Karenni State: A People on the Run
Real Stories Not Tales (RSNT) is a dedicated team in and out of Myanmar that aims to bring awareness to the reality of young people’s lives since the Myanmar military staged a coup on February 1st, 2021. Stories are collected through interviews with each protagonist by the team, either in Burmese or in English. Each character is drawn by a professional illustrator bringing a visual context to the story. RSNT is a anonymous name that is used by the group to guarantee security to all parties involved in the collection of the Stories. These posts are part of collaboration between Tea Circle and Insight Myanmar to publish Real Stories Not Tale's Report #2. To read Report #1, visit Tea Circle or Insight Myanmar. Two additional stories from RSNT’s Report #2 will be published on Tea Circle at a later date.
Sotaro is a university student interested in peace and community development. He was interviewed on July 2nd.
“This is a serious problem for our future: how will we survive if we do not have any plantations, crops, or food?”
"Before the coup, I worked on a farm. My plans for the future were to get a scholarship and study abroad. I wanted to study agriculture so I could help my community develop in a sustainable way. There are a lot of farmers in Karenni State that grow many different kinds of crops. Unfortunately, fields and plantations have now been abandoned because there is too much insecurity. This is a serious problem for our future: how will we survive if we do not have any plantations, crops, or food?
My whole life has changed since the coup. In February I was involved in peaceful demonstrations in Loikaw and went out with different groups of protesters every day. But when things turned violent, I switched from protesting to supplying medicine for IDPs. In Karenni State there are more than 100,000 IDPs who have fled their towns and villages due to the clashes between the KPDF and the Tatmadaw. Some take shelter in monasteries and churches, but most are staying in IDP camps.
Basically, what my friends and I do is collect money, buy necessary medicine, and send it to the IDP camps. We have a friend who works for a charity, so we use her network to send the supplies. However, it is very dangerous to go to the IDP camps because there are checkpoints on the way. The military checks all cars and IDs. If they find relief supplies, they don’t let us pass, or worse—they sometimes burn or destroy the supplies. There are only a few organizations that manage to get through the checkpoints, but it is dangerous even for them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Volunteers and charity workers have been arrested and killed. Another option is to go through alternative routes, but that just takes too long.
When people flee their towns and villages because of armed clashes and violence, they do not have time to take much with them—they have to run for their lives. Now, they are without shelter, outside, during the monsoon season. In the camps, many children have diarrhea, malaria, dengue. Some suffer from hypertension. The water they drink is filthy. They do not have enough nutritious food. Some international non-governmental organizations and other groups have started sending help, providing provisions and temporary protection. But it is not enough, and the situation remains highly critical. Also, transportation between Karenni State and other areas has been shut down by the military, so we all have to survive with whatever is available in our state.
There have been no significant clashes in Loikaw so far, but people are scared because of what has happened in other towns like Demoso, which has been burnt to ashes. There are a lot of arrests at night, mainly of the leaders of the non-violent movement that have been in hiding. Many young people between the ages of 18 and 27 have left the city to take part in combat trainings with the KNPP. There are many different armed groups in the region, but what they all have in common is that they are against the Tatmadaw.
I feel bad because of the situation. We used to have much more freedom and travel around easily; now there are military checkpoints everywhere. I feel unsafe—we all do. Sometimes it all becomes overwhelming for me, and I feel so down that I cannot move or talk, I feel very constrained. When I need to take some time for myself, I read books, listen to music, and talk to my family, primarily my mum. With the Covid-19 situation getting worse, I am grateful we can go to the countryside and be in the nature if we need fresh air. I can imagine that people living in big cities like Mandalay or Yangon don't have that option, which must be quite challenging.
My hopes for Myanmar are to get—at long last—the real federal democracy we have been wishing for so long! There are many different groups in our country and they all need REAL REAL REAL democracy as well as self-determination. It‘s about time."
This story has been collected by Real Stories Not Tales. The material (text and illustration) of this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)