Written By Lin Khine
Border News Agency
Mrauk-U, May 25
Thingyan is just a few days away. Although the situation is not yet stable or safe from the Myanmar junta’s airstrikes, people still look ahead to the Thingyan days with joy and anticipation. Children, especially, are even more excited and happy.
Twelve-year-old Ma Phyo Phyo San was also happily daydreaming, in her childlike innocence, about how she would play with water and have fun with her friends during Thingyan.
She said she had imagined gathering with her friends in front of the house to splash water and dye each other’s hair in bright colors.
Her friends had already started dyeing their hair and were feeling pleased and proud with their colorful new looks.
Ma Phyo Phyo San admired them and wished she could dye her hair like her friends. But she didn’t have enough money in hand. Asking her parents wasn’t really an option either, as they were struggling just to afford two meals a day.
Her father, bedridden and under close care due to throat cancer; her youngest sister, just eight years old, not even able to start kindergarten; her 16-year-old brother, who had dropped out of school and had no stable job; and her mother, who struggled daily to gather enough fish and edible snails from the streams to sell and put food on the table all of this was part of Ma Phyo Phyo San’s everyday reality. Witnessing her family’s hardship up close, she couldn’t bring herself to ask her parents for money to dye her hair. Even if she had asked, she wasn’t sure they would have anything extra to give.
The 5,000 kyats she had received from her grandmother for Thingyan snacks had already been partly spent 1,000 kyats gone for a treat, leaving her with just 4,000 kyats. But dyeing her hair would cost around 7,000 kyats, so Ma Phyo Phyo San was still short of money. Determined, she began thinking of ways to make up the difference.
One day, two older women from her neighborhood mentioned they were going up the hill to collect fiddleheads vegetables. Seeing an opportunity, Ma Phyo Phyo San offered to join them, hoping that by selling the fiddleheads vegetables they gathered, she could earn enough to finally afford the hair dye.
“I thought I’d set up a small pandal with my friends nearby and have fun. Since all my friends have dyed their hair, I wanted to color mine too,” Ma Phyo Phyo San said, sharing her hopes and plans for Thingyan.
But her mother wouldn’t allow her to go. She was worried and didn’t want her daughter to get exhausted or be in danger. The hills still had uncleared landmines left behind by junta soldiers, making it too risky to let her child go.
But as her daughter kept pleading and since she would be accompanied by trusted elders, the mother finally gave in—on the condition that she be extremely careful.
“If we find a lot, we can sell them. I want to dye my hair. And if I get some money, I can buy a little something to eat for myself too. Since Mom doesn’t go out, I thought I wouldn’t have to stay by Dad’s side either, so I went along. That day, we didn’t even have any curry left to cook at home,” Ma Phyo Phyo San explained, recalling the reason she decided to go.
Once they reached the hill, Ma Phyo Phyo San followed the adults from behind, picking vegetables along the path they took.
She said that sometimes, when she spotted vegetables growing nearby, she would stray a little to gather them.
It was during one of those moments that Ma Phyo Phyo San suddenly stepped on a hidden landmine buried in the ground.
“That aunty was walking ahead of me. The mine didn’t go off for her. But I saw a fiddlehead leaf nearby and went to pick it. That’s when I stepped on the mine. As soon as I heard the ‘tick tick’ sound, I tried to run but it exploded right then,” Ma Phyo Phyo San recounted.
“When I stepped on the mine, it started ticking ‘ti ti ti.’ As I ran, I felt like I both fell and was thrown at the same time. I still tried to get up and keep running. I didn’t even realize my leg was gone. I kept crawling and crawling, and it was only when one of the adults said, ‘Your leg is gone,’ that I knew. That was when it hit me,” Ma Phyo Phyo San said calmly, looking down at where her left leg used to be.
Ma Phyo Phyo San, who lives in Kan Thar Htwet Wa Ward, Myaybon Town, stepped on a landmine while picking betel leaves on a hillside near a military camp where junta soldiers were stationed close to Myaybon Town. This happened on April 9th, resulting in her leg being amputated.
After Ma Phyo Phyo San triggered the mine and lost her leg, the women who came with her hurried down the hill, calling out to nearby men for help to get her to a hospital.
From there, Ma Phyo Phyo San was taken to a nearby hospital where she received emergency treatment, including injections and bandaging. She was then quickly transferred to another hospital for further care.
Her mother, who had been staying home to care for her husband suffering from throat cancer and wasn’t working, only found out about her daughter stepping on the mine when neighbors in the ward came to inform her. She then hurriedly rented a car and rushed to the hospital.
“When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor immediately referred her to another hospital. People gathered around and helped rent a car for us. We had to transfer her right away,” Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother said, holding back tears as they welled up in her eyes.
When they arrived at the second hospital, it was overcrowded and understaffed, so Ma Phyo Phyo San couldn’t be operated on immediately. She had to wait and spend the night there, and the surgery only took place a day later, her mother explained.
During the operation to amputate Ma Phyo Phyo San’s injured leg, her mother said she often found her daughter crying out in pain, which made her cry silently many times as well.
“My little daughter cried all night. I couldn’t bear to think about her crying like that,” Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother said, wiping away tears that she could no longer hold back with her clothes.
During her hospital stay, local aid groups and officials from the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government provided much-needed support to Ma Phyo Phyo San’s family – helping with food, water, medicine, and even finding blood donations due to their extreme hardship.
