Ross Becker and Moira Fraser will be speaking about their experiences working in Myanmar at the Rotorua Library in June.

The Kiwi couple describe their experience working in a country transitioning from military rule to parliamentary democracy as 'an extraordinary opportunity”.

Ross is a retired engineer who has had a long-term passion for photography. His most important assignment to date was documenting the impacts of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 and 2012 with permission to photograph inside the restricted red zone.

Moira had worked in the NZ Parliament and had several short term contracts working with Library and Research Services in Myanmar before the role evolved into three years working as an International Parliamentary Specialist.

The Parliament in Myanmar is located at Nay Pyi Taw, a relatively new city established by the former military government as the capital in 2006. Moira and Ross, as foreigners, were required to live in a hotel the entire time but say that riding their bikes to work each day past the paddy fields helped greatly with connecting with the locals.

The couple faced many challenges while living there and recall that they could only buy sim cards on the black market for $300, internet was intermittent and electricity was unreliable, especially in the rainy season. Postal services were haphazard with parcels sometimes taking months to reach them. When they first lived in Nay Pyi Taw, there were no international flights, despite it being the capital city of Myanmar but they say all these services steadily improved over the course of their stay.

Moira's work included creating a digital repository for parliamentary documents, creating an ICT strategy and building a data centre.

"The people of Myanmar are the country's greatest asset," says Moira, who says they are mostly devout Buddhist. "They demonstrate a warmth, tolerance and joyousness we haven't encountered at the same level anywhere else."

Moira and Ross will be speaking about their Myanmar experience at Rotorua Library at 2pm on Saturday June 15. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event.