Call out for stories from Mexico, Guatemala and the US

Last week I interviewed several people travelling the world by boat. Oh my, was I green-eyed when she turned the video on and showed me the turquoise waters the boat was bobbing around on.

It's spurred me to start thinking ahead to my dream of exploring North and Central America from early January (as long my health is ok, that is). As I need to start to be properly organised and not my usual last-minute self, I’m starting to seek out stories that I can work on from out there. What I’m hoping is that I either start in Guatemala, perhaps staying somewhere like San Pedro for a month, swing by Belize and travel extensively through Mexico, but also stay in a place or two for a few weeks each. From there, I’m hoping to travel overland through the States, making numerous stops in places like Texas, Austin and New Orleans before reaching my final destination, New York, where I may stay for a couple of weeks. 

So, in the run-up, I’m looking for travel, climate/sustainability stories, and business stories across these areas. I will travelling overland from Mexico to the US so if you think there might be a story along that route, please do let me know. 

Also, I’m hoping to run my workshops in these cities so if you know anyone who has run workshops in the US, please let me know. 

Also, tips and routes are well received, especially from crossing the border overland to the US.

My Flight Free Adventure Across Spain & France

I'm back after an epic six-week flight-free adventure across France and Spain. I arrived back at London St Pancras International station with my suitcase and backpack (yup, that's right - two sets of luggage. I tried so hard to condense my belongings but it just didn't work) on Wednesday evening, and remained on cloud nine for quite a few days. Not surprising given there was a local literary festival on my doorstep, fireworks to celebrate the jubilee, friends to catch up with and dancing at Mighty Hoopla festival, which is always a giant ball of fun.

And now, well, the post-holiday blues have definitely hit. Maybe that's why I spent part of this morning checking out how to reach Georgia and Egypt without flying. Seat61.com is one of my favourite travel websites. I can (and do) spend hours on there. 

Anyhow, this is the breakdown of the trip: London > Bordeaux > San Sebastián > Burgos > Seville > Tarifa > Granada > Alpujarras > Madrid > Sitges/Barcelona > Cadasques > Narbonne > Toulouse > Paris > London.

Like I shared on this LinkedIn post, the days were filled with magical experiences. I met so many new people. I hiked. Lost multiple pairs of sunglasses (hence why I always buy them from charity shops!). Heaved those bags onto multiple buses and up hundreds of steps. I worked from trains. Sunbathed in glorious coves. It felt like forever. Time slowed.

It's cemented a greater desire to travel more. To pack my bags and move abroad. And to do so sustainably. Forget heavy carbon-emitting planes. Travelling by train to many parts of Europe at least is pretty easy and accessible to most. And more of an adventure.

Now to reflect before plotting the next trip (or move if I can bag a visa) in the autumn. It's so much harder now that we're out of the EU. Grrrr.

I did work along the way (and rented out my place) but decided to reduce my hours to make it work – I didn't want to travel and then not properly see places.

While I re-adjust, please let me know what you'd like to see me cover in future newsletters.

I look forward to bringing you more journalist and PR-related tips soon.

Thanks

Susie

Consider This When You're Organising A Press Trip

Image by Josh Nezon

I was impressed last week when a press trip invite landed in my inbox offering to pay for journalists to travel to the exhibition (Norwegian Presence) in Oslo by train. Agency Zetteler emailed to say the team would be travelling to London to Oslo by train (already earning my respect as fellow environmentalists) and invited journalists to join them on the adventure, throwing in a link to Seat 61 and outlining that from London it would be 3-day, 2-night stop-over journey via Paris, Brussels and Copenhagen. Flagging up that they had partnered with Byway Travel to manage the whole journey for everyone, no matter where they were travelling from (not all journalists live in London), they even said if people wanted to come by any other means of public transport, they would cover that too.