“We didn’t have to pay for the medical fees or treatment costs. They also helped with food and drinks. Our neighborhood even collected money to support us,” Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother said.
Ma Phyo Phyo San received hospital treatment for over a month and was discharged just about two weeks ago. She is now back home, but because her wound hasn’t fully healed yet, she still goes for regular check-ups and treatment once a week.
“At the clinic, each time she receives an injection, we have to pay about 10,000 kyats,” Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother said.
Their family lives in a small, makeshift Nipa palm-roofed house with tarpaulin shelters about ten feet wide on a piece of land that they don’t even own. Now, with their daughter disabled, they are struggling and worried about how to manage their livelihood moving forward.
Ma Phyo Phyo San’s father, who once lived on their own land and worked as a fisherman, went to Malaysia three years ago hoping to earn money to support his eldest son’s Buddhist novitiation ceremony.
Although he entered Malaysia through connections with human traffickers, he was arrested there and imprisoned for over four months. During his imprisonment, he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
After being released, he returned to Yangon and underwent medical treatment for over a year.
To cover medical expenses, they had to mortgage their remaining house and land, but later couldn’t repay the debt. As the treatment period extended, they eventually had to sell their property.
After the decisive battle in the Arakan region and the subsequent road blockades, they were unable to continue treatment and returned to their hometown.
When they arrived back, they no longer had a house or land, so they built a makeshift shelter on a friend’s vacant plot of land and have been living there for over a year now.
“The owner might sell this land at any time, and then we’ll have nowhere to live,” says Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother.
Before Ma Phyo Phyo San’s injury, her father – who was suffering from throat cancer – was cared for at home, with help from her mother who cooked and worked outside to support the family’s livelihood.
Now that Ma Phyo Phyo San has lost one leg, her mother is finding it increasingly difficult to go out and work.
“But when the rice runs out, I’ll have to go out to work again,” Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother says.
Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother says they still have a little rice and some money that have been collectively provided as help.
She adds, “I have to work, no matter what. But how can I bear this hardship? How can I not worry about my daughter and husband?”
If there’s no rice left to cook or money to buy fish, Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother says that even though her heart aches for her daughter and husband, she will have to go out to work to avoid falling into poverty.
“I’ll start working from tomorrow or the day after. Today, I was trying to get ready, but I felt unwell,” she said.
Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother goes down to the riverside to collect mussels and catch fish. Sometimes, with money lent by friends, she buys fish to sell again at the market.
When sales are good, the family can have enough food for one meal, but on days when sales are poor and profits are low, they struggle with insufficient food and face hardship.
Within the Arakan region, there are many others like Ma Phyo Phyo San who have been injured or lost limbs due to landmines and leftover weapons from the conflict, with many also losing their lives.
According to data from the Arakan Army (AA), between November 23, 2023, and February 20, 2025, a total of 51 people were killed and 285 others injured due to landmines and remnants of war.
Humanitarian organizations and disability advocacy groups highlight the urgent need to provide prosthetic limbs and food aid to those who have lost limbs, as well as the importance of offering psychological support to help them recover mentally.
“The most fundamental need for persons with disabilities is employment and livelihood opportunities,” said U Hla Myint, Chairman of the Rakhine Organization for Persons with Disabilities.
However, on the ground, family members of landmine victims told Border News Agency that neither international nor local humanitarian organizations have provided effective or sustainable support that could truly improve their long-term situation.
Although the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government has provided some support to civilians affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance, residents and civil society groups in Arakan say the assistance has not been substantial or effective enough.
Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother, whose 12-year-old daughter lost a leg due to a landmine, urges authorities and all responsible groups to clear landmines and unexploded remnants of war completely so that no other civilians have to suffer like her daughter.
“I don’t want others to suffer like my daughter, so I hope those who are able can help clear the landmines,” said Ma Phyo Phyo San’s mother. “I want those who can do it to clear the forests and hills where landmines are planted. I don’t want anyone else to go through what my daughter went through. I don’t want others to feel the pain we’ve experienced.”
The Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government stated that while they are working to remove landmines and unexploded ordnance across Arakan as much as possible, the lack of adequate equipment and machinery has made it difficult to completely clear affected areas.
“The main challenge we face is the lack of sufficient modern equipment needed for mine clearance,” said Khaing Thu Kha, spokesperson for the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government.
He added that if neighboring countries and international organizations could provide assistance with mine-clearing tools and equipment, the clearance efforts could be accelerated and carried out more effectively.
Due to her family’s financial difficulties, Ma Phyo Phyo San was only able to study up to the third grade and had to help with household chores from a young age. Still, she holds on to hopes and aspirations.
Wanting to support her mother – who has been struggling alone to provide for the family – Ma Phyo Phyo San wishes to go outside and take on any work she can to help earn an income.
Nearby Mont Di shops and teashops have even offered her job opportunities.
“The shops said I could work there, but my mom told me not to. She said I need to stay by my father’s side. The noodle shops and snack stalls also offered me work,” Ma Phyo Phyo San said.
Even though she lost one of her legs to a landmine, Ma Phyo Phyo San has not given up on her hopes and aspirations.
Now, with one side of her landmine injury still unhealed, she is practicing walking with the help of a crutch she received from donations.
When her injury heals and she receives additional prosthetic support, she clearly expresses her intention to go out and work.
“When I grow up, I will wear a prosthetic leg, work at the shops, and take care of my mother,” Ma Phyo Phyo San said eagerly, sitting with her one amputated leg resting on her other leg as she confidently shared her goals.
