Women wearing long-sleeved shirts and hats ride in trucks driving from Andaw to Panmahtone, a village two miles away, to collect stones from the river there for a monastery cistern project. The volunteers hoped to gain merit by aiding the monastery. Public works projects done by volunteers are common, since the government often promises to do projects but never finishes them, or completely ignores village requests. Therefore, villagers and village leaders, such as monks, often decide to raise funds for these projects and organize volunteers to do this work.
