Mae Sot, Thailand – Within an old wooden house in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, wounded revolutionary fighters lie side by side.Many are amputees missing legs, hands, and arms. Some have serious head wounds, and others have suffered debilitating spinal injuries. Some are blind, and others are unable to walk.
These young fighters have been wounded by landmines, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and sniper fire, burned by the flames of bombs dropped by warplanes and scarred by shrapnel.
They have journeyed to this border town through the jungles from neighbouring Myanmar, seeking medical attention for injuries suffered in an intensifying civil conflict that is one of the longest and most vicious globally.
Yet their place of recovery – Sunshine Care Centre – does not boast the sleek, sterile environment of a white-walled hospital equipped with sophisticated medical equipment and staffed by qualified surgeons.
Instead, the estimated 140 war-wounded fighters at this centre are recovering in rudimentary conditions, mostly resting in wood and steel cots arranged under a traditional Thai stilted house.
They are cared for by volunteers, who themselves have fled from Myanmar.
Unable to continue fighting, most cannot return home for fear of violent reprisal by the Myanmar military, whose coup they have been resisting for four years.
On February 1, 2021, the army removed the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which ignited an un …