Bravo team Zetterler. Readers of this newsletter will probably know this would capture my attention. I've flown once (when I suddenly had to leave Berlin when borders were closing in the midst of the pandemic) since 2018, when I really started to understand the climate emergency we're in. I understand this isn't possible for everyone (what with families and relationships abroad), but for me, I think now I will only fly if there's no other way to get there, really (anyone else fancy travelling to America by cargo ship?!).

The invite came on the back of a story I just wrote about people giving up flying. Funnily enough I was invited to a press trip to Nigeria the very next day.

Now I know many journalists will still fly to go on press trips but I do know some people are reducing their flights. I think if you're going to invite hacks abroad at least offer to cover alternative means of getting there. There's lots of talk from companies about how they're trying to be green etc, and a lot of it is greenwashing, but actually stepping up and offering an alternative to flying just proves how much you truly mean it.

Also, I wrote about this initiative a few years back but while I'm here, it's worth mentioning Climate Perks, a scheme that works with climate-conscious employers to offer at least two paid “journey days” per year to staff who travel on holiday by train, coach or boat instead of flying. Perhaps one to encourage your company to sign up to.

Thanks for reading.
Susie

'I was tortured and sexually harassed' - former Myanmar political prisoners speak out about life in jail

Copyright: Bartosz Hadyniak

With 275 political prisoners including the two Reuters journalists accused of obtaining state secrets still behind bars in Myanmar, in 2018 I spoke to several women who were locked away for their activism in the former military-controlled state

“I was handcuffed and blindfolded with a hood over me and made to sit on my knees for 10 days,” recalls San San Ma, rewinding the clock back to March 2008 when the activist was arrested by the then military-ruled government for political crimes such as housing revolutionary soldiers and students.

“As soon as I was arrested I was sent to a military intelligence office that was famous for brutality,” she says. San San Ma, now 45, was interrogated for more than a month, each time in complete darkness.

“They sexually harassed me. I had to kneel for many hours and crawl on little rocks – if they were angry they would beat me. They were trying to make me confess but I never did.” 

The beatings only stopped when she started to fall ill. “I was vomiting blood so then they called a doctor. He realised how tortured I was and requested that they stop it - and to give me food.”

The harrowing torture ended but she was sent to a special military court, known for its harsher sentences, than a standard civil court. There she was sentenced to 65 years in jail; the same as her husband.

“There were a lot of unfair charges,” she tells me in a humid small office of a human rights organisation in Yangon. “But when I was younger my grandmother always used to say, 'politics is about time. Next time it is someone else's time. Now you win, tomorrow you will lose'. I totally believed that, that's why I managed to stay calm in prison.”

The sentence devastated her family. She quietly explains that when her mother found out she was being sent to the infamous Insein Prison in Yangon, “she passed out”, and died shortly afterwards.

San San Ma saw her husband, living on other side of the prison, for 20 minutes every two weeks. They were both released after six years as part of a prisoner amnesty.

Myanmar has a long history of jailing political activists. Even now, two years after Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) took control, the government has continued to arrest and imprison people who speak out against the regime. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were imprisoned for seven years in September after reporting on the Rohingya crisis.

When military intelligence officers turned up to arrest Kyi Kyi Htay in 2000 for aiding opposition political groups, she swore to her husband that she wouldn't confess anything. As a result, the then 34-year-old endured days of brutal torture. “I couldn't even pee,” she says. “They hit that part of the body, it was so brutal. Each officer would get half an hour each to ask me questions and then beat me. Once their session was finished, they would go back to sleep. I was so tired and would fall asleep sometimes but whenever I feel asleep, they would beat me to wake me up and throw water at me.”

She lost count of how many days she was tortured for but her silence saved lives.

“I didn't confess anything. That way it meant I could save 12 people from going to prison for 10 to 15 years,” she says. “I was beaten up a lot as I didn't share any information. Another guy I knew who had also been arrested gave away some information so they knew I was lying but I made it.”

By the time she was imprisoned – for 15 years for crimes such as communicating with blacklisted organisations – her body was swollen from the continual beatings. But life in the notorious Insein prison, known for its unsanitary and inhumane living conditions, on the outskirts of Yangon was unbearable.

