He was called U Yit. He was from Shwebo. He was courageous. And he had a good head of hair, they say. During the Colonial period he fought against the English government; to avoid capture he fled to the Insein section of Yangon, to Tadahgalay Village. At that time Tadahgalay Village was just a big forest. U Yit and his relatives cleared some land and farmed. Because people from Shwebo were gathering there, the area was called "Shwebosu", or the group from Shwebo. U Yit's estate was quite large. After the Tadahgalay quarter was abolished it was divided into lots and became what is now called North Okkalapa (1) Block. U Yit's estate was where the school is now, just across from the Swe Daw Myat Zedi.

U Yit used to carry his sword wherever he went. He relied on his sword for self-defense against the English enemy. When the English were following in search of him, trying to capture him, he jumped over a fence as tall as he was, using his sword as a support. His long hair went flying behind him as he jumped over and ran away. They say he had inserted needles under the skin of his arms [as a charm against physical harm]. When he died, the needles appeared and they were taken out, it's said.

U Yit was Sayadaw's grandfather, his mother's father. Therefore Sayadaw's mother, Daw Chit Su, was a Shwebo woman.

Sayadaw, U Yit's grandson, was also interested in stories about this brave man from Shwebo, U Yit. When he met someone who knew about U Yit's life, Sayadaw would urge that person to tell what he or she could about U Yit. Both U Yit's granddaughter, Daw Tin Nyunt, and his great-grandson (U Yit's son U Hpo Kha's daughter Daw Than Than's son), U Htay Myaing, talked about U Yit with pleasure, laughing heartily.

As for Sayadaw's father, his sister Daw Tin Nyunt told me about their father, U Hpe.

"Father was born in Kocheh Village, Pegu Township, Pegu Division. After his father died, he worked to support his widowed mother. He worked tending other people's water buffaloes. One time when he was tending the herd, he slung a pebble with his slingshot and hit one of the animals directly in the eye. So he ran away to Yangon. He came to one monastery. A monk there gave Father a place to stay in the monastery. Father knew English. But although he himself knew English, he wouldn't permit his children to learn the language. He said it was "dog-talk." The monk got Father a job. When they were digging Thadu Kan (Gyo Hpyu Pipe Line), he got work as a foreman.

To dig Thadu Kan (Gyo Hpyu Pipe Line), they dug an area one hundred feet wide wherever the pipeline ran. Wherever the pipeline ran, whoever owned the land had to give it. This pipeline ran right across U Yit's estate. When they came to dig the road through U Yit's property, U Yit went after Father with his knife. But after Father's supe

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