An interview with Maw Ree Ree, Deputy Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Rehabilitation in the Interim Executive Council of Karenni State, the self-established civilian government
She is also the founder and director of Ka Nyar Maw Foundation, which seeks to support and engage young people in Karenni State, and a leading fundraiser for the Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces (KNDF), who are fighting the military junta. She was interviewed by Fortify Rights Senior Director Peter Bouckaert in Demoso Township, Karenni State, during a November 2025 visit. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was life like in Yangon when you lived there, before the coup?
After I finished university, my lifestyle remained very simple but with freedom. Like, if I wanted to go to a bar in Yangon, I can go and do anything, but if you are in the village at the time you want to go out, like 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., you cannot go out—if you are out, you are a “bad girl,” you are not a good woman living like that. So, life [in the village] is very limited. However, in Yangon, even if I call my friends at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., “okay let’s go drink wine, or do something else.” There, I could go out anytime, and I can do anything.
We even had a band—an all-women ethnic band. I learned how to play the drums. In Myanmar, we don’t have a lot of female bands like that. So, we started playing, an all-female band, and we gave it the name The 21 Band. Because most people in Myanmar see 22, 33, 44 as lucky numbers, so we said, “why don’t we call it 21?” We had five members, I am from Karenni, and one was Karen, she grew up in Mae Sot [Thailand] and her father is from the Karen National Union (KNU). The other woman was Shan, the other was Kayah, and we had one ethnic Burmese.
Most people wanted to support us, even some NGOs, because we are an ethnic women band. They wanted us to go to ethnic areas and make the music that people like there. We had a really good time in January 2021; it was the best and happiest time for me because we had donors and an album release we were working on.
But then in February 2021, the coup happened and our dream vanished.
What did you do when the coup happened? What did you experience?
In early 2021, most people went out in the street and were protesting, and I saw many ethnic people around me joining, leaving their flats and protesting the military coup. I started thinking, “I am a Karenni. What is our future? Should I hold my Karenni flag and go to protest the military coup?” And when I went, I was the first person holding the Karenni flag walking by Sule Pagoda, flying the flag.
After this, I joined the General Strike Committee of Nationalities known as GSCN, and I became the Karenni representative on that committee.
So what happened when the military started shooting at the protesters?
[The soldiers] started shooting at the first line of people. My colleagues and I were there, and we needed to separate and flee back to our homes. They fired teargas and then they shot rubber bullets. We needed to run away and spread out like that.
I started thinking, for my security, maybe it is better I go back to my home State. So, I came back here to Karenni, because at that time, the people here were safe. In Karenni they didn’t use the tear gas or rubber bullets.
What happened after you joined the resistance?
Our leader very confidentially contacted me, asking, “You led the people in the strikes, now we need to [militarily] train our side. We should go to military training camps, and be shown how to train, how to shoot, we need to train ourselves.” I had no idea about fighting, but I went for a month of basic training.
The Karenni Army taught us how to survive by ourselves. I was there for a month. Everything changed. Even when we had food, it was not enough, and while we trained in the jungle, we didn’t have access to anything. After the training, I joined the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) as a comrade.
Later I changed positions to do research and data analysis. I invested my time in analyzing the data of the junta military and providing information to the resistance.
I started thinking, we have some Karenni community living abroad. I started with a small fundraiser for the KNDF on Facebook. Now I support the KNDF commanders with fundraisers. We support the people who are on the frontline. I cannot go there, but I can support them with fundraising.
How did you get involved in helping young people?
Our young people, they have no idea how to survive, how to support the revolution. Most of their parents don’t allow them to go to the frontlines to be a soldier, to be a comrade like that. So they just live in their village, and they don’t work, just staying home like displaced people. I just invited them, saying, you can’t go to the frontlines, let’s help the people behind the lines.
Our first activity was to go to the displaced persons camps and when we arrived, we would sing together, we danced together, like in our church.
We have daily activities for the young. We go to the IDP [internally displaced persons] camps and meet with the children and their parents, and we just bring everyone together, dance together, sing together, teach them to play instruments.
Lately, more young people came to join us, even comrades on break from the frontlines. When they have free time, they want to join us because sometimes they need to heal their minds. When you go to the frontline and fight the enemy, your mental state can be very bad. So when they have free time, they come and join our activities.
Tell us more about Ka Nyar Maw Foundation?
Since 2021, I worked for both the KNDF and the Ka Nyar Maw Foundation. We didn’t have a name at first, we would just go with our team and help each other like that. Most people were content with that, but they asked, what is your organization’s name? In our history, we have an important experience from the past, that of Ka Nyar Maw who is like an angel who protects the Karenni community, so we chose the name like that.
Our main activities are performing together, dancing together, but there is also our nutrition program. Some IDPs have not eaten meat in a long time, so we make delicious meals and donate those. And the third program is music training for the IDP youth which lasts two months, and also a two-month soccer training program.
We get a lot of comments from parents and teachers that our programs are really effective. The children are suffering, they go to school and hear the warplanes coming, and they are afraid. When they grow up, they just want to put on a military uniform. But when they start with our training, their minds start changing, and they become more actively involved in their communities. They are more active at home also, so the parents are really happy! Now we have done the trainings six times and reached over 1,000 children.
You are also the deputy head of the humanitarian and rehabilitation department of Karenni State, within the IEC. How many IDPs are there now in Karenni State? And what is their situation like?
In the whole state, we have about 450 to 500 IDP camps. They house about 40,000 households, and their population is around 150,000. In Karenni State, we have a population of about 450,000, and we estimate that about 300,000 people are displaced, but some live in temporary shelters or in the towns. Even I am an IDP, but I just set myself up here and opened a few businesses, a laundromat and a gas station.
The IEC is the legal government. But we need to find the money [to run our departments] ourselves, and find donations from other organizations. We don’t have a lot of support, but we just stand by ourselves, figuring out how and what we can do for the IDPs.
We work on the ground level. We meet with the IDPs, and when we know their situation, we make a proposal and invite donations. It is very hard to work for the IDPs, because we need to take care of a whole State full of IDPs. We would need at least US$1.5 million, just for their food, per month.
Most IDPs don’t have a job, they don’t have anything, they are waiting for donations at the camps. They don’t have an opportunity to work or plan major cultivation of crops.
Do you think you will ever go back to your previous professional life in Yangon?
I don’t know. I am older now than before, I don’t think like that anymore. If the revolution is done, I will go to my village and make myself a studio to play music and build a small house in the village. So no, Yangon, I might go and visit—that’s all. I will not live there because I need a rest. I have suffered a lot of mental harm. I have a lot of trauma. So, I need to take time after this. Even me, you know what I told my volunteers? I want to cry, but I have no idea how to cry. Because if I cry, with all I will remember, we will all cry together.
So, I keep saying, let’s just stay together, staying together will make us powerful. So, we don’t have anything, but we lean on each other and that is our power. The young people who are around me are my power. They can’t work alone like this, but I think, with the young people around me I still have power. Before, the young people didn’t do a lot for our State. Our generation was like a gap, between the political generation before us, and us, we don’t have a middle generation. This time, we should work for our people. If everyone leaves Karenni State, others will come and rule over our people. You should not leave your people like that.
For more information on the work of the Ka Nyar Maw Foundation and how to support their work, please visit their Facebook page.