First club founded at Santa Ana, California, USA in 1924.
My journey to DTM
Hla Min (DTM)
Every new member is provided a mentor.
I was fortunate to have a Double DTM as my mentor.
I completed both the Communication track and Leadership track to become a DTM.
Communication track
CC (Competent Communicator)
ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze)
ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver)
ACG (Advanced Communicator Gold)
Leadership track
CL (Competent Leader)
ALB (Advanced Leader Bronze)
ALS (Advanced Leader Silver)
DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster)
Requirements include
Completion of speeches and projects, serving as an officer in club and beyond (area, division, district), mentor or club coach, and organizer of contests.
Before the pandemic, NorCal RITAA provided Scholarship and/or Financial Aid to eligible YTU students,
NorCal RITAA awards
NorCal RITAA provided financial support for seven YTU students.
Four were given $1000 each.
Three were given $500 each.
Scholarship 1
Volunteers for Selection
Scholarship 2
Several RITAA members volunteered to interview the applicants and proposed a short list to NorCal RITAA for the awards.
Eight members of the Pre-selection Committee are seen together with the seven recipients.
Donors
The following donated $500 or more to NorCal RITAA for the YTU Scholarship Fund. Some are repeated donors. The complete list of donations is maintained by the Treasurer of NorCal RITAA.
Daw Mu Mu Kin Htay, spouse of Saya Allen Htay (C58, GBNF)
Daw Mu Mu Kin
U San Lin (M87) and Daw Tin Lay Win
U Myo Aung (M85) and Daw Thida
U Myint Swe (EP74) and Daw San San (EC74)
U Maung Maung Win (Maung YIT, EC93) and Daw Than Htay (ChE92)
Daw Yo Shu (Yee Yee Win, EE74)
U Tin Maung Win (C76) and Daw Thida Khin Win
Gordon Kaung (M83) and Lillian Kaung (EC83)
U Kyaw Myint (M83)
Raffle Drawing and Auction
NorCal RITAA Picnic
To raise the YTU Scholarhip Fund, a Raffle Drawing was held at the 2018 NorCal RITAA Summer Picnic at Coyote Point Park, San Mateo.
Thanks to the donors of the prizes, to the attendees who eagerly bought the raffle tickets, and to Daw San San (EC74) and Edward Saw (Yu Ket, EC85) for serving as Raffle Masters.
Gordon Kaung (Kaung Kaung Oo, M83) and Lillian Kaung (EC83) generously donated three iNapa Premium Wine bottles. Each bottle sells for $75 – $80 on the Internet.
One bottle was put as as the Grand Raffle Prize. It was won by Ma Thandar, the youngest alumni present at the Picnic.
Two bottles were put on auction.
U Sann Naing (M84) and spouse, owners of Burma Kitchen, successfully bid for the first bottle.
U Walter Tan (M70) and spouse successfully bid for the second bottle.
The sales from the auction $240 also went to the YTU scholarship fund.
Most Chinese use the Clan name as the 1st part. In the Western world, it is known as Surname or Last name.
Based on where they came from and where they are residing, they may write their name as
Traditional usage
Clan name, Group name, Personal name
Clan name, Personal name, Group name
Conforming to the Western World
Personal name, Group name, Clan name
Group name, Personal name, Clan name
Siblings
Their names usually have the 1st part (Fixed), 2nd part (Fixed) and 3rd part (Varying).
According to Stan Liou (M67), some siblings (mostly from the Northern part of China) prefer the convention 1st part (Fixed), 2nd part (Varying) and 3rd part (Fixed).
Miscellaneous
A Chinese character may also have one or more rendering in English. For example, Khoo or Chiu.
Some Chinese use the 12-generation naming convention.
Korean names
Lee , Kim and Park are some popular Korean names.
Some Koreans use the 7-generation naming convention.
Indian names
Indian names may be based on their religion.
Hindus are often named after their deities and their likeness. e.g. Rama, Krishna, Ramamurthy, Krishnamurthy
An Indian name may have “Deep”, “Deepak” or “Dipa” meaning light or wisdom.
Male Sikhs have “Singh” as their middle name. e.g. Davinder Singh Saluja Female Sikhs have “Kaur” as their middle name.
Muslims are named after their prophet and as “servers” of Allah. e.g. Muhammad, Rahmin
Christians may have Biblical names.
Some are named Gautama (or its variants)
Indian names may vary with region. In some parts, the name may include place of birth and trade. The father’s name may be carried on as the middle name of the son.
Mexican names
Many males are named Jesus.
Many females are named Maria.
Mexican names may have four parts : two for personal name, one for father’s name, and the last for mother’s name.
Mexicans may use a hyphenated last name (with a hyphen between the parent’s names).
Greek names
Some Greeks name their first grandson after the paternal grand father and their second grandson after the maternal grand father.
Native American names
Some Native American tribes use an elaborate naming convention. The names of two Native Americans of the same tribe can portray their relationship (e.g. one is the second maternal uncle).
It was not common to have long names. An exception is a cartoon character named “Khin Maung Thein Tun Win”
Same name
We need additional information to disambiguate the names.
Aung Myint
U Aung Myint (M67, GBNF) Helped U Win Thein (M67) with Set Hmu Thadinzin. Worked for UNICEF.
U Aung Myint (M69) Taught at RIT and Singapore Poly. Hobbies : Painting, Motivational messages
Poly Aung Myint (Standing 3rd)
U Aung Myint (Pet69, GBNF) Taught at RIT Known for his cartoons (notably Kyant Ba Hone) Patron of “RIT Cartoon Box”
Ko Kyant
U Aung Myint (Min70) Actor, guitarist and vocalist. Known as “Thamankyar Ko Myint”.
