An Unforgiving Return to Myanmar by Wildin Vanbik:
The year was 2011. My brother, mother, and I were planning a trip to our native country of Burma or what is currently known as Myanmar. Both my brother and I were born there but came to the USA when we were young. I was six and he was nine when we landed in Berkeley, California. Still we had vivid memories of our homeland. We couldn’t wait to go back and relive those memories.
Fast-forward to our arrival: July and hot. It being monsoon season, the humidity was also unbearable. Luckily, our destination was in the mountains of the Chin Hills. The Chin state is located in the northwestern part of Myanmar, cooler and drier than the rest of the country. We wouldn’t have to stay in the heat and humidity of the mainland for long… or so we thought. Although born in Myanmar, my brother and I were no longer citizens. It was too late when we learned that some parts of the country were off-limits to non-citizens with tourist visas. As we tried to enter the Chin state, we were not allowed to do so and told that it was illegal for us to try.
These warnings didn’t sway our desire to see our land of birth. And so, with the darkness as our cover, we traveled into the mountains during the night. It took us five hours to travel there. It was dark and rainy, which made our driver drive cautiously slow. The trip was quite miserable but, as we entered into the Chin state, became pleasant and even exciting by morning. At the place of my birth, the city of Hakha, we were greeted by family members, who took us to places from our childhood. New memories formed as we traveled through the city. As the day came to a close, we made our way back to the house we grew up in and stayed there with my grandmother.
Our first day back was awesome. We couldn’t wait to see what the second day had in store for us. On the evening of our first day in Hakha, we received a phone call from our neighbor asking about our whereabouts. Unfortunately, she informed the government that outsiders were in the Chin state. Later that night, as we prepared for a big family dinner, jeeps and trucks full of soldiers arrived at our house. They carried assault rifles in their hands and we were forced out of our home. My brother, mother, and I were three but they were twenty, armed and ready. We were afraid that they would open fire because we didn’t heed the warnings given to us at the border. The military regime was still in power in 2011 and we didn’t know what to expect for breaking the law. We pleaded with them and gave the soldiers money to let us return to mainland Burma, where we were eventually allowed to stay. After some negotiation, they escorted us out of the Chin state and officially banished us from our own land.
