My father Saw Aung Khin (pity, I don’t have a picture of him) had come to the Andaman Islands from Burma (Myanmar) along with his parents in 1925. They were among the first Karen settlers from Burma along with 12 other Karen families. The Andaman Administration which was under British rule at that time settled the Karens in Mayabunder, North of the Islands. In the initial year of settlement, they were provided with rations and basic amenities which consisted of some grains and other essentials. Subsequently, Land was then allocated to them by the Administration to cultivate and fend for themselves. This land, however, was not immediately available to cultivate as it was almost jungle-like and the Karens needed to first clear the area in order to start cultivation of any sort. The Karens christened this haven as Webi village (meaning “seclusive place” ). The name fits right into the culture because the majority of Karens then enjoyed living away from people or modern civilization.

From Left: My Mother, Uncle, and Aunty

My mother Naw Ayemajee, on the other hand, was born in the Andamans and after getting married to my Father, they settled in Webi Village where I was born in the year 1953. The village was my paradise, I grew up here surrounded by lush forests on all sides. There flowed a beautiful freshwater stream just beside our land which sadly today has widened to a great extent due to erosion over the years and has also eroded our paddy field to a large extent. From the five acres of paddy field that we had, we are left with only about two and a half acres now. This land has now been transferred to my youngest brother, Saw Mysinder Khin.

We lived off the land and were happy. We ate well at every meal with some exotic foods on our table. We never went hungry and there was plenty for everyone. The best part about this I’d say is that we did not have to buy anything much except items like cooking oil and some spices at times. We had no money even if we wanted to buy other necessities for the home. We managed with whatever we had. Our lifestyle was very authentic and healthy. The sun set early and we went to bed early. We were up before sunrise and carried on with everyday chores around the house. My father would have a cup of tea or a little sticky rice before he would head into the fields to start tilling, plowing, and getting the field ready for paddy plantation. The whole family would be busy from the morning to the evening especially during this season. The rest of us would do plenty of chores around the house. Everything we did ensured that we had enough for our meals in the days ahead. 

Living Off The Land

During those days, we lived in a thatched house on our small piece of land, and my parents mainly cultivated paddy since rice was our staple food. They also grew a few coconut trees and fruit trees like oranges, papaya, and bananas. Some seasonal vegetables were also planted mostly for our consumption. I can still faintly recall the good yield of oranges and papayas each season due to the fertile soil. My parents used to generously give away the rich yield of fruits that were grown in our garden. This was widely practiced amongst our Karen people, to share with each other the yield from their land. Selling the produce was not the habit of the simple Karens then, what the earth gave was to be shared and not sold. Occasionally people from outside the community would come around to buy coconuts, oranges, and poultry products and I remember that my parents sold a hundred oranges for a princely sum of rupees two!

We used to also have a very good harvest of Jack fruits but most of the time, there was too much of it and most of it was given to the buffaloes as fodder. Papayas also grew in abundance; they were left to ripen and fall from the trees. Wild Civet cats from the forests used to come scurrying out in the night and eat these fruits. In turn, people used to trap these wild cats and make a meal out of them….I can recall the taste of that tender meat. Unfortunately, their numbers are vastly reduced now due to the destruction of the forest.

An Eight Kilometer Walk For Basic Provisions

There were only a few families in this village then and the nearest town Mayabunder was about eight kilometers away from our home. I use to accompany my parents walking to Mayabunder to pick up basic provisions and walk back with a load. Of course, it was my parents who use to carry the load and walk back eight kilometers again. There were no proper roads and vehicles were a rare sight. During the rainy season, walking in the slushy mud was difficult but all of us just got used to it and for the Karens, it was not such a big deal. We also had plenty of parasitic leeches surface during the rainy season and these tiny predatory worms use to get on to you, cling on to you and enjoy sucking your blood, and most of the time you don’t even realize that they have clung on to you. When they have had their fill of blood from your body, they just drop off but most of the time we just pull them off from our body and throw them away. But even this never bothered the Karens who are known for their endurance in difficult and hostile conditions.

