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Displaced villagers from Saw Wa Der village, Toungoo District, in photos B-2 and B-3 rest under makeshift shelters on August 10th 2007 during the rainy season after having fled from Burma Army operations around their home village. In photo B-4, the displaced villagers from Saw Wa Der travel along a forest path as they continue their evasion of Burma Army forces on August 18th 2007. In photo B-1, a young mother carries her baby in a longyi slung over her shoulder while older children walk. Photo B-5 shows some of the displaced Saw Wa Der villagers using plastic sheets to protect themselves from the rain during flight. [Photo: KHRG]

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On August 12th 2007, Burma Army LIB #202 deputy commander Thu Rain Win took over command at the SPDC's Htee Hoo Than camp in Dooplaya District. Thoo Rain Win immediately ordered the residents of nearby villages - including Sin Ka, Ku Nee and Tha Main Doh - to construct a vehicle road from Htee Hoo Than to southern Kya-In Seik Gyi. At one section where this road crossed the Mee Htan Yan River, the villagers doing the forced labour constructing the road were required to fell trees and use them to construct a bridge. Photo B-6 shows the bridge in the initial stages of construction on August 12th 2007. Photos B-7 and B-8 show the completed bridge on August 15th 2007. [Photo: KHRG]

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The rubber plantation in Dooplaya District, shown here on August 21st 2007, belongs to Saw Pah Ka, commander of DKBA battalion #906. Saw Pah Ka's soldiers force local villagers in the area to weed the plantation once a year. [Photo: KHRG]

In photo B-10 displaced villagers from T'Aye Kee village, Toungoo District, take a short rest on August 11th 2007 beneath a plastic tarpaulin set up to protect them from the rain. Photos B-11 and B-12 show T'Aye Kee villages joined by displaced villagers from Mwee Loh village on August 15th 2007 as they walk together through a narrow stream with their possessions loaded on their backs while they all continued to flee from SPDC military operations.

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In these pictures, villagers from Mwee Loh village, Toungoo District, cross an SPDC vehicle road near Tha Dah Der while evading Burma Army forces on August 17th 2007. [Photos: KHRG]

Due to insufficient funding, this school in SPDC-controlled Kyone Doh Township (shown here on August 30th 2007) has not been able to provide any materials for its students. Students' families have therefore had to purchase all books and other supplies themselves. [Photo: KHRG]

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These pictures, taken in December 2007, show a library built by villagers in Kyone Doh Township as ordered by local SPDC authorities. In the photo above right, the empty interior of the library illustrates the substantial lack of support for development in favour of visible yet largely useless infrastructure. At an obligatory meeting of regional village heads, local SPDC authorities ordered that each village construct a clinic, library and school in their village for which SPDC authorities would provide a third of the construction costs. The villagers were obliged to cover the remaining construction costs, provide the necessary labour and then decide if they wanted (and were able) to pay for any actual supplies. [Photos: KHRG]

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Mobile medics from the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) distribute medicine to displaced villagers at a hiding site in Toungoo District on January 27th 2008. For many displaced villagers in hiding, such cross-border provisions remain the only source of modern medicine to which they have access. Burma Army-imposed restrictions and shoot-on-sight policies - plus the high cost of travel - present severe barriers to accessing hospitals in both Burma and Thailand. [Photo: KHRG]

Displaced villagers in Tantabin Township of southern Toungoo District travel with an escort of KNLA soldiers for protection. The villagers and soldiers are shown here fording a river in March 2008. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers in SPDC-controlled Bper Htee area of southern Toungoo District are shown here doing forced labour for the construction of a school in March 2008. The villagers collect the bricks from a stockpile after they've been fired, carry them by basket to the construction site and lay them as foundation and walls for the school. [Photos: KHRG]

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Photo B-30 shows the abandoned homes of Buh Kee village, Toungoo District, on March 14th 2008. Local residents fled Buh Kee when Burma Army forces attacked the village on December 5th 2007. For more information regarding the SPDC attack on Buh Kee village, see SPDC troops burn villages and step up operations against civilians in southern Toungoo District, KHRG (December 2007). [Photo: KHRG]

