Zoya Phan is Karen, one of the eight ethnic groups of Burma (Myanmar). In this memoir she tells of her childhood in a jungle village of Burma, being a teenage refugee in Thailand and how she found her way to being involved in the struggle for democracy against Burma's military dictatorship. The military dictatorship has been employing ethnic cleansing in Burma, of which the Karen have become a victim.
"In spite of the odds, in spite of tradition and in spite of power, if I believed something was wrong or right and pushed for the truth, I would eventually get it. If someone is trying to put you down, you just have to redouble your efforts to make things right. No matter how hard or embarrassing or even frightening it might be, you will win in the end if you fight for what is true."
"I nurtured that spark of hope, telling myself that if I believed in something strongly enough, it had to be possible."
"freedom won't be given to us: we will have to work for it."
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