Mastering the elements

The village had no piped drinking water and no electricity. It used to be pitched dark in the night and people who had to go from place to place, use to burn dried bamboos and the flames of these bamboos acted as torches. Some people never even used this type of torch and walked in the night without missing their destination. At night we lit small kerosene lamps which would invite a swarm of insects and we did all our house chores in the night under the lights of these kerosene lamps. For our drinking water, our parents used to fetch from a stream that flowed beside our land. There was no well and the water fetched from the stream was only strained with a piece of cloth and this was used for cooking and drinking. I don’t ever remember my parents boiling the water for drinking, and no one ever got sick due to drinking this water. We used firewood to cook our food and if one is not used to this, it can be quite exasperating trying to light the fire. But the food cooked in this way was tasty and delicious and cooking did not take long because people had mastered the art of cooking with firewood. Whenever people visited our home, my mother used to quickly make tea or coffee for them using the firewood stove. Sufficient firewood, of course, had to be gathered and stocked up especially before the monsoon had set in.

Sticking And Working Together As a Family – (Left to right, Humphrey, Robert (Myself), Mysinder, Julie and Silverine)

My parents toiled hard throughout the year for our large family of ten members. My unmarried uncle and aunt lived with us and they also pitched in working from morn to dusk….cultivating the field, harvesting, taking care of the farm animals, growing vegetables, looking after the little poultry that we had. Farming and tilling implements were hand made and crafted out of wood, cane, and bamboo by each Karen family for use in their respective fields. For the paddy cultivation, there was also the process of seed selection, land preparation, crop establishment, water management, nutrient management, crop health management, harvesting and all the post-harvesting work of threshing, winnowing, etc. All this was a very tiresome job as everything was done manually. Since our parents worked hard on the farm we always had enough food to eat and was even able to share it with our relatives and neighbors whenever the need arose. 

Improvising With Traditional Karen Equipments

Even though we did not have modern machinery of any kind, our Karen people were excellent craftsmen and carved out different agriculture and fishing implements to get our daily work done in the best way possible. Although it improved the efficiency of our work, we definitely were not spared from hard work while using them. Here is a list of a few types of equipment with a small description of what they were used for. 

#1. Thay or Wooden Plow – Strapped and yoked behind a buffalo or cow to plow the fields.

#2. Surhgee or Paddy Churner – Used to separate the husk from the paddy. Usually churned several times until all the husk is removed from the rice. This, however, is not in a state fit for consumption as yet. 

#3. SurhYaw or Rice refiner – Used to pound the rice and make it refined

#4. Kawleih – Frisking the rice to separate the fine particles of the husk and broken rice to obtain whole grains of rice – usually done by the womenfolk. The broken rice is usually fed to the chickens on the farm. 

#5. Phaegu – Similar to the KawLeih but with tiny openings in the tray to rid the rice of even finer particles. Again another process of sifting the rice. 

#6. Wah Khoku – Karen Bamboo Hat normally used to protect farmers from the sun and rain during the cultivation season.

#7. SherKauh – Pounder – Ancient concept similar to a mortar and pestle used to pound anything ranging from rice, chilies, garlic, ginger, etc. 

#8. Sursu or Larger Pounder – Similar to the Sher Kauh but used to pound larger food items. 

#9. Wah Sauh or Bamboo basket – Heavy bamboo basket used to protect newly hatched chickens so that predators don’t get to them. 

#10. Wah Berh or Bamboo Trap – Used to trap fish in rivers or lakes 

#11. Pooh or fish basket – Used to carry fish after a day’s catch. 

#12. Naulegh or wooden bow – A hybrid of a bow and a catapult propelling stones used to scare away predators that steal food from around the house. 

#13. Kauhlou or cowbell – Slung on the neck of a buffalo or cow to locate the animals easily.

Preserving Tradition and Culture – Koh Hee Homestay

Since the Andamans is now slowly developing, there are not many people keeping ancient karen tradition and artifacts alive. My brother -in- law Saw John Aung Thong, however, has made it a point to dedicate his time preserving our traditions, artifacts and medicinal plants to show to the world how the Karens lived their lives those days. He has also started a homestay in our village right at his parents’ home where my wife Naw Metay and her family grew up. Our family, especially my sons have fond memories growing up here with their grandparents. If this lifestyle is something that excites you, and you want to experience it first hand, please do contact me and I will connect you with John and his beautiful homestay. I love staying here whenever I go back and visit the Andamans.

