A special three-part podcast series by Waso’s Ideas, which hears from people who have experienced love and found relationships amid Myanmar’s conflict since the 2021 military coup. This podcast is one of the 25 winners of the 2026 Gwen Robinson Fellowship.
Welcome to War and Love: Stories of Love in Times of Conflict, Episode 2.
I’m Waso, your host. This is a special three-episode podcast on Waso’s idea channel, where we hear from people who have experienced love and relationships amid the conflict in Myanmar.
In each episode, you will hear their personal experiences—their relationships, challenges, choices, hopes, and the ways conflict has affected their lives and the people they love.
Thank you for joining me. Let’s begin.
Ma Yu is one of those in charge of the Power of Ababi People Defense Force drone team, based along the Thai-Karen Border. Power of Ababi drone team was founded by the Myanmar Muslim Revolution Force (MMRF) in 2023, two years after the military coup.
Ma Yu – I was living in Mandalay, attending university, when I went to visit my family in Mae Sot, a Thai border town very close to Myanmar. My family had moved there before I graduated. But because of the covid 19 pandemic, I found myself stuck and unable to return to school. Then the 2021 military coup happened. From Mae Sot, I supported the revolution financially. At first, so many people supported it. And I was proud to be one of them. I deeply wanted to join the protesters in the streets, but being across the border made that impossible. I worked as an assistant teacher at an international school in town. But my path changed in mid 2022, when the parent of one of my students introduced me to the Myanmar Muslim Revolution Force (MMRF). I joined immediately.
After the 2021 military cop, Ma Yu and Ko Lin Myat were friends. They worked together in the MMRF. Then members from MMRF decided to form an armed wing. But they had a low budget. They started to discuss forming a drone unit. In April 2023, Ma Yu and Ko Lin Myat volunteered for drone training, and Ma Yu quit her teaching job. They fell in love with each other during that training.
Ma Yu- He confessed his feelings on his birthday, and I accepted. Later that year, before deploying to our active drone force base, we had a small wedding surrounded by friends. Our parents knew we were dating, but we never told them we got married. They wanted what any parents want: for us to marry, settle down in a safe place, and build a stable life with children. They didn’t want us doing dangerous things. But we couldn’t choose that path. We simply could not leave the revolution behind.
Nowadays, the Myanmar military uses jammers to detect their drones. Also, the Power of Ababi drone team normally stops doing missions in the rainy season. So now they are upgrading their technology. For some types of drones, they have to produce them themselves. So, the couple trained the PDF comrades. Ko Linn Myat usually goes on missions. And Ma Yu usually stays in the back line and does drone production and logistics tasks. Sometimes they go together on missions because they only have a few people. So, they have to do almost every part of the tasks.
Ma Yu- We have faced so many terrifying moments. Right after we married in 2023, we had to climb the steep mountain to provide training along the border. We were exhausted, desperately thirsty, and completely run out of water. To the point where we had to drink muddy water from a pond. Once we reached the Karen area, the military launched intense airstrikes. Dropping what I think were sixteen bombs. It was my very first experience with war. And I was terrified. Luckily, we were huddled together in the bunker. Another time I took a motorcycle taxi back to our base. And we lost our way, riding straight into a military- occupied area. I truly thought I was dead, but thanks to the quick actions of the driver, we narrowly escaped.
Living there at the base is a bit ok for Ma Yu. Almost all of the comrades are Muslims. So, they can easily get Halal food, and they can pray together. All they need to be careful about is the military’s airstrikes and shooting with arbitrary weapons.
Ma Yu- When we travel along the Karen State border, the local Karen people call us “Kalar”. To them, that word isn’t used as a discriminatory term. They are truly lovely people. They knew that we only eat halal food, so they thoughtfully prepared fish and eggs for us.
The word “Kalar” is regarded as a “K” word like the “N” word. But some people normally don’t know that the word is a racist term. Some people use that word unintentionally. That’s why Ma Yu doesn’t feel much when people call her like that.
Ma Yu- I feel more empowered when we’re together. Right now, he’s travelling, and I’m here in the liberated area where we are dealing with flooding. Facing these difficulties makes me miss him terribly. But I am less worried because I know he is in a safer place. When the roles are reversed, when I’m safe and he’s in the liberated area, my anxiety for him is extreme. I still remember when we had to relocate our base during a heavy military attack. I had to leave him and the other comrades on the battlefield for two days while I moved ahead to safety. Those two days felt like the longest days of my entire life, and I was paralyzed by the fear of war. But after two days, they made it out and joined me at the new base.
Ma Yu said she and her husband argued a lot as they worked together. They agreed and disagreed a lot. Sometimes, each of them took some time after arguing. Then they talked again and made one final decision together.
Ma Yu – As a Muslim woman, I find my strength and comfort in counting my prayer beads. We have a religious scholar on our team, and we follow his guidance in prayer. Honestly, one of the main reasons I chose Lin Myat is because he shares my faith. We can pray together and fast together during Ramadan. It makes life easier because we never have to explain our religious practices to one another. To me, he is more like a best friend and a trusted comrade than just a husband. If I were alone in this without him. I think I would have given up a long time ago. He is the reason I keep going. Together we can solve any problems.
This is one of three stories in my War and Love series podcast. Join me for the last episode as we hear another personal story of love in times of conflict.
Take care and stay safe. See you, bye-bye. Peace be upon you.
