Hindu Community in Moe Kaung By : Benson Lin

This is Daw Ni Lar, a forty two years old single mother and her nine month old son, Kyaw Htet. She live in this Hindu temple as the janitor of this very temple. Daw Ni Lar has been staying here since the birth of her precious son and doesn't plan on moving since her husband left her by the news of their baby so now Daw Ni Lar is just seeking shelter in this temple until she finds something better for her son.

This is a picture of the beautiful nine month old Kyaw Htet hugging his mom by her neck feeling protected. His bindi is faded since it was about four days ago on Saturday when they had their weekly gathering in the mosque where people from this community would visit this temple and pray. Bindi would be placed on each and everyone's forehead as a symbol of prosperity.

On the left, it's Daw Ni Lar and on the right, it's her best friend, mentor, gossip buddy, mother like figure that she met when she moved to this temple. Her name was Daw Kyi Phyu and she is 54 years old. She was the one that offered Daw Ni Lar the job at this temple where they were filling small plastic bags with red powder to mark the bindis.

This is Daw Kyu Kyu Khine. She is a thirty two year old woman who makes her living out of sewing bed mattresses in this room as small as s storage room clamped up in a row of sewing machines. Daw Kyu Kyu has no choice but to do this since other job in this region since she is a female and she doesn't have enough money to start her own small tea shop.

This is Ko Myo Nyunt who is 48 and is the guard of this temple which means he would open the gate at eight in the morning and the closes the door at four in the evening. He would meditate the whole day sitting under the roof when he is off shift. I asked him why he wear the colorful necklaces and he told me that a respected individual gave it to him as a gift for protecting this temple. His bindi was the most unique since he has two color and he said that this was just his favorite way to put his bindi.