On 22, 23 and 24 August 2007, Forthview welcomed 3 Burmese women - artists and educators - to the school. Nan Lung is the Vice Principal of TTBT (http://www.educationburma.net/) and she is a key link between us and Hle Bee School. She presented P6/7 children with a card and photo from their new friend in Hle Bee School during Assembly. It was very special to have her with us because she is a good friend of Hle Bee's headteacher. The children were so excited to see their friend's photo.

Our two other visitors were artists from Burma. Let's call them Sue and Cheryl. They did art with many Forthview classes and taught the children to make some amazing masks from just a piece of paper. On Friday Cheryl sang and danced a beautiful Burmese dance for us. You could have heard a pin drop.

Forthview children know the story of Aung San Suu Kyi so well and our visitors were very impressed with their knowledge. One 8 year old boy said, "When Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize and £1.3 million, I thought she would give it to the soldiers in Burma to make them go away!" Great thinkers at Forthview.

In the evening 13 of us, Forthview teachers and Burmese visitors, went to see the play LADY OF BURMA in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We came out of Liana Mau Tan Gould's powerful performance with tears in our eyes, so moved by the pain and integrity of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Lady. Liana, the actress, met our visitors and encouraged them to be strong and not to give up hope. This is not easy however because a number of Burmese friends have been arrested and detained in Rangoon, following protests against the Burmese military. Read about this on http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8467.

What a learning experience this journey is for the whole Forthview community