“Teacher, please come over here too!”
In pairs of two, students take turns playing the role of the massage therapist and the patient in hands-on medical massage practice. The student in the therapist role gently touches the body of the patient role, focusing their attention through their fingertips to carefully identify the bones, muscles, and other anatomical features while practicing massage techniques.
Moving from pair to pair, Instructor A-Chan-Tu touches the fingers of the student therapists to check whether their hand positioning and techniques are correct, offering guidance. Called from all directions, the instructor busily goes back and forth between the beds to provide instructions.
Instructor A-Chan-Tu with students in his class (the left person)
Ten New Students Gather
This June, the one-year “Medical Massage Therapist Training Course” started once again, with ten students training while living together at a school for the blind in Yangon. The students range widely in age, from their 20s to 40s. Some are completely blind, unable to receive any visual information, while others have low vision. Some were born with visual impairments, while others lost their sight due to illness or accidents, their backgrounds are diverse.
At the start of the training, some students struggled to adjust to communal living and even wished to return home due to homesickness. However, by encouraging one another, they overcame these challenges and are now uniting as companions learning together.
In addition to practical massage training, the course includes lessons in physiology and anatomy to learn about the structure of the human body essential knowledge for medical massage therapists. Since the job involves treating multiple clients a day, physical stamina is crucial. The classes therefore also incorporate exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups to help build strength. Training, tailored to the abilities of each student, will continue until March.
Class scene
Sit-ups for stamina building
A New Colleague Joins
Instructor A-Chan-Tu himself has a visual impairment. After graduating from university, he joined Japan Heart’s first class of the “Medical Massage Instructor Training Course.” He then worked as a teacher guiding students and also managed his own massage shop in a remote area, gaining extensive social experience. Energetic and passionate, he has now joined us this term as a staff member for Japan Heart’s project supporting the independence of the visually impaired.
A Message from Instructor A-Chan-Tu
“The students are working hard while helping and supporting each other. I personally love teaching, so I find this work very rewarding. Once the training course is over and they start working, there will be few opportunities to learn, so I want to teach them as much as I can within this year. I also want to share with them as much of my own experience as possible.”
Instructor A-Chan-Tu is bringing a fresh breeze into this project.
Instructor A-Chan-Tu with students in his class (the left person)
In today’s Myanmar, it has become difficult for young people to live independently, regardless of whether they have disabilities.
Even so, by next March, we aim to help these ten students gain solid skills and confidence so that they can spread their wings and step forward into this challenging society and we will give them our full support.