GROWING UP in the remote Naga hills shortly after Burma gained independence from the British, there was almost no access to education for people such as Eno Jüvsügmiu Makury. However, Jüvsügmiu Makury had more opportunities than most of his fellow Naga to attend school. His parents passionately believed in education’s ability to change lives for the better, so they sent him to study until Grade 3 at a school in Htamanthi. The town on the Chindwin River is nearly 700 kilometres by road northwest of Mandalay and on the edge of what is today the Naga Self-Administered Zone. The SAZ borders India and is comprised of three townships – Lahe, Leshi and Namyun – in Sagaing Region. For Naga of Jüvsügmiu Makury’s generation, there were few opportunities to continue studying beyond Grade 3. But he had a stroke of luck. In 1953, he benefitted from an initiative by then-Prime Minister U Nu to bring people from remote areas of the country to Rangoon to continue their education. Jüvsügmiu Makury studied at the Central High School in the capital’s downtown Latha Township, today known as Basic Education High School 1 Latha. Coming from one of the country’s most isolated areas, Jüvsügmiu Makury said he expected to be impressed by the country’s capital. Instead he found a city that had been devastated by World War II and was also being affected by the fighting against the Communist Party of Burma and the Karen National Defence Organisation, the forerunner of the Karen National Liberation Army..."