Displaced residents returning to Loikaw despite safety concerns

Maw Saw Mya*, a mother of two in her 30s, has been unable to reopen the traditional Kayah weaving workshop she once ran as a family business in Loikaw, Karenni (Kayah) State for more than a year.

As fighting intensified in late 2023 in Loikaw—Maw Saw Mya’s hometown and the junta’s administrative capital in Karenni State—Maw Saw Mya and her family were forced to flee, leaving everything they had built. 

Their workshop, home, and lives were all abandoned amid the chaos of war.