools (known as monastic schools) or medical clinics. This monastic school, Su Tawn Pyi, provides a home and education for some of the poorest students in Burma.

What is the role of monastic schools in Burma?

Within the education sector in Burma, monasteries and nunneries are filling a critical gap by providing free education to the poorest of the poor. While primary education is free in Burma, there are associated costs such as the purchase of books and uniforms that people cannot afford. Therefore, a growing number of people rely on the monastic/nunnery schools for their children’s education, and there are now 1,700 monastic schools educating 200,000 students. The monastic schools offer standard government curriculum and courses in Buddhism.

Monasteries and nunneries rely on the community to provide donations for teachers’ salaries, supplies, and improvements to the school.

Why is a monastic school growing rice and how does a milling machine help them?

Because the Buddhist monks and nuns are not paid and education is provided free of charge, the school needs to find alternative ways to provide food and generate resources to pay for operating costs. With a means to generate income, the school leadership can focus its efforts on providing quality education to its students. Improvements in the rice cultivation will allow abbot to devote more time to the community’s spiritual practice and running the school.

This school is located in a fertile area in Thanlyin, Burma and the abbot (head monk) has agricultural expertise. He has shown great leadership and innovation to help this school be more sustainable. He wants his students to understand the importance of being self reliant and is teaching them essential agricultural skills in this living playground. He has slowly accrued acres of land to grow rice that is consumed by the students.  This project not only increases the agricultural capacity of the school but also brings the community together. As the enrollment at Su Tawn Pyi has increased, so has the need, and the abbot believes the rice milling machine will help meet that need.

Rice milling is an essential step after cultivating the rice. The rice milling machine separates the rice kernel from the rice husk, the outermost layer of a rice paddy. The husk must be removed before rice can be eaten. If the school has the equipment to process the rice itself, then it can complete production, save on costs, and generate income.

Please visit our campaign page for more information and to contribute today!  Thank you for your support.