Naw Lily: A Woman Who Refuses to Give Up

With four children and a life uprooted by conflict, Naw Lily could have chosen to remain silent, invisible, and safe. Instead, she chose courage. She chose to give back to her community and to join the struggle for justice.

Born and raised in the Mandalay Region, Naw Lily once ran a thriving one-stop publication business with her husband. She was a mother, an entrepreneur, and a respected community figure. But when the coup shattered Myanmar, she quietly became part of a lifeline, secretly providing supplies to the youth who had fled to dry zones and liberated areas, regions that had gained a degree of autonomy or were controlled by ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). Then one day, a call came from an interrogation center. It was the signal she had feared. Her family had been traced.

“We first sold off our properties to flee to Kachin State,” she recalls, “With the hope that our family would resettle and start anew. Little did we know that our ID card numbers would backfire and put us in danger. At every checkpoint, those with NRC numbers starting with 9 or 5 faced intense inspection.”

With help from friends in the KNU-controlled area (the Karen National Union, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic political organizations), Lily finally managed to cross into Mae Sot with family. But safety did not mean stability. She arrived with no job, no income, and only two of her four children. The elder two had to stay behind in Myanmar. She remembers the weight of those first months in exile, the sleepless nights, the silence filled with worry for the future, the ache of separation with children. Exile may not have carried the sound of gunfire, but it carried the quieter wounds of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness.

Even in the darkest moments, Lily refused to let despair swallow her. 

“The only thing that kept me moving forward was my thirst for knowledge,” she said. “I feel so blessed that I grew up in a family that valued learning. I would spend my free time exploring everything I was curious about”

She immersed herself in psychology, mental health, and gender-based violence, discovering healing in Exile Hub’s resilience programs. “Most people in exile are not happy,” she admits. “There were many days I cried alone. But the psychosocial support group gave me strength to go on.”

She turned her grief into growth and today, Lily works with SURJ Network as an awareness and advocacy focal, standing beside survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. She confronts stigma, silence, and victim-blaming, determined to be one of the few who truly care. 

“Traditions may try to hold women back,” Lily adds, “but with our resilience, instincts, and the strength we carry as mothers, sisters, and daughters, we have the power to break barriers and challenge social norms.”

Ma Lily’s guiding belief comes from the story of the starfish that reminds that one person cannot save them all, but every small act matters. “Together, ripples become waves strong enough to change systems,” she reflects. “People’s thinking is shaped by systems, and it is these systems we must challenge. We need to recognize which systems protect us and which ones oppress us.”

Ma Lily shows us that even in the face of loss, separation, and uncertainty, women can rise to lead, to heal, and to fight for what they believe in. Her journey reminds us that resilience is not about never falling, but about standing up again and again with greater determination. For every woman who doubts her strength, Lily’s life is proof that your voice matters, your courage matters, and when women step forward, entire movements can be transformed.