Confronting Depression
The following letter is from a young Burmese social worker who led community development projects in his home in the Sagaing Region. In the letter, he reflects on how during this time of national hardship, with the economy collapsing and prices sky-rocketing, the daily lives of people of all social classes are being affected. The letter is addressed to a friend in America who had assisted him in this work. Since the coup, the Sagaing Region has been transformed into a combat zone, with community members and young people are doing all they can to continue resisting the military. The author has asked us to publish this, while keeping his identity anonymous. The letter also touches upon the serious mental health issues, like clinical depression, that so many survivors are now facing throughout the country.
Dear [redacted],
These days, people in Myanmar have been suffering from severe depression and stress, all due to the country’s deteriorating economy. Friends and relatives love and care for each other and cheer each other up however they can. One thing I can do now is to try to motivate others and make their smiles blossom again—to get their hopes and dreams back.
I wrote a comment on a recent Facebook post shared by my teacher colleague, who had not posted anything for a long time because she had been busy taking care of her young child and family. I wrote that we missed her and talked about her. She was really happy to receive my comment and to know that there is someone who cares about her.
I also spent time cheering up a colleague this evening, a monk who I worked with to create the library at [redacted] School five years ago. The other day, I saw one of those “five years ago” memories on Facebook about what we did together, which was for the sake of the students and the community. I felt so happy at that time. However, I saw in his Facebook posts that he seemed mentally depressed and physically unhealthy, especially over the situation in his native community and about young students who have lost their lives there. He said many students from the school have been killed or arrested; many girls have fled and are now hiding out at his monastery in Yangon. So with strong feelings of compassion, sympathy, and sorrow for his native village, I tried to cheer him up by telling him that there is someone who loves and cares about him, and reminding him that we had brought much good to the students. Together we had dreamed and worked to develop his native rural community. Through those golden memories, I encouraged him to take care of his health, and tried to rekindle some hope that we might one rebuild the community we had worked for before.
And although I, myself, had been feeling depressed because of a situation that had recently happened, talking with my friends and trying to cheer them up somehow relaxed somewhat me as well. However, my mind still kept thinking back to a man from my village who was arrested in Malaysia along with other Myanmar migrants, and whose wife had not heard from him for more than six weeks. She has no contacts, no knowledge, and even no real idea how to begin locating her husband. She asked me for advice about how and where to get information.
After talking with all these people, I could not stop thinking about the hardships of so many Myanmar people like this migrant worker, who had sold the little they had—some farmland, a house, or some oxen—to go abroad, only to run into trouble like this. I’ve heard about so many poor farmers who left their native villages after their houses and livestock were burned down to ashes by our military, to go and try to work abroad as migrant laborers. How many of them must be struggling overseas! And how many people who stayed in the country are experiencing trouble! I wish this nightmare could end soon!