Myanmar activist Wai Wai Nu on Wai Wai Nu

“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.”

“When the female judge read out their sentences — 47 years for her father, 17 for herself, her mother, sister and brother — she asked herself: “Is this really true?” Wai Wai Nu’s father was sent into solitary confinement... she, her mother and sister were jailed at Yangon’s notorious Insein prison. There, they were held in the same room as more than 100 other women — prostitutes, thieves, murderers, drug dealers and illegal gamblers. Once the shock of the filth and discomfort wore off, Wai Wai Nu began to talk to the other women and listen to their stories. Some were indeed hardened criminals but others were victims of circumstance... In 2015 she launched the #MyFriend campaign, meant to showcase love and tolerance among Myanmar’s diverse communities through social media... The aim, says Wai Wai Nu, is “to bring a positive narrative to the public to promote tolerance”. ”