Gimme shelter

After hours driving on jagged roads, in deep darkness, a group of guerrilla soldiers appears, illuminated by our truck’s headlights. They stop the vehicle, Kalashnikovs in hand. John, our guide, steps forward and smiles, ushering us into a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) truck.
Over the next 21 days, it becomes clear that here are a people caught between their right to live in their ancestral land and the will to survive the pursuits of those aiming to ransack the wealth of resources hidden in the bowels of this remote region.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting – which resumed in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire – setting up temporary homes in camps and Laiza, the small town that serves as the KIO’s main stronghold. Nevertheless, John smiles every day, as do the countless farmers, soldiers, officials, women and children – each grin a miniscule victory for humanity.
The warmth shown by our hosts in these darkest of days is overwhelming. Never more so than when sitting with them in the moonlight, raising bamboo cups full to the brim with Kachin whiskey and cheering “Ongdon!” which means “for freedom” in the Kachin lingua franca.
“We are prepared to fight for two more years,” says John, smiling once again, this time through cigarette smoke. Kachin songs fill the air, laughter drifts from the kitchen along with the smells of some wonderful culinary creation.
Such memories have remained inside me long after leaving Kachin State. A beautiful environment is being ravaged in this most hidden of Asian regions. I believe a conflict should never be forgotten but most of all I hope that, one day, I will see John smile again.