English
ကညီကျိာ်
မြန်မာ
Print:This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during March 2012 in T' Nay Hsah Township, Pa'an District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The community member interviewed Saw Ng---, who described his experience while he was hospitalised for a week after stepping on a landmine while out fishing. Saw Ng--- also raised concerns regarding food and livelihood security due to a blast from the landmine that resulted in the deaths of other villagers' livestock. This incident is also described in the report Uncertain Ground: Landmines in eastern Burma, published by KHRG on May 21, 2012.
Interview | Saw Ng---, (male, 32), L--- village, T'Nay Hsah Township, Pa'an District (March 2012)
The following interview was conducted by a community member in Pa'an District and is presented below translated exactly as it was received, save for minor edits for clarity and security.[1] This interview was received along with other information from Pa'an District, including two incident reports, 44 other interviews and 683 photographs.[2]
Ethnicity: Karen
How did you get hit by the bomb?
I got hit when I went out fishing.
How do people address you?
People call me Saw Ng---.
How old are you?
I'm 32 years old.
Whose bomb did you get hit by?
I don't know about that.
Was it a Kaw Thoo Lei[3] bomb or a Tatmadaw bomb?
I also don't know because it was planted beside the road.
Was it close to the village?
No, it was not close to the village.
So, was it on the hill?
Yes, it was on the hill.
Did any of the villagers' cows or buffalos get hit by the bomb?
Yes, some people's cows and buffalos got hit by the bomb.
In which village do you live?
I live in this village, L---.
You got hit when you went out fishing, is that right?
Yes.
Which hospital did you go to after you got hit by the bomb?
I went to Kawkareik hospital. After I was healed, the nurse discharged me and I came back to my village.
How many months did you stay in the Hospital?
I was in the hospital for one week.
This photo, taken on March 2012, shows Saw Ng---, 32-years-old, from Noh Kay village tract in T’ Nay Hsah Township, Pa’an District, after he stepped on a landmine while fishing. [Photo: KHRG]
Footnotes:
[1] KHRG trains community members in eastern Burma to document individual human rights abuses using a standardised reporting format; conduct interviews with other community members; and write general updates on the situation in areas with which they are familiar. When conducting interviews, villagers are trained to use loose question guidelines, but also to encourage interviewees to speak freely about recent events, raise issues that they consider to be important and share their opinions or perspectives on abuse and other local dynamics.
[2] In order to increase the transparency of KHRG methodology and more directly communicate the experiences and perspectives of villagers in eastern Burma, KHRG aims to make all field information received available on the the KHRG website once it has been processed and translated, subject only to security considerations. As companion to this, a redesigned website will be released in 2012. In the meantime, KHRG's most recently-published field information from "Pa'an Interview: Saw Ht---, March 2012", KHRG, May 2012.
[3] Both the researcher conducting the interview and the interviewee used the term 'Kaw Thoo Lei', which refers to Karen State as demarcated by the Karen National Union (KNU). The exact meaning and origin of the term 'Kaw Thoo Lei' is disputed; see: Jonathan Falla. True Love and Bartolomew: Rebels on the Burmese border, Cambridge University Press: 1991.
