There is a discussion about a topic, Why some Kayan females dont want to wear neck rings?on Kayan Online forum. Majority of Kayan youths do not want kayan young women wear neck ring. The major reason is it affected their education and the only way to bring out kayan from the place where people said human zoo is let the children study and learn to escape. Some people think they need to wear neck ring to maintain kayan culture.On Kayan Online forum, a kayan student, Titus, who is studying in Manila said“not wearing neck rings is not equal to throwing away our kayan identity or culture at all”. On the other hand, Naing Oo who is a Oversea Kayan Worker(OKW) add “according to this modern world and Kayan should focus on education but we understand that those who stay wear it mean they are still behind and force to wear by their parents”. Actually they are also forced by business man or local government in Thailand.
In Thailand Kayan women are control by local business men and government. Musar, who is kayan, was not allowed to go to where she could receive a high school education. She proceeded to strip off her rings in 2005 and left her village to pursue an education.
Other young women told similar stories.
"I can't go out from the village. There is neither freedom nor basic rights living in the village," said 16-year-old Mu Thaung, speaking of life wearing the rings. Until recently, she had studied at a Karenni high school. "The main reason to take off my rings was to be able to further my education freely."
"If we continue to wear these rings, we will not have any choices about what we want to be in the future. Now I am studying at [a Karenni] leadership school. If I tried to study outside the village wearing these rings, local authorities would never allow it," said 22 year-old Mu Youg, who stripped off her rings just last year. "What I want to do is to continue my studies. After I have finished studying, I would like to share what I have learnt with my people. This is my ambition," she said.
Recently more than 10 long-neck girls have gone to high school outside their villages. But life for these students is not easy with their necks bared.
The girls always feel afraid of the local authorities and tour operators who control the villages. Some have been forced to put the rings back on by local Thai businessmen.
After wearing the rings for about 15 years, Mu Paw Paw (not her real name) stripped off her rings in order to be able to live a normal life. She said: "The rings are a prison."
But a Thai businesswoman, who controlled Hway Su Thao, where Paw Paw lived, tried to force Paw Paw to put the rings back on. When Paw Paw refused, the woman kicked her out of the village.
"I didn't want them to control me," said Paw Paw. Using her basic English, Paw Paw got a job in Mae Hong Son. She managed to stand on her own two feet without relying on the tourist business in her village. However, she said: "The best thing would be to maintain the traditions and to be free too."
As we are Kayan, we should encourage them to let their children study as other whenever we meet them. Some of young women take away their neck ring and study in the college. Education is the only way that we can save our Kayan children. “Not wearing neck ring does not mean forgetting our culture” said Khu Fumai.
Edited by Maibla
References
http://www.kayanonline.com/forum/topics/why-some-kayan-females-dont
http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/998-the-plight-of-the-kayan.html
One facts is: The Long-Neeked Karén women are the best trained of all the mountain tribes in Asia, general better trained, than any lowland rural population.
ReplyDeleteThe question is: Are there any relationship between education and neck rings?
Yes, the ordinary women in developing countries is usually totally subjugated. This is because a culture which is inherited from mother to daughter. This culture has the biological background to a little girl can become mother when she is 13 years old. If she discovers that she is a woman as 2 years old so she must wait for 11 years as a sexless being, just waiting to become a true woman and mother. It is understandable that she gets depressed by the long waiting time. When women are subjugated so the boys are dominant, and creates kingdoms where they treat their subjects as subjugated women.
There is a strong correlation between oppressed women and tyrants. All tyrants are born of oppressed women.
A neck ring helps the girls to feel like women and forcing them to proudly lifting his chin. The boys want their wife is proud as their sister, and neck-rings modify the feminine ideal, but neck-rings also change the male ideal. This means that officers treat the soldiers like a mother.
A mother has the choice, she and her daughter wear neck rings as her sons are caring as a mother, or she wishes that her son will become a new dictator like "Snr-Gen Than Shwe." Choose!
"In Thailand Kayan women are control by local business men and government." that is history. They get a work permit in 2009. The government pay for the use of neck-rings from 2006. This payments affect, among other things, the education. The use of neck-rings pay the education. The without neck rings, so they were totally without educational opportunities, like the other refugees.
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