When the military conscription law was announced, Pyu Ma Sin knew she could no longer stay at home. The small community where she lived, in the Bago region of Myanmar, was under strict military control. She was twenty-one, falling within the age group subjected to the draft. She didn’t hesitate in her choice to escape.

The February 2021 coup led by Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, plunged the country into a prolonged crisis. Protests were violently suppressed and the situation swiftly deteriorated into civil war between the military regime and various opposition or rebel forces, including the People’s Defence Force (PDF)—the armed wing of the National Unity Government—and various ethnic armed groups.

• Tags: Issue 39, Jatuporn Susuadmo, Myanmar