"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."