Naw Mai Mai

Born in a small village in Karen State, Naw Mai Mai has worked hard for her family and her community for her entire life. With no schools or temples nearby, she did not have the opportunity to attend school. From a young age, she helped her parents on the farm. She enjoyed taking care of buffalo and raising pigs. She never married and took care of her parents until they passed away.

Naw Mai Mai was forced to live with war from an early age. With fighting and villages being burned to the ground, she and her family had to flee and hide in the jungle. When she was 12 and hiding with her village in the jungle, she remembers shouting at her mother about the food she cooked. Scared those soldiers might hear her, Naw Mai Mai’s mother put her in the underground bunker.

When conflict escalated in Karen State in the 1990s, Naw Mai Mai bravely took on the role of Village Head. She survived many challenges in the position, and seldom had time to eat or sleep. The Myanmar army regularly demanded rations from her village. She had to collect them and enlist other villagers to make the treacherous journey to send them to the army base.

The soldiers threatened to kill her if the rations did not arrive in full or on time. As chief liaison, she negotiated the release of captured villagers, often having to pay a ransom of rations. She and other Village Heads were also detained in underground bunkers and fed rice mixed with soil. Naw Mai Mai held the post of Village Leader for over 30 years; she is now retired.

Naw Mai Mai’s body holds the memory of the asthma she suffered as a child as well as the stress, strain, and injuries she has endured after decades of arduous farm work.

“My symbol is a donkey because I am a hard worker.”

She hopes to one day have a house with a good indoor toilet, a high school for her village, and peace and justice in her country.