Thamankyar Ko Myint
U Aung Myint “Yogi Thway Say” Operates a recording studio (initially for his spouse : Phyu Thi).
Dr. Aung Myint (Chemistry)
U Aung Myint (Donald, Dhamma friend)
Han Sein
U Han Sein (C69) Multiple sports athlete : Swimming, Water Polo, Basketball “TONE KYAW”. 69er HCF members inadvertently put him in the GBNF list unaware that the Adhamma authorities “sneaked him away” for many years.
U Han Sein (M72) Taught at RIT Joined the Navy. Retired as a Deputy Minister.
U Han Sein (Dawei) Father : U Maung Lwin
Soe Win
U Soe Win (M66) Close friend of Saya Lin (M66).
U Soe Win (EP69, GBNF) Captain of RIT Basketball team.
U Soe Win (EC70) Worked for UCC and PTC.
Dr. Soe Win (SPHS58) stood First in Burma. Retired as Rector of YUFL
U Soe Win (Met and Hydro)
U Soe Win (NHK)
Misspelled names
Some names are misspelled
The most notable is Saya U Tin Swe. Many called him wrongly as U Tint Swe or U Tin Shwe.
Mispronounced names
Some Myanmar names cannot be easily pronounced by foreigners.
Colonel Min Sein : Commissioned by the British; Dean of Medical College
Dr. Daw Yin May : Three Fellowships; MS of Dufferin Hospital
Major (later Lt. Col) Shwe Zan : Commissioned by the British
Dr. Ko Gyi : Warden of Medical College; Medical Superintendent of EENT hospital
Dr. Daw Myint Myint Khin : “Mummy Gyi”
Dr. Mohan
Dr. Mohan & Daw Hnin Yi
Dr. Mya Tu : Founder Director of BMRI; Compiled “Who’s who in Medicine in Burma” & “Who’s who in Health Industry in Burma”
Dr. Mya Tu
Dr. Ba Than refused the British to evacuate and then headed the RGH during the Occupation. After the war, he had to appear before the British Officers and tell about his “commitment to the country and its citizens”. The Officers dropped the case. He later served as Rector of Institute of Medicine (1).
U Thant 1Stamp honoring U ThantAutograph signed by U Thant
Early Days
Won essay and translation competitions in his youth.
Had excellent communication skills (reading, writing, speaking).
Was requested by his mother to study only for two years at the University of Rangoon and then return and work.
Became a Saya at the Pantanaw National School. For accreditation requirements of the school, he requested help from U Nu (who was a Principal)
Later, U Nu (leader of AFPFL and Prime Minister) asked U Thant to help the party and the government in various capacities.
United Nations
U Thant succeeded Mr. James Barrington (ICS, RUBC Gold) as the Permanent Secretary of the Burmese Delegation to the United Nations. Later, the post would be called “Myanmar Ambassador to the United Nations”.
UNSG
Daj Hammerjold, the second United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) perished in an air crash during a UN mission.
In trying to find a successor to Hammerjold, the two super powers USA and USSR could not agree. USSR refused to accept USA’s candidate. USA refused to accept USSR’s proposal of Troika (a three member committee from each of the Three Blocs). They agreed to have U Thant (who hailed from Burma, a co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement) as the Interim UNSG.
The General Assembly later ratified him as the third UNSG.
U Thant became the first Asian UNSG.
He retired after serving two terms as UNSG.
Post retirement
After retirement, U Thant started writing his memoirs but was interrupted by failing health.
His younger brother U Thaung was by his side in the final days, and helped bring U Thant’s body home.
Last Journey
The higher authorities were told explicitly or implicitly not to pay respect to U Thant’s body. The Deputy Minister of Education who paid respect to U Thant was dismissed effective immediately.
Most people expected a decent ceremony (if not a State Funeral befitting the Head of the World Organization), but they learned that U Thant’s body was to be placed at the Kyandaw Cemetery.
This led students to take U Thant’s body to the Main Campus and and make it a temporary (may be final) resting place for U Thant.
There were three dissenting votes by the student representatives for the higher authorities’ proposal to have U Thant buried in the Mausoleum (in Cantonment Park), and they lost by 8-3 margin.
The dark moments resulted in students being jailed or debarred, and some having to wait more months for their graduation ceremony. A few never had a chance to graduate. One participant had already distributed invitation for the wedding, but ended with the loss of his freedom for a few years and his love.
Book
Htein Win Sar Pay published a book about the “U Thant Ah Yay Ah Khin”.
Contains rare photos (most of them recovered from an archive overseas). Many photos (that were in Burma) were destroyed “out of fear” for harassment / punishment.
Met Ko Htein Win at the 5th ILF (Irrawaddy Literary Festival) in Mandalay in November, 2019. He was promoting another book 8-8-88.
U Khin Maung Zaw (EC76) wrote :
The sad thing I discovered at my last visit to Myanmar in Nov/Dec 2018 was that the tomb of U Thant has been closed and in disrepair. The entrance was padlocked, the compound was unkempt.
Centennial Birthday
At the Centennial Birthday Celebration for U Thant held in the San Francisco Bay Area several years back, I was a Speaker.
Ko Tin Maung Thant
Ko Tin Maung Thant (“Ah Pho Gyi”, U Thant’s son) was my sister’s classmate at the Private Primary Boundary Road School (PPBRS).
He left the school to join his father (then Permanent Secretary of the Burmese Delegation to the United Nations).
Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly during his visit to Burma in 1962.
His funeral service was grander than that of Commodore Than Pe (Minister of Health and Education), the first member of the 17-man Revolutionary Council to pass away.
HlaMin 