“I cried a lot when I arrived at prison,” recalls Kyi Kyi Htay, who at 12 helped send secret letters between people in opposition groups throughout her village. “It was so dirty. The sheets were so dirty and smelly. You were not allowed to read. You couldn't communicate with your family.” There were no dedicated toilets for in-mates. “You had to use a container and throw it [in a bag] every time. I couldn't bear it anymore. I was depressed there. But I didn't have any regrets because I was doing the right thing.”

After leaving, many former political prisoners face long-term impact such as difficulties finding work and mental health issues.

Galuh Wandita, director of Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), a human rights organisation which published a report earlier this year on the lives of women survivors of conflict and oppression including political prisoners in Yangon, says the experience of arrest and detention deeply disrupted the education and livelihoods of women. “Many women were arrested as students in the 1980s and 1990s. With many universities closed in the 1990s, these women often had no schools to return to after their release. Most had to abandon their educations.

Imprisonment also had devastating impacts on the economic situation of female political prisoners and their families. Detainees’ families have faced constant surveillance and were often forced to close their businesses. This pushed many political prisoners and their families into poverty. Following their release family members often exerted great pressure on women to give up their political activities and focus on supporting the families economic survival. Some women faced marital difficulties while others were forced to rely on relatives for their survival.”

Kyi Kyi Htay who lived in the notorious prison for nine years until she was released in 2009, says life on the outside has been challenging. “I had no clothes to wear. I didn't have any place to stay. I stayed with my cousin's family. Financially I've not been ok – I've not been able to get a job. I cannot even apply for a job. No companies or organisations want to employ me because I was a political prisoner.”

Unfortunately she was unable to slide back into family life.

“I went back to my home town but my little daughter didn't remember me.” She says, sadly, that she is no longer with her husband. “My husband's family didn't want him to be with me. They feel their son was in prison because of me - he follows what his family says.” Her daughter lives with her ex husband in Yangon.

San San Ma says that once she and her husband were released they encountered multiple issues. They could no longer return home because the authorities had seized it. While they set to be initially housed by her brother-in-law, he received a call from friends telling him it was unsafe to house former political prisoners. “So even after a few hours we were on the road again, luckily one of our friends brought us to their house outside of Yangon.”

She says mental and physical health issues have made it even more difficult to find work. Her husband found a job as an editor as a local newspaper but problems arising from being beaten up meant he needed to lie down in bed for as much as 20 hours a day for several months. “His right eye was beaten up so much, he couldn't work on his writing so much.”

San San Ma decided to open a small grocery store. “But when my husband got sick, I got depressed, and was in bed for eight months. My little daughter working at a garment factory was dependent on me.” She now relies on her husband who earns 200,000 kwat (£101) a month from his job researching and writing articles.

Seeking justice, the women urge the government to recognise their suffering and that the perpetrators apologise, says Wandita.

“There is unfortunately still a lack of governmental recognition or support for former political prisoners,” says Wandita. “The government has not yet accepted a definition of political prisoner, and has quashed efforts to put the topic on the agenda for parliamentary debate.”

She believes that women political prisoners need specialised services that deal with health, trauma, and economic empowerment. “They need assistance, access to basic services, and psychosocial support to address the consequences of violence, and to help them get back on their feet. There needs to be schemes for job creation, vocational training, and micro-finance assistance in order to increase survivors' access to livelihood and capital.”

Kyi Kyi Htay wishes she could slot the missing jigsaw pieces of her life back together again. “I feel so sad. I lost everything. I have given everything and lost everything for what I'm passionate about. I am jobless, but I have friends and I travel around. But I never regret it as I was doing it for the people.”

Looking ahead, she wants systematic change. “We have a situation where people and families have split up and sacrificed their lives and opportunities. Now the government is open and the NLD has gained power...they should take responsibility, admit what they’ve done and apologise for it. It's assumed to be a transparent time in Myanmar but it's not happening. I don't want anything for myself, I just want my country to change.”

Article written in 2018.