For many children in Myanmar, airplanes are no longer fascinating flying objects but terrifying monsters in the sky.
These children were once filled with curiosity at the sight of planes, but now, badly frightened, run for cover or hide at the sight or sound of a plane as they have endured unimaginable terror and are traumatized due to the military regime’s cruel aerial bombings, which have killed their family members, friends or neighbors.
Aye Chan Moe, 10, who survived a junta airstrike in 2022, spoke of the deep terror she feels whenever she sees a helicopter.
After experiencing the junta’s horrific aerial bombing of her school in Sagaing Region’s Let Yat Kone Village in September 2022, her view of airplanes has changed.
Before that traumatic event, which killed 13 people including seven children, she used to be thrilled by the spectacle of helicopters in the sky and would gleefully run outside to watch them flying overhead.
Since then, she is gripped by terror whenever she sees a helicopter and fearful that she will be killed like her friends, and she isn’t alone.
The trauma of that day, which left deep scars on her heart, is shared by other children in the village and across the country. These young survivors live in constant fear of the military regime’s ruthless and indiscriminate bombings, which target civilians without mercy.
Lin Lin, another survivor of the Let Yat Kone airstrike, was just 8 years old when the attack happened. He witnessed his younger cousin being struck by a bomb and killed, leaving him forever haunted by the image of his cousin lying in a pool of blood.
“I am afraid whenever planes fly over,” Lin Lin said the year after the attack.
Two years have passed since the Let Yat Kone massacre, yet the junta’s brutal airstrikes continue to claim the lives of children across Myanmar.
Despite global awareness, the world still fails to adequately protect them.
According to the United Nations, over 1.3 million children have been displaced by the junta’s escalating violence since the coup, accounting for 40 percent of total displacements. In 2024 alone, at least 600 children have been killed or injured.
Earlier this month, unprovoked airstrikes killed around 10 children while they were sleeping in their homes in northern Shan State and in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Karenni State. Despite the same hollow expressions from international bodies saying the same words that they did after the Let Yat Kone aerial massacre—that they are “deeply alarmed” by the escalating attacks and the deaths of children—no concrete measures have been taken to stop the junta’s attacks on civilians.
Many Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries continue to supply jet fuel and weapons to the Myanmar junta, indirectly contributing to the rising death toll of children and worsening the trauma for those who survive. The scars of these airstrikes are not just physical—they are etched deeply into the minds of Myanmar’s children.
A 5-year-old child who fled his village in Mandalay Region due to airstrikes is now sheltering in Yangon. He is terrified every time he hears the sound of airplanes taking off from Yangon International Airport.
To him, airplanes are no longer innocent flying machines; they are death-bringers. Each time he hears the roar of engines, he rushes to hide inside the house, afraid that he will be bombed and killed.
In a vivid reflection of this fear, a recent viral video shows a young child from an ethnic state attempting to “shoot down” a junta jet using a slipper, shouting in the Kachin language, “Don’t come to us, don’t come!”
Similarly, a children’s art contest organized by a resistance group in Karenni State captured the terror that Myanmar’s children feel. One displaced 11-year-old girl painted her dream home with the words “No plane to fly over the roof,” a heart-wrenching plea for safety.
For them, whether it’s at home or in a playground, school, refugee camp or hospital, they feel no safety as the junta has not spared any of those places from its bombing.
Condemnation letters and statements alone are mere lip service, doing nothing to protect them or heal their mental wounds.
A teacher from Let Yat Kone School, which was attacked by the junta, said on Friday that the fear and trauma of the airstrike still persists even for adults in the village—not to mention the little children who endured this horror at such young ages.
“We have to run and hide every time we hear the sound of aircraft,” she said.
While organizations offer psychological support, the relief is only temporary. The threat remains constant, and the fear never leaves.
To the shame of those who have neglected the voices of children and failed to help stop junta troops killing and attacking them, the teacher said they need nothing else but for the junta’s forces to face justice, and the fall of the military dictatorship.
“The psychological treatment will only become unnecessary when this military dictatorship falls; that’s when everything will go away,” the teacher said.
So, please act now in whatever way you can to help bring about a ban on the flow of jet fuel or anything else that would help the Myanmar junta to keep bombing.
The result of your inaction will not only result in the deaths of more innocent children, but for those survive, they will live with trauma, like Aye Chan Moe and Lin Lin of Let Yat Kone. No one knows how much longer the trauma will last for them. Remember, they are the same age as your own children or grandchildren. Have a heart!
The children of Myanmar need protection now more than ever, especially from the junta’s atrocities. Their shattered lives must be restored to normalcy, so they can learn, play, sleep safely and simply be children once again, and the sight or sound of an airplane or helicopter will no longer frighten them.
