In January 2025, I crossed the Moei River before dawn, leaving Thailand for Myanmar.
They covered my face with a keffiyeh before I stepped into the boat. On the opposite bank, a man waited with an M16 beside a Toyota Hilux. He would become both my driver and my guardian.
This is how I entered a civil war.
In the months leading up to that crossing, I had been speaking with anti-regime fighters and activists through social media. Most of them were young and digitally fluent, moving between frontlines and encrypted chats. One contact led to another, until I was connected with members of the Karen National Liberation Army.