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For Pascal Khoo Thwe, his childhood as part of the Padaung tribe is a time defined by the closeness of family and the rhythms of life in the small village of Phekhon. His grandmothers spin mesmerizing stories about the myths of creation, which blend with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The daily practices of the Padaung -- rice-wine making and drinking, playing football, and tending to crops and animals -- are punctuated by BBC radio broadcasts that tell of the political turmoil rumbling throughout the country.
As a young man, Pascal journeys to Mandalay to study English literature at the University -- where students are forbidden to express their opinions about the texts or they face severe punishment. Outside his village for the first time, Pascal is witness to the harsh reality of how decades of war, foreign occupation, and a totalitarian regime have devastated the country. In Mandalay, where he works as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant, a chance encounter leads to a meeting with Dr. John Casey, a professor at Cambridge University on a tour of Burma. An unlikely connection is forged between the two men, instigated by a shared love of the works of James Joyce.
Forced to abandon his studies when the government orders the closing of the country's universities, Pascal heads home to the sanctuary of Phekhon. But the conflict soon reaches even the most remote parts of Burma, and although he shuns the violence of war Pascal discovers he has a gift as an orator and speaks out against the government's atrocities. Soon the Burmese Army is on the hunt for Pascal and other students, and he is forced to leave Phekhon and join the rebel forces. He spends the next several months in the jungle on the Thai-Burmese border, where illness is rampant and attacks by the Burmese Army are frequent.
A second chance encounter occurs when a Western journalist visiting the rebel camp offers to hand-deliver a letter from Pascal to Dr. Casey, and a correspondence develops between the two men. When Dr. Casey arranges to have him smuggled out of Burma, Pascal is consumed by feelings of guilt at abandoning his home, his family, and his comrades. With the hope that he will be able to help his people by revealing their plight to the outside world, he journeys to England. Under the guidance of Dr. Casey, Pascal becomes the first person from the Padaung tribe to attend Cambridge University.
With language that is by turns lyrical and poignant, laced with humor and told with an insight that is well beyond his years, Pascal Khoo Thwe has created in From the Land of Green Ghosts both a mesmerizing autobiography and a powerful tribute to the homeland he left behind.
An excellent autobiography, highly recommended.
