From the Sidelines, Joy and Empowerment on Full Display

Last year, I was in the Thai city of Mae Sot interviewing a Burmese rock star turned filmmaker when I stumbled across a website that belonged to a nonprofit based in Thailand. The group was helping empower Burmese women migrants — through soccer.

I was thrilled. As the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The New York Times who is based in Bangkok, I had been looking for new ways to write about the civil war that has been ravaging Myanmar, which then was in its second year.

Since the military government in Myanmar seized power in a coup in 2021, reporting in the country has been mostly off-limits to foreign journalists. But talking to recent exiles who had fled to Mae Sot — which is separated from Myanmar by a narrow and muddy river — was a way to cover the conflict. I also wanted to tell a story that focused not only on war but also on female empowerment and the joy of sport.

I quickly wrote an email to the nonprofit, PlayOnside, and met with Naw Laura Htway, its program manager. Over the next few months, I kept in touch with Laura.

One day in May, she sent me a link to a Facebook post that read: “Coming soon. Borderland Women’s League. Six teams.”

“Awesome!” I responded. “When?”

I got in touch with the organizer of the league, Daen Kajeechiwa, a founder of PlayOnside. He told me he had raised his own funds to start the league — the first women’s soccer league in Mae Sot — and it was set to begin practicing the first weekend in July.