From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey
SynopsisPlot
It was during a tour on a trip through Burma that John Casey, a Cambridge don, first met Pascal Khoo Thwe, who was moonlighting in a Chinese restaurant to support himself as a student at Mandalay University. Thwe was born a member of the Padaung tribe in Burma where political turmoil and poverty are ever-present realities. Thwe left school to join the student rebels during the great insurrection of 1988, but remained in touch with Casey. He was forced to flee the country. It was his connection to Casey that enabled him to emigrate to England where he was admitted to Cambridge University. Despite his humble beginnings and the oppression he faced, Pascal Khoo Thwe brings us into a world forgotten by the West, but one that readers will not soon forget.
Story
About this book
Pascal Khoo Thwe grew up among the Padaung people in the hills of Burma, now Myanmar. His memoir traces his early life in a community shaped by its own traditions and by the political instability that has long marked the country. As a young man, Thwe studied at Mandalay University and worked evenings in a Chinese restaurant, where he met John Casey, a lecturer from Cambridge. That chance encounter would eventually redirect the course of his life.
In 1988, a large-scale student uprising swept through Burma. Thwe left his studies to join the movement. When the insurrection was suppressed, he was forced to flee the country. His connection to Casey proved decisive: through Casey's support, Thwe was able to reach England and gain admission to Cambridge University. The book follows his path from a remote hill community through armed resistance and exile to an English university town, covering ground that spans geography, class, and culture.
The memoir received a Human Rights Watch award in 2002. Throughout the account, Thwe describes the Padaung way of life and the conditions faced by ethnic minorities in Burma, offering specific detail about a region and people that receive little outside attention.
