An unending conflict and shrinking aid leave Myanmar’s refugees and displaced in increasingly dire circumstances.

Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

In this episode, he speaks with the British psychotherapist and aid worker Edward Blakeney on the travails of Myanmar’s 1.6 million exiles and 4 million internally displaced people.

What emerges is a story of food shortages, medical issues including mental trauma, and lack of educational opportunities among an exile diaspora that now stretches from Thailand to Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka.

Highlights (click/tap above)

2:30 Brutal war and a worsening refugee situation

5:20 A 9-year-old drug addict

8:40 Wasting, malnourished children

14:10 Ukraine distraction, journalists under the gun

24:00 Has Blakeney seen a shrink himself, given what he has seen and experienced?

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

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Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

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Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

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