These two women from Dee Thoo Der village, Papun District return after collecting paddy from their farm fields on November 16th 2007. Rice cultivation remains the central means of livelihood for the vast majority of villagers throughout Karen State. Burma Army troops regularly target and attack rice crops, rice storage facilities and even villagers in the process of planting, tending or harvesting their rice crops. [Photo: KHRG]

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On February 25th 2008, residents of P--- village, Papun District conducted a traditional religious ceremony in which they used symbolic weapons of knives, spears, swords and a mortar; all of which were made of bamboo and wood. These items and the related ceremony served to strengthen their determination to resist Burma Army aggression against their community. The verse of an accompanying prayer which the villagers recited included the phrases:

1. May the SPDC strike sword against sword and throw spear against spear, [i.e. fight internally]
2. May it be like a sword which cuts water without leaving a mark, [i.e. be unable to harm the villagers]
3. May they [SPDC forces] go back and stay at their own place.

[Photos: KHRG]

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Taw Bpaw Der villagers in Papun District pan for gold on March 27th 2008. These villagers lack a consistent means of livelihood but usually get some gold which they sell for cash that they use to purchase rice. Due to the changing water levels, this type of artisan panning is only possible around the month of April. If they are successful, the villagers can earn up to 1,000 Thai baht (about US$ 31). [Photos: KHRG]

Displaced residents of S--- village in Papun District return to their hiding site in April 2008 after retrieving food supplies from their abandoned village. Earlier, the villagers had fled following the SPDC's establishment of a new camp close to their village. [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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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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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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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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An elderly woman removes the husk from paddy using a temporary rice pounder set up at a displaced hiding site in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District, in August 2008. Due to ongoing Burma Army patrols, the displaced villagers at this site were unable to return to their abandoned village to retrieve their stores of already-husked rice. This photo was taken in the midst of the rainy season and the flimsy plastic sheet covering the rice was unlikely to keep the supplies completely dry. In a normal village that has been established for some time, villagers would have a more permanent and adequate structure under which to pound and store their rice supplies. [Photos: KHRG]

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Due to ongoing Burma Army patrols in the Buh Kee area of southern Tantabin Township, Toungoo District, local villagers were unable to weed their paddy crops, shown here in August 2008. As a result, the crops became overgrown with weeds, threatening the villagers with a wholly or at least partially-failed harvest. [Photos: KHRG]

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A villager in Lu Thaw Township, shown here on August 4th 2008, does small-scale metal forging and welding for other villagers in exchange for husked rice or paddy. [Photos: KHRG]

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In Photos B-165 and B-166 above, Sih Daw Koh villagers harvest paddy crops on a hillside agricultural field at a displaced hiding site in Toungoo District on November 7th 2008. Due to ongoing Burma Army operations near their homes at Sih Daw Koh, these villagers were unable to remain in their village and cultivate crops on the nearby fields. The hillside fields at this displacement site are of poorer quality and produce crops in fewer quantities than those at their home villages.