A city that people leave

Cosmopolitan heritage: Hussein, a 63-year-old local man who manages the Surtee Sunni Jamae Mosque, a pride of the Surti Muslim community.

It’s estimated that some 10-12% of Myanmar’s population live or work overseas – a statistic comparable with the Philippines.

MAWLAMYINE (or Moulmein) is one of those Southeast Asian cities like Sandakan, Bacolod and Songkhla; where the past looms large but the present seems faded and unpromising. The kinds of places that young people yearn to leave in search of jobs and money.