Any step could be our last
In conflict-torn Myanmar, children are growing up surrounded by hidden killers
- English
- မြန်မာ
The sun was high, the water cool, and the village creek was alive with laughter. Fourteen-year-old Saw Ler1 was headed to a familiar spot with his brothers for a swim—something they’d done countless times. But on 26 March 2023, everything changed.
“I stepped into the creek, and there was a loud bang. I was thrown into the air. Then everything went black,” Saw Ler recalls.
He had stepped on a landmine, hidden just beneath the surface of a place that should have been safe. He woke up in hospital to the devastating news: his left leg had been amputated below the knee. Just a Grade 7 student at the time, Saw Ler’s life was instantly and brutally changed.
“I was devastated. I thought I’d never walk or play with my friends again,” he says. Before the blast, he loved playing football and volleyball. The thought of sitting on the sidelines forever filled him with dread.
His mother, Naw Win Yee, still remembers the moment she heard the explosion. “Someone came running to the house, shouting that Saw Ler was hurt. When I reached him at the hospital, I didn’t recognise my own child—he was covered in blood. The doctor said there was no choice but to remove his leg. I felt my heart break.”
As Saw Ler struggled to recover, conflict escalated near his village. His family was forced to flee, joining thousands of others displaced by violence. They now live with relatives in another village, far from the home they once knew.
Almost a year later, in early 2024, another boy’s life was upended. Fifteen-year-old Myat Kyaw was at his friend Sai Sai’s house when they discovered a strange object that Sai Sai’s father had picked up from a field, thinking it was a harmless scrap metal. The object turned out to be a 79mm unexploded mortar shell. Curious and unaware of the danger, the boys examined it, and it exploded in their hands.
Sai Sai, also 15, was severely injured and died on the way to hospital. Myat Kyaw survived with shrapnel wounds to his hands and knee, with some fragments still embedded in his body.
“It should not have happened,” Myat Kyaw says. “These kinds of weapons should not be near children. They need to be removed.”
His mother, Daw Mya Win, was inside the house. “I heard the explosion – it sounded like thunder. When I ran outside, I saw blood on the walls, on the floor. My son was screaming. My neighbour’s son also caught in the blast was gone. I still don’t understand how something like that could be so close to our home.”
Saw Ler and Myat Kyaw are not alone. In 2025 alone, Myanmar recorded 510 landmine and explosive ordnance incidents, killing or injuring 745 civilians, among them 155 children, both boys and girls. Shan State alone accounted for 33 per cent of all casualties. https://www.unicef.org/myanmar/reports/myanmar-landmine-and-explosive-ordnance-incidents-information-2025 These devices are buried near creeks, farms, roads and schools. Across all states and regions outside the capital, children face danger at every step.
“Every child should feel safe walking to school, playing outside, or helping their families,” says Barbara Jamar, UNICEF Chief of Child Protection in Myanmar. “But in Myanmar, far too many children are growing up surrounded by hidden killers.”
For Saw Ler, a glimmer of hope returned when he received a prosthetic leg with the support of UNICEF. “I was so excited,” he says. “All I could think about was going out with my friends again.” After a month at a prosthetic workshop, he could finally walk again. “Now I can play volleyball. I can even ride a bicycle.”
Though he hasn’t returned to school since the incident, Saw Ler is determined to go back next academic year. “I want to be an engineer. I want to build homes for people,” he says. But the memory of the explosion still lingers. “It happened in the same creek where we always swam. I’m angry. There should never have been a landmine there.”
His mother still carries the trauma. “I hold my breath every time he leaves the house. Even with the prosthetic, I know what he’s been through. And I think of all the other children out there. We’ve heard stories of others being hurt while helping their parents on the farm or collecting wood. It’s terrifying—not knowing where the next danger might be.”
Myat Kyaw, too, is trying to move forward, but the emotional weight is heavy. “I miss Sai Sai every day,” he says. “He always came to get me to play football. He found food when we were hungry. He was my best friend.”
His mother reflects on how life has changed. “We didn’t think something like this could happen at home. It’s hard to explain the fear you carry after seeing your child covered in blood. We feel like even the safest places have become dangerous.”
Now in its fifth year, the conflict in Myanmar shows no signs of abating. Children continue to bear the heaviest burden – facing mass displacement, disruption of essential services, and growing exposure to deadly weapons, including landmines and airstrikes.
With landmine risks growing and no clearance efforts underway because of the insecurity situation and lack of access to contaminated areas, risk awareness has become a vital line of defence. UNICEF is working using various communication tools and channels to expand explosive ordnance risk education and assistance to victims life-saving work, but urgent funding is needed to meet the rising needs.
“Lifesaving risk education is critical but we cannot do it alone," adds Barbara Jamar. "UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to immediately stop using these indiscriminate weapons in areas where children live, play and learn."
Both families are now displaced. They’ve lost their homes, livelihoods and a sense of safety. Yet the boys speak with quiet strength, determined to protect others.
“Don’t touch anything strange,” Myat Kyaw says. “If you don’t know what it is, stay away—it’s not worth your life.”
“I pray for peace,” Saw Ler adds. “That one day, children can play without fear. Right now, any step could be our last – and that’s what hurts most.”
[1] Names in the story have been changed to protect the identities of children.
