Dear Alumni:

The Methodist and Dagon(1) Old Students held the annual Teacher's Obeisance ceremony, in the Assembly Hall of our Alma Mater on December 29th 2002. There were over three hundred attendees that day. The attendees from out of Burma came from USA, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, Malta, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hongkong etc. The Master of Ceremony Alan Kyaw Maung read the itinerary of the occassion. Clement Tin Tut gave an opening speech, followed by Gloria Winthein (Hengshoon) giving a short speech and donating money collected from some of the Alunmi who had sent her the money.

Donors for this were: Roland Liu, Christopher Manook, Kenny Teoh, Lucy Chen, Kamdar Family, Bertie Aye, Vivian Alex Sharma, Patricia Clift, Beauty Myo Min and Gilbert Swe, Nyun Nyun Soe, William Taw and Jimmy Khoo and Gloria Hengshoon. The money was distributed as follows:
30,000 kyats each were donated to the old teachers of Methodist English High School and they were:

1. Mrs. Dahlia Myat San
2. Daw Minnie Gaw
3. Daw Tin Tin (Mrs. Hone)
4. Mrs. Betty Kong
5. Mrs. Agnes Ho
6. Miss Esther Gale
7. Miss Richardson
8. Mrs. Saulsman

Every former or current teacher from MEHS or Dagon(1) who attended the ceremony received 20,000 kyats each, which was donated by all the attendees.

Miss Gaw gave a speech on behalf of the teachers in English and Daw May (Arakanese) read a poem written by her in Burmese. I promised to try and help the teachers in Burma with donations yearly. Especially towards the medical fund. Even if we put in at least $5 each, we could help all the teachers as our dollars go a long way.

In the evening we still had over 300 attendees at the dinner held at Shan Khan #3 (Old University Boat Club). Everyone who attended had to buy their own dinner tickets and a buffet was served. There was a band and some singers entertaining. Of course some of the alumni also entertained by singing and some danced to the singing.

The evening came to an end with everyone singing the good old Alma Mater School Song. A good time was had by all as we got to see friends we had not seen for years and years. I was told that the attendees at the Obeisance and the dinner was nearly four times what it was yearly.

Gloria Winthein