A Candle in the Darkness

Insight Myanmar

Episode #168: Shade’s story is a kind of microcosm of how thousands of Burmese and foreign allies have involved themselves in ways they could scarcely have imagined before 2021, while also shining a light on the many members of the Burmese diaspora who have been using their freedom and safety to do whatever they can for those struggling back in Myanmar. “We have to play our parts and do whatever we can. It may be small. It could be very small. But just doing anything that you can to stand up against a coup, I think that's the most important thing,” he says.

Shade describes how hard the Sagaing region, in particular, has been hit by the military’s aggression, and how people there continue to bravely resist military rule. This, in turn, has provoked the military into trying to beat them even more brutally into submission. Shade soon realized that providing emergency medical care was one of Sagaing’s most critical needs, but he had no experience or knowledge in this field, let alone the logistics of providing care in a hot conflict zone. So he immersed himself in learning all he could to get his mission up and running as soon as possible, and with friends, founded the organization Healing Hands. Their initiative now administers local training courses that cover basic medical care and first aid—to date, 150 people have graduated their program! They also worked to establish and stock basic medical stations throughout the region that are overseen by these graduates.

The military demands that humanitarian aid coming into the country needs to be administered through them directly, and they will only support local organizations officially registered with their regime. This situation has caused much debate among large aid organizations, who typically take a cookie-cutter approach. However, Shade strongly advocates that local organizations with a proven track record of on-the-ground success within Myanmar’s unique context, and not tied to the military, be supported.

"If [these large aid organizations] try to give aid money via the military, they're going to use it to buy weapons! That's the reality. That's what they have to face if they try if they're trying to deliver any sort of aid to the military, and if think that's going to be effective, they're deluded!”