FMT in partnership with The Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) brings you Covid-19 “healers” from Myanmar.

Myanmar’s fire departments have taken a frontline role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by transporting patients, disinfecting roads, and facilitating rescue operations.

Their work has helped to overcome previous ill-feelings about the fire department dating back to the military government.

When Yangon was placed on semi-lockdown, taxis left the streets, leaving residents to call on auxiliary firefighters to help carry patients to the hospital.

“We recently received a call at 3am and when we went to the address, the patient had a very high temperature. We were nervous because we did not know if the patient was infected by COVID-19, but we took him to hospital,” recalled firefighter Ko Ye Thu Rein, 24.

Another volunteer, Ko Htet Naing Lin, 20, has been helping the fire department for five years. He likened auxiliary firefighters to other kinds of volunteers.

“I’m still young and I want to help others,” he said.

Nyein was born in Myingyan, Myanmar. She has a BA in painting from the University of Arts and Culture, Mandalay. She later moved to Yangon to study photojournalism and storytelling classes at Institut Francais de Birmanie in 2016. Upon completing her studies, she got a job in Frontier Myanmar, where she is still employed. She also loves taking sports photos: with her Olympics sport photos, she got 7th place in AIPS Sport Media Award in 2019. She is part of the Myanmar Deitta photography school and Myanmar female photographer group, Thuma Collectives. She recently finished her long-term contemporary photography project about Yangon and her emotions during her school year in 2019-2020. View her portfolio here.

‘The Other Hundred Healers’ is an initiative by the non-profit organisation GIFT. The 240-page, full-colour, hardcover book can be purchased here at US$40 per copy for a minimum order of 20 copies.