It’s estimated that some 10-12% of Myanmar’s population live or work overseas – a statistic comparable with the Philippines. MAWLAMYINE (or Moulmein) is one of those Southeast Asian cities like Sandakan, Bacolod and Songkhla; where the past looms large but the present seems faded and unpromising. The kinds of places that young people yearn to leave in search of jobs and money.

A NEW cataract surgery machine has brought a new light of hope to people in Mawlamyine, in southeast Myanmar, as cataracts are still a big problem for many people in this region.