SPDC authorities in Toungoo District ordered that villages under their control, such as Taw Gkoo village show here on April 9th 2008, construct perimeter fences enclosing the entire village. Such fences prevent villagers from easily leaving the village to evade SPDC demands and also make it much easier for SPDC authorities to identify who comes and goes. [Photo: KHRG]

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Khoo Muh Der villagers return from collecting dried leaves from around the now-abandoned SPDC Army camps at Gkyaw Gkoh and Htee Nay Loh on April 9th 2008. The villagers will use or sell these leaves as roofing shingles. As SPDC forces withdrew from the two nearby army camps, these villagers were able to collect these supplies with relatively more security. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers in Tantabin Township of southern Toungoo District carry supplies alongside KNLA soldiers on March 29th 2008 as they try to avoid Burma Army soldiers while crossing an SPDC-controlled vehicle road which leads to the SPDC Army camp at Buh Hsa Kee. [Photos: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers from Nya Muh Kee construct a school for their children at a hiding site in Nyaunglebin District in April 2008. Photo B-37 shows the school partially constructed - shortly after villagers fled from their homes. In photo B-40, displaced children from Nay Muh Kee village who will be attending the new school are shown winnowing (separating the husk from rice) while their parents are out tending their hillside paddy crops. These villagers fled after Burma Army forces set up a new camp near their homes at Nya Muh Kee village. [Photos: KHRG]

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An SPDC poster, showing a picture of a destroyed bridge in Toungoo District with accompanying text that reads, "The destruction [done by] KNU terrorist rebels in Toungoo District," in Burmese [Photo B-41] and Karen [Photo B-42] languages. Photograph taken on April 5th 2008. [Photos: KHRG]

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Children from Dtoo Thoo Der village as photographed on April 14th 2008. Due to increased food insecurity and related livelihood obligations, these children have to care for one another while their parents go to work in the fields. [Photos: KHRG; please ingore incorrect dates printed on the photos]

A young girl in the T'Hsah Kee area of southern Toungoo District carriers a large bundle of dried leaves on her back on April 9th 2008. She will subsequently sell these leaves for use as roof shingles. She told KHRG that she does this work during the hot season when such leaves are more abundant in order to cover the necessary costs for her to be able to attend school. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers in Papun District participate in KHRG Village Agency workshops in 2008.

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Through these workshops, KHRG field researchers act as facilitators, encouraging villagers to discuss the efforts they employ to resist human rights abuses, how these efforts can be strengthened and new initiatives that can be tested. For more details on KHRG's Village Agency workshops, see the short article "Supporting IDP Resistance Strategies." [Photos: KHRG]

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The nine-year-old boy shown here in Bilin Township, Thaton District, on April 19th 2008 is minding cattle as a form of wage labour in order to support his family. He told KHRG that he wanted to go to school but his parents could not afford to send him. [Photo: KHRG]

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Thirteen-year-old Saw Gk--- helping his parents gather thatch for the roof of their house on April 19th 2008 in Kh--- village, Bilin Township, Thaton District. The SPDC frequently demands forced labour from his parents but, because they have to focus on their own livelihoods, Saw Gk--- has to do the forced labour on their behalf and so is unable to attend school. [Photo: KHRG]

An older woman from Thay Khay Loo village, Nyaunglebin District, returns from tending her agricultural fields on April 23rd 2008. Due to increasing economic hardship in both SPDC-controlled and non-SPDC-controlled areas, people of all ages (from children to the elderly) must help with everyday labour. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced children from Sih Daw Koh village pass the time at a hiding site in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District. Due to ongoing Burma Army patrols in the area, there were 50 children in this community who were unable to travel to attend school when these photos were taken in May 2008. [Photos: KHRG]

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This dirt road extends from Gkyeh Gkaw (Thay Zay) village and goes on to connect to Bp'Nweh Gkla, Lay Gkay and Yoh Gkla villages in Thaton District. This photo shows a section of the vehicle road between Lay Gkay and Ler Klaw villages on May 14th 2008. The Burma Army uses the road to send rations out to army camps during the dry season. As the road is not paved, it becomes damaged and washed out in sections during the rainy season. The Burma Army must therefore send rations by boat upriver during this time. As a result of the damage incurred during the rainy season, Burma Army soldiers have annually ordered local villagers to do extensive forced labour to repair the road during the dry season (which begins around November). [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers residing at a hiding site in Lu Thaw Township of northern Papun District on May 17th 2008. These villagers fled with a larger group from the Lee Kee area - including residents of Leh Kee, Baw Lay Der and Gheh Yuh Der villages - when Burma Army operations increased in the Kay Bpoo area during 2007. The woman in photo B-60 is pounding rice at a communal rice pounder. Before these villagers fled their homes, every household in their communities had had their own rice pounder. [Photos: KHRG]

