Learning English in the prison

From Washington Post:

A Rangoon teacher jailed for five years in the aftermath of the uprising talked about his experiences in the prison.

In prison, he said, "you know who your real friends are; you learn the meaning of 'friend.' We shared everything we had: our food and all our knowledge."

He and two prison mates tore apart an old English primer, the only book that one of them had managed to have smuggled inside. They took turns reading and hiding the pieces, burying them in the soil outside their cells. From the pages he learned to speak English.