Mahn Ba Zan in Childhood
Danubyu is in the Irrawaddy Delta area, in Maubin district, and is a subdivision town with the office of the Township Officer. It lies over a hundred miles west of Rangoon. This town was founded in the time of the Burmese kings. The population of the town is nearly one hundred thousand. Most of the inhabitants are Burmans.
There are about five Karen families, including Mahn Ba Zan’s family. Some of the industry for the town people would be the manufacture of sleeping mats, woven from reeds, and sold all over Burma, and some for the production of domestically as well as internationally known choicest cigars.
The town is roughly divided into two main sections, the Northern and Southern. The Southern part of the town is where the market place is located, and the Northern has the office of the Township Officer, Police Station, Hospital and Schools, with residential quarters for government employees.
This town has been well known in the Burmese history. The decisive battle for the Second Anglo-Burmese war in 1853 was fought there. The fiercest engagement occurred here between the Burmese army led by the famous General Maha Bandoola and the encroaching expansionist British troops.
In that battle, a mortar bomb delivered by the British exploded near Maha Bandoola, and the injury caused the death of Maha Bandoola. Because of his death, the Burmese troops became demoralized, and gradually had to yield ground, culminating in the Burmese defeat.
Because of that defeat, the British took over and governed the Irrawaddy and Pegu divisions. It was also in that town that the famous political leader in the Burmese political scene during the colonial days, Dr. Ba Maw, was born. It was in the Southern section of Danubyu that President Mahn Ba Zan was born on February 10, 1916, or the waxing 6th of the month of Tabodweh, 1277 of the Burmese era.
His parents were Pwo Karens, father Mahn Sein Bwint and mother Daw Chaw. Mahn Sein Bwint was an educated Christian. He studied at the Karen National High School at Henzada, an Anglo-Vernacular School, and passed the tenth standard (High School graduation). Later, he attended the Baptist Teachers College and obtained his Diploma in Teaching. Following his graduation from the teacher’s college, he served as middle school teacher at the Danubyu A.B.M. (American Baptist Mission) Middle School. Mahn Sein Bwint’s family and relatives were Christians.
Mother Daw Chaw came from Nyaung Chaung Village of Danubyu Township. She was from a family of landowners who leased some of their land to tenants and worked part of the land themselves, and having been quite wealthy farmers. She and all her family members and relatives were Buddhists. Although Mahn Ba Zan grew up among his parents and their families of Buddhists and Christians, he had no religious affiliation.
Daw Chaw was a relatively literate young lady. She was the belle of Nyuang Chaung village. After Mahn Sein Bwint and she were married, because of the tender loving persuasion of the former, she became a Christian.
There were four siblings in the family. The oldest sister was Grace Sein Bwint and the next older sister was Margaret Sein Bwint. Both graduated from High School, having passed the tenth standard, and went into nursing and became Sisters (Head Nurses) in the Rangoon General Hospital. His youngest sister was Ma Hintha who passed away at the age of two.
The death of Ma Hintha was followed by exceedingly bad fortune. This was because, when Mahn Ba Zan was four, his mother Daw Chaw succumbed to influenza, which was rampant at the end of World War I.
Not long after the death of his mother Daw Chaw, his father Mahn Sein Bwint married for the second time a Sgaw Karen lady, Daw Myaing, from SitChaungNatSin Village of Maubin Township. Daw Myaing was a wealthy Buddhist farmer. All her family and relatives were Buddhists. After her marriage to Mahn Sein Bwint, she became a Christian. She was modestly literate.
The children of Mahn Sein Bwint and Daw Myaing were S’Po (Matilda Sein Bwint), BoGyi (Ba Sein Myaing), and the youngest was Porsha Sein Bwint.
A second very bad fortune came about for Mahn Ba Zan. An hour after having given birth to Porsha Sein Bwint, Daw Myaing began to hemorrhage and died.
According to Mahn Ba Zan, although he had been told that stepmothers were very bad, Daw Myaing was nothing of the sort. She was not like a stepmother at all. She loved them as her own, and took care of them and raised them as though they were her own, having given them all that she had. They were very grateful to her. They grew up under her loving care.
After the death of Daw Myaing, Mahn Sein Bwint, like restoring each fallen tree, married again the third time. His third spouse was Daw Mya of Inday village in Maubin district. She was a Pwo Karen Buddhist, as well as a wealthy farmer. Their union for the rest of their lives produced no children.
The childhood name or nickname of Mahn Ba Zan was U Wai. The reason for the name was that when he was born, the Irrawaddy Division Inspector of School U Wai Lin was visiting and making his inspection of the A.B.M. School at Danubyu. That visit became a reference and identification of the name U Wai Lin for him. Later, some called him U Wai while others called him Wai Lin. Eventually the nickname Wai Lin disappeared and only U Wai was left, which was what he was called at home. His school name and the name at work have always been Ba Zan.
The name Ba Zan came into being because he was born on Thursday, and in accordance with the calculations made by a maternal aunt on his horoscope and fortune.
In the words of Mahn Ba Zan:
“As a child, I was a pretty bad kid. I learned that I had been a bad youngster from older folk from Danubyu told me about it. I was serving as a Township officer when I stopped by Danubyu during an official tour. The news that Township Officer Saw Ba Zan was visiting spread all over the Karen Quarter.
“When I was in Danubyu, I made a visit to my birthplace at the small Karen Quarter. On my arrival there, elderly people came to greet me, including some old grandmas who inquired if I were U Wai. When I said ‘yes’, they simply beat their chests and said, ‘Alas, Saw Ba Zan is after all YOU!’ I was curious and asked why they looked surprised. They said, ‘It must have been a miracle that you have become a Township Officer like this.’ I asked, ‘Why?’ And they replied, ‘When you were a kid, the whole village branded you as a terrible brat. That you have risen to a high position like this is what we find astonishing.’
“According to them, as a boy, I was quite unruly, bad enough to be considered despicable by the entire village. There was not a day that I was not severely punished by caning. And despite those punishments, I continued mindlessly to be a terrorizing youngster, and had been particularly troublesome and trying for my stepmother, Daw Myaing, who had to bear the brunt of my evil behavior.” Again,
Concerning his stepmother Daw Myaing, Mahn Ba Zan further added, “Daw Myaing was so very kind, loving and caring, and a sincere person that she ought NOT to be referred to as a ‘stepmother’, having been so nice to myself and my sisters. She loved me as though I was her own biological son. An evil youngster that I was, she never failed to show her love and tolerance upon me. She would not even accept the punishment by caning meted out on me for my indubitably culpable trespasses. She took care of and brought me up very patiently and nurtured me to change into a tractable and well-mannered youngster. Daw Myaing will remain my unforgettable and lovable benefactor for the rest of my life.”
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