After the harvesting season, my parents would be busy with threshing, grinding, and sifting the paddy to rice ready for consumption. Our buffalos and goats also had to be looked after from morning to the evening, taking care to see that they do not stray into the neighbor’s field and damage their crops. Wooden bells for the buffalos had to be made for us to trace them and bring them back home in the evening.

My uncle then used to prepare to go out to sea, camp on some islands for about a week or so to fish and hunt. The meat and fish were then dried and preserved for use during the rainy months when fishing and hunting became difficult. My Mother and my Aunty would also set out close by to our house and lay traps to catch the river fish which was plenty at that time. Today though fishing is permitted, one needs to have a license from the Fisheries Department to do so. Hunting of animals is strictly prohibited and this restriction is a good thing as otherwise animals like wild boar, spotted deer would become extinct in the Andamans.

The Difference Between Fashion & What We Wore

My parents didn’t have money to buy us good clothes but my mother used to tailor shirts and pants for us with whatever cloth that she could get. I remember how my parents stitched gunny sacks (jute bags) together and used them as blankets to keep us warm during the winter months. Life may have seemed tough but it kept us together, content, and happy because we had food, shelter, and other basic needs. Our duties as children were to help in all the household chores. My brothers and sisters learned how to manage the house and the field as they grew up. They learned how to cook, plant, and harvest crops and take care of the few buffalos and poultry that we had. My parents made immense sacrifices, I realize that now. My only regret is not being able to give back to them while they were still around.  

Although we lived in a remote village cut off from the town, the village was a harbor of safety, so much so that our houses did not even have doors and windows and nothing would be stolen or tampered with when we used to all go to church on Sundays. This was the only day we went out together as a family leaving our house and our field unattended.

I enjoyed my growing up years in the village. There’s just something about being so close to nature, living life like it was intended to live, personal interaction, and a community that made my experience extra special. I didn’t go to a school then, simply because we didn’t find the need to at that time. However, learning was never adrift. Our families taught us good values and culture, and nature taught us what we needed to survive, thrive, and live in harmony. The fresh air, the green wilderness, the music of a variety of birds singing, owls hooting, insects squeaking and deer barking in the forest at night were all beautiful experiences that we miss so much today. The unpolluted beautiful land, endless joyful days of playing and swimming in the rivers and lakes do bring back lovely memories of my years growing up in the Andaman Islands. There’s nothing in the world I would trade for a childhood like this.

This was life for me in the village till about the age of eight. Life took a turn when an Indian Christian missionary Rev. George David arrived in the Andaman Islands in 1958. He had come to work amongst the Karen community and decided to settle down in our village and I think he made a huge sacrifice leaving family and friends in the Mainland to venture out to such a remote and untouched place like the Andamans at that time.

The First School And Church Building – Mulla School

After he arrived in the village, I believe that the first need that he saw was to give basic education to the children of the community. He then identified a little private Christian school in the village that catered mainly to the Karen children. Rev. George David took over the school and upgraded it to an English medium school. The only other teacher apart from him during those years was a Karen gentleman Saw Ba Maung whom Rev. David appointed to continue to teach the Karen language so that our language could be preserved. It was during these years that parents were encouraged to put their children in school and my parents also enrolled me in this school. Thus began my primary years of education. It was from here that I learned how to read and write a bit of English. I will never forget how Rev, David used to hold our hands and helped us do cursive writing. If my writing today is neat and legible, it was because of these early lessons in handwriting that Rev. David was so particular about. Now when I reflect back to my early years, I am thankful to Rev. George David for laying the foundation for my education in the Andamans.

More about Rev. George David, his work, and ministry in the Andamans in my next post …….

In recounting and recollecting my years growing up in a humble setting, I’m thankful and grateful to my parents for the love and sacrifice that they made for my family and me. I encourage our dear young friends to treasure the moments with your family and ensure you make the best use of your time with them. Always honor them with love and gratitude.

” We may stray as life goes on, but we’ll end up with our family – appreciate them.” – Catherine Pulsifer