"Wai Wai Nu, who turns 31 this month, endured more in her teens and twenties than most people will in a lifetime. In 2005, when she was 18, Myanmar’s military regime arrested her father, an opposition MP, on political offences, along with her entire family... She and her mother spent their nights over the next seven years sleeping on the floor of a group cell. In 2012, as her country’s fitful — and still incomplete — transition to democracy began, the family were finally freed. Wai Wai Nu completed the law degree she had started before her arrest, and then enrolled in a one-year political-education programme organised by the British Council. Her experiences in prison laid the groundwork for what was to become a career in activism... Wai Wai Nu set up the “Women’s Peace Network — Arakan”, an NGO that organises civics-education workshops, training and other activities aimed at promoting understanding between different groups. The initiative has expanded to include men and other areas of Myanmar since then."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Myanmar activist Wai Wai Nu: ‘Prison was really a life education’, by John Reed, The Financial Times, (6 December 2017)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wai_Wai_Nu
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Wai Wai Nu
9 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Wai Wai Nu →
Related Quotes
"Our so-called democratic legislation in fact restricts freedom and rights. That’s why I started advocating for legal …"
"I thought, ‘What’s going on? How can I be here without committing a crime?’ I couldn’t accept that reality for some t…"
"When I was young, I was told only criminals went to prison... [I was thinking] did we really commit crimes? Were we r…"
"Some were sentenced without having had a fair trial... Some were put in jail because they didn’t have enough money or…"
"I feel I was privileged when I compare myself to the other young girls and women that I interacted with while I was i…"
"The BBC named Nu to its Top 100 Women list in 2014, and in 2015 she was named a Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Pol…"
"When the female judge read out their sentences — 47 years for her father, 17 for herself, her mother, sister and brot…"
"Instead of being cowed by her seven-year imprisonment, Wai Wai Nu, emerged stronger and more determined to fight for …"
"Believing in the power of LOVE was what I held onto fighting for my dear life."
"When one's existence which has seemed quite secure suddenly melts away. . . when every security fails and every suppo…"