Hser is a 1-year-11-month-old boy with a large mass on the right side of his face and neck. His family lives in Hteet Moo Hta village in Myawaddy district. His parents were rice farmers but make their living as day labourers. His mother currently does not work as she is busy caring for him and his younger sister.
Hser’s family has been affected by the military conflict in Burma. For the past three years, his mother reports, the DKBA has come to their village and burned everyone’s rice crop stores. The DKBA did this as punishment. The DKBA claimed that the village was unfairly paying tribute to the KNU and SPDC while not paying anything to the DKBA. As a result of the hardship induced by having their entire crop burned and having to pay money to the various armies, about 35 families in the village, including Hser’s, had to move to a neighbouring village. Continue reading