The author is a Kayin journalist who is receiving support from The Kite Tales to write these diaries.
“Comrade Chocolate” was in her second year studying philosophy at university in February 2021 when the military coup in Myanmar changed everything. In the turmoil that followed, she was among unarmed protesters out on the streets when soldiers opened fire on the crowds, killing young demonstrators with shots to their heads.
By May, the-then-22-year-old had fled Yangon, the city of her birth, and had made her way east, into the mountainous border areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU).
From then on she committed herself to training for the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) – an armed group made up of people from all walks of life who have decided to take up arms to fight the military junta. Her regiment gave her the name Comrade Chocolate.
When I met her at the end of 2022 during a reporting trip, she was working in the medical corps, collecting injured colleagues from the fighting and transporting those with gunshot wounds and mine injuries across the border.
She told me that everyone had endured challenges far from home and living in harsh conditions, braving the winter and monsoon downpours, as well as the threat of malaria, typhus and COVID-19.
But as the only Muslim among 40 mainly Buddhists and Christians, “Comrade Different Religion”, as she is also known, faced some very specific difficulties.
In such a remote region it was impossible to arrange for Halal food in the camp kitchen, so she made her own meals. Rice, fried eggs and pungent pounded ngapi fish paste, and instant noodles. It wasn’t perfect but she did her best.
“It was particularly difficult during the fasting months. During Ramadan, I longed for a glass of cool ice water when I broke fast in the evenings, even if there was no food,” she told me, the words tumbling out in a torrent.
“I missed home so much then. I cried when I remembered how my family would break fast together.”
A few months before we met and soon after Ramadan, both her parents passed away from covid-19, one after another.
“They were both over 70, so I think it was a combination of weak immunity from old age and their yearning for me,” she told me, bursting into tears.
“My eldest sister told me, ‘Never come back to the family’. The rest of my siblings have disowned me.”
Despite losing so much, she said she is determined not to turn back and will continue fighting.
After our meeting, I could not stop thinking about this remarkable young woman and all the young people whose futures have been lost.
I have a 13-year-old daughter, but because of covid and the instability in Myanmar, it has been four years since we have lived together. I had to leave my family in a village in a safe area.
I see her from time to time but I very much miss having my daughter with me. One thing is for sure, I think that my headstrong daughter will also stand up to tyrants like Comrade Chocolate.
Artwork by JC who is receiving support from The Kite Tales to produce illustrations.
