Myaing Gyi Ngu

Myaing Gyi Ngu (Burmese: မြိုင်ကြီးငူ) is a village-town in the Hlaingbwe Township[1],Hpa-an District of Kayin State, Myanmar.[2] It is the location of an IDP camp[3] sheltering over 5,000 people.[4] The IDPs were people who fled from recent conflicts between Tatmadaw and DKBA. U Thuzana helped to the IDPs to settle in Myaing Gyi Ngu by providing them with large pieces of land, basic needs like food and also offering temporary accommodation for villagers to live in compounds of religious buildings such as pagodas and monastery[5]. The villagers who live near the battle zones were forced to flee in fear of landmines, possible casualties might be inflicted by the soldiers' shooting and so on. The camp receive insufficient support and many of them were forced to work for employers who pay them significantly less than the minimum wage of the country. Many employers, especially in the agriculture in agriculture sector, take advantage of the IDPs who were desperately finding for jobs to provide basic needs for their families by paying them at a lower wage and giving them bigger workloads than usual.

Myaing Gyi Ngu မြိုင်ကြီးငူ
Village
Myaing Gyi Ngu Location in Myanmar (Burma)
Coordinates: 17°21′32″N 97°40′26″E
Country	Myanmar
Division	Kayin State
District	Hpa-an District
Township	Hpa-an Township
Time zone	UTC+6.30 (MMT)

Myaing Gyi Ngu is one of the largest villages in its region that is resided by ten of thousands of residences and most developed. It has considerably better infrastructure than nearby villages which built mainly by volunteers who were some of the earliest residents. Sayadaw U Thuzana who is also known as Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw [6] led the villagers in the construction of the Thit Sar road [7]which led from Myaing Gyi Ngu to Hpa-An(the capital and largest city of Kayin State). The road allows villagers to travel to cities which also brings economic development and safety. The road allows the transportation of goods to be bought in the city and to resell them in villages. Before the construction of the road, villages had to travel by carts(drawn by cows) and it's not unusual for the villagers to get robbed. Sayadaw U Thuzana is also credited for many infrastructure project such as the building of bridges, roads in villages and high schools which two high schools in Myaing Gyi which are attended by several hundred students predominantly from nearby villages [8]. Since these nearby villages don't satisfy the population requirement set by the government to build high school, students often leave villages after middle schools to complete high school education at Myaing Gyi Ngu high schools.

The late U Thuzana holds the title Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw in the village.[9][10] The title "Sayadaw" which literally means [11]"spiritual teacher" is given to some of the most prominent monks who hold the supreme position in their respective region. As for U Thuzana, he is referred to Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw as he lived in Myaing Gyi Ngu. He died in 2018 after years of battle with lung diseases and his death was mourned by hundred of thousands of his followers. [7]Myaing Gyi Ngu is a self-ruling region that was led by U Thuzana and therefore has limited law enforcement by the government. As a result, the villagers don't exercise common citizen duties like paying taxes etc. Myaing Gyi Ngu is also well known for its pagodas such as Kyi Payar, Yadawmu, Chout Myat Nar and so on. Myaing Gyi Ggu is labelled by the central government as "yellow zone[12]" which means foreigners are restricted to visit.