When people think about tea in Burma, one community springs to mind: the Palaung. Palaung tea can be found in every household and every restaurant – and it is also popular in China. For nearly a thousand years, Palaung people have depended on the small green leaves for their livelihood.

But the current economic crisis is badly affecting local tea-growers: “these days a kilo of tea won’t buy you a kilo of rice in our community,” says Lway Moe Hlaing (23) a Palaung woman who works on a tea plantation. Some people blame fluctuating Chinese currency rates for the economic slump. Others say climate changes have also had a negative impact. But Mai Aik Phone, General Secretary of Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), believes it is a political issue, relating to ownership of resources.

He points to the government seizure of a locally-owned factory ten years ago. The government claimed the factory was a health-hazard because it was adding other ingredients to the tealeaves. But Mai Aik Phone denies this, and says the government was simply looking for an excuse to fix prices without consulting the community.

“Now the government is not allowing people to build new tea-processing factories or companies in their community. But in a democratic Burma, things will be different. When the Palaung people have their own local government, they can use their own knowledge to improve the quality of their tea and export it,” he said. In theory it is already possible for local growers to sell their product directly to big tea companies, and so avoid the traders in the middle. But in practice it isn’t so simple.

Most growers can’t afford to get involved in a long buying and selling process. And they also lack the resources to transport their product. So they just deal with the tea merchants and accept whatever price is offered.

Tea plucking in Palaung area: there is a crisis

Lway Moe Hlaing hopes it won’t always be like this: “When Burma gains democracy, we will have the right to decide the price of our tea product because we own it and we process it. When this happens, Palaung tea will be a way of developing the country – but only if the government also accepts responsibility for subsidising tea-growers.”

Jeff Rutherford, a Social Research Associate based at Chiang Mai University, says experiences from other Asian countries may prove helpful – but he cautions against being over-optimistic: ” According to the developmental state model that emerged from Japan and Korea the state could play a big role in research and development, low-interest lending, tax credits and investment in training.

But subsidies would be less likely in a marginal commodity like tea. In any case, state involvement would be limited to large, well-connected players, not small producers. According to any model employed by governments – neo liberal, developmental state or Marxist – big is beautiful.”

As the Palaung people haven’t been given the change from the military government to promote their literature many have been less learning their language. Most of the Palaung people didn’t access the education and they aren’t interested in any literature because the surviving is very hard for them to concentrate on any learning. They just think what to consume for tomorrow and what to do.

Lway Aye Nhin, 20 said that she had never learnt our language in anywhere. But she said she had seen her friend and her sister had a chance to learn in the school. “I feel sad that I never learnt my own language because when my friend learnt I was only at grade 5. The teacher didn’t allow me to learn my own language. When I was grade 6 to 10 there was no school and training for Palaung language for me to learn”, she added.

The Palaung teachers who devoted their life in the teaching took responsibility to manage the class for the young people to learn their own language.

This one is called ‘Wva’ in Palaung language.

Lway Aym Kham Aye, 23 said that she have been learnt the Palaung language for two weeks when she was 5 grade in Burmese school. This is Palaung alphabet has 34 elements one more than Burmese alphabet. .

“We had to learn secretly in our village, Man Sat at the wayside public rest house for an hour and half for one day,” she added.

“If the government official see us in the learning, we could be arrested because they don’t allow the ethnic to teach their language.”

As for the promotion of the Palaung literature a singer Naw Nyow Htun Kyaw sing a song name “looking to learn our language.” This is the song he sings: “Our friends come and learn our language to promote our literature. It we identify our language, our nationality become growing up. No one could be lethargic for leaning our language. Come to learn our language, don’t be stay at home doing nothing and don’t be diminishing the value of your nationality. Don’t throw out our language if you are one of the Palaung people (Ta-ang). We are one of the Palaung people and don’t disregard our dignity.

If we disregard our nationality and our literature, our native and our value will slump into other’s hand. We have only this literature for promotion of our language. This literature is the biggest road for our people to walk for our national language learning. Go willingly to learn our language, our friends. When you are aware of literature, looting to learn more and share to the other people who don’t have the chance to learn our language.”

The Palaung people use the bamboo tubs to boil the tea for drinking and bamboo cups culturally when they hack the firewood in the jungle. It is sweat tease in the forest and also they don’t need to bring the kitten from home. It is easy to cut the bamboo and use it.

They use the cows to carry their firewood from the field

They hack the firewood every year for the steaming of tealeaves and for cooking. There is electric power only for lighting at night. It is just a few households can use the electric power. The rest of the people have no electric power in the countryside. They remain using the firewood for the cooking and use the patrol for the lighting at night.

It is in December they start to hark. This season is called “Pa Kyow Auu” in Palaung language. It means months one within 12 months in a year. This season is cold and they can work probably in the forest. During this time they chop the bush in the tea field before the tealeaves appear.A Palaung woman, Lway Aym Kham Aye 23 said, “We the women used to chop the shrubs in the tea field in late December with the mattocks.”

“We go to the field with many people in a field once time. Because we see how much we finish in one day.”

“We call ‘Ka Way‘ this culture. It like you hire 10 people to work for you in one day and you have to work for each person once up to 10 till you finish the rest”

“It is a very hilarious culture for the Palaung people”.

“This time most men are harking the logs in the jungle like we do ‘Ka Way‘. If men and women are doing this culture, the men hark the logs for the women in their forest and the women mattock the shrubs for the men’s field. “The men they can hark 3 yards a day in 5 people. A big household fuels about 10 yards a year. A small household fuels at least 2 yards per year. “We draw onto 10 yards a year because we have many big tea fields. The cooking also takes a lot of dry wood,” said Lway Aym Kham Aye. “We have old grandfather and grandmother they fire the whole day and whole night in the cold season.”

Mai Nyee Naing from a small household said, “We just spend 3 yards of fire wood a year. We have only one tea field given from our grand as the legacy”

“The cooking is not fueling too much” In one month “Pa Kyow Auu” they spend time in logging with hiring each other. They haven’t carry yet to their home. In January they call “Pa Kyow Ayl”, they start to carry the logs back from the field to home. Most of the people who carry are women. They appreciate that the harking is finished men’s job and carrying is women’ job. But some are doing together.

At this time also they hire each other to finish the carrying because if they finish theirs early they can carry other household by given day wage.

They don’t carry back at once time from the field because there is too long trip about 30 minutes for footing. They carry and put once at the mid distance of way to be easy for the students who are at school at that time. Some people they use horses and cows to carry from the place where they put it at way.

“We use horses for carrying the firewood and also people as well. I carry 1 or 2 times in the morning and go to the school, ” said Lway Aym Khan Aye. Mai Nyee Naing said, “I just carry the wood one time in the morning. I take a shower quickly and grab the bag go for schooling.”