Life Changing Times

19 years old – shot and killed by the Junta

I’ve covered Myanmar for 4 years, working in country for 2 of those years. I won’t pretend some massive affinity for Myanmar, not like I had for Bosnia & Hercegovina, or in a different but powerful way, for Somalia. But, amazingly, it’s not about me.

1st February 2021 there was a military coup. None of us saw it coming – in all our predictions the previous year, in the endless discussions about scenarios for the country, the elections and so on, no one ever thought of coup. Right up until a week before when the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) said they were not planning a coup. Always a sure fire sign that it’s about to happen.

And it did. Hundreds of thousands of people, from the LGBT community, to the traditional conservatives, to Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns, have swarmed the streets with peaceful protests. The outpouring of devastation that their country had taken such a massive step backwards written all over everyone’s faces.

And we again, bear witness. Because there is so little we can do but listen, watch, send support. Grieve when the young woman above was shot and killed, whose t-shirt said ‘Everything will be OK’.