On top of a hill, there’s an empty military camp in Myanmar. It looks out over a lake that’s famous for its heart shape. There’s trash all over the ground—empty bullet shells and boxes for landmines. You can see yellow flowers growing through piles of metal sheets from old soldier buildings. There are ditches dug in one part of the camp.

There’s a flag flying in the wind with red, white, and blue stripes and a picture of a hornbill in the middle. It’s the flag of the Chin National Army (CNA), a group fighting against Myanmar’s military government in the western Chin state.

Seven months ago, the CNA and other local groups kicked Myanmar’s army out of this camp in Rihkhawdar, a town near India. It’s a big deal because it’s the first time the military has lost control here since they took over in a coup in 2021.

The victory in Rihkhawdar wasn’t easy. It took a year of fighting. Some families paid a terrible price for it.

After the coup, a teenager convinced her parents to let her join the armed group in their village, Haimual. She wrote an essay in school, saying she wanted to fight because she saw the soldiers as enemies. In August 2022, people from her village and other groups attacked Rihkhawdar camp. Lalzidinga, the girl’s father, helped make bombs for the attack. He used to be a truck driver but now he helps lead the People’s Defence Forces in Haimual.

They didn’t take the camp in that attack, but both sides had casualties.