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Four-year-old Naw L--- [photo B-61] lost her father, Saw Pah Gaw, when he stepped on an SPDC-deployed landmine and died on July 28th 2007. In photo B-62, Naw L--- is shown with her mother, Naw Gk---, on May 18th 2008. [Photos: KHRG]

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24-year-old Saw N---, originally from Htee Moo Kee village of Lu Thaw Township but now living at an IDP site, was walking to clear hillside agricultural fields at Taw Moh Bpleh Meh, a site close an SPDC Army camp. While there, Saw N--- stepped on a KNLA-deployed landmine and in the explosion lost the lower part of his right leg. In the photos above, Saw N--- is being treated for his injuries on May 23rd 2008. [Photos: KHRG]

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Naw ---, the head of N--- village, Bilin Township, Thaton District, shown here on May 28th 2008, told KHRG that SPDC and DKBA forces regularly enter her village and demand pigs and chickens from the villagers without providing any compensation. The soldiers also demand 1,000 kyat [approx. US $0.91] from all rice mill owners. [Photos: KHRG]

On May 2nd and 3rd 2008, Cyclone Nargis, coming in from the Bay of Bengal, struck the coast of southern Burma. While the hardest hit areas were in the Irrawaddy Delta, the cyclone also struck parts of western Karen State. The most significant damange in Karen State occured Thaton District which borders the Gulf of Martaban. The photos in this group were taken by KHRG field researchers and show scenes of devastation in the Irrawaddy Delta and Thaton District or Karen State in May and June 2008.

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A dead child, left, from Shwe Kyon Tha village tract in Labutta Township, Irrawaddy Division. Though there were originally 160 households in this village tract, only 567 people survived the May 2008 Cyclone. The child's body had still not been removed when this photograph was taken in June 2008.

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Photos B-67 to B-77, taken on May 14th 2008 in Bilin Township of Thaton District, show some of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis when it struck western Karen State on May 2nd and 3rd 2008.

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When the cyclone struck this village in Thaton District, it uprooted trees [photos B-67 and B-68] and destroyed houses [photos B-69, B-71 and B-74], rice storage barns, agricultural fields, plantations, bullock carts and significantly damaged the local monastery [photo B-77].

In photos B-70 and B-76, local villagers are chopping down damaged trees in their village because they were concerned at the time that another storm would strike. They are cutting down the trees out of the fear that the next storm might knock the trees down and thus cause further damage to nearby houses.

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The photos below show scenes from Bone Daw Byin village, Irrawaddy Division, where two thousand people were killed by Cyclone Nargis. Only two of an original 490 households in Bone Daw Byin were left standing. Photo B-78 shows the village monastery which was severely damaged by the cyclone and Photo B-79 shows some of the wrecked homes in Bone Daw Byin village. Both photographs were taken on May 28th 2008.

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The photo to the left shows the bodies of residents from Kha Pyat village, Irrawaddy Division, who were killed by Cyclone Nargis during the night of May 2nd - 3rd 2008. The photograph was taken June 8th 2008, over a month after the cyclone had hit Burma. [All photos: KHRG]

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A Free Burma Rangers (FBR) medic distributes medicine and treats displaced villagers from Sih Daw Koh in southern Toungoo District on May 25th and May 26th 2008. Due to ongoing Burma Army patrols and attacks in the area, this displaced community has found it extremely difficult to access adequate supplies of food and medicine on its own. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers living in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District, built this bridge over the Yunzalin River (Bpwoh Loh Gkloh in Karen), shown here in June 2008, in order to ease travel through the area and to a local Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) office. [Photo: KHRG]

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A community of displaced villagers in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District, fords a river in June 2008 in an effort to evade Burma Army patrols operating in the area. [Photos: KHRG]

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