In 1784 - over 100,000 Rakhine (Rakhaing) men, women & children were slaughtered when the armies led by the Crown Prince, son of King Bodawpaya, of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma marched across the western Yoma and annexed Rakhine. The religious relics of the kingdom were stolen from Rakhine, most notably the Mahamuni Buddha image, and taken into central Burma where they remain today. The people of Rakhine resisted the conquest of the kingdom for decades after. Fighting with the Rakhine resistance, initially led by Nga Than Dè and finally by Chin Byan in border areas, created problems between British India and Burma. The year 1826 saw the defeat of the Bamar ('Burmese') in the First Anglo-Burmese War and Rakhine was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Yandabo. Sittwe (Akyab) was then designated the new capital of Rakhine. In 1852, Rakhine was merged into
On that fateful night in 1784, the last King of Mrauk U told the members of the nobility to escape because as he warned them: "The Burmese will kill all of you"...so 150 individual families of the ruling class household fled their ancient and beautiful Arakan Kingdom in 50 row boats....and for 3 days they were adrift in the Bay of Bengal, 20 of the children died from drinking sea-water; for they fled in such a hurry no fresh-water provisions were taken.
Nwe recalls family oral history that says her relatives landed in a wild rugged place on the coastline, and they had to live in trees to avoid being killed by the numerous Tigers, Crocodiles and snakes that were abundant in this region. Eventually the British found them and offered them a treaty whereby they would have had to recognize the authority of the British Monarch...but Nwe's ancestors told them "We want nothing to do with any foreign King".
In 1988 after Muslim Bengali illegal settlers invaded and stole her families 80 acre farmlands, Nwe and her Buddhist Rakhaing family, her younger sister, herself and their two parents; moved to the Burma border area.
Nwe's parents sold all the gold they owned and were able to flee with, in a vain attempt to win back their lands from illegal Muslim settlers that were armed and supported by the military of Bangladesh - in the predominantly Muslim law courts of Bangladesh, after 7 years it ended in a surprisingly unbiased ruling in favor of Nwe's family...but the Army protected Bengali settlers refused to leave and threatened to kill Nwe's family if they ever returned to their own land.
Despite all of the tragedies of her youth, Nwe at the age of just 16; wrote her first news article that was published in a Bangladesh newspaper...it was titled: "How can I preserve my people's culture and traditions?". The Government of Bangladesh took notice...and she was courted by Bangladesh political parties, Nwe's words to them may have taken them by surprise when she told them: "All peoples are equal whether minority or majority, we want to discuss our rights AT the table - not under the table; we want you to be genuine with us!"
In 1997-1998, together with her aunt; Nwe created the Rakhaing Health and Education Service of Refugee Arakan Women, Nwe herself was a volunteer teacher for 6 months in the jungle area.
Nwe then spent 5 years as an undocumented refugee living in Thailand before obtaining refugee status in America, where she currently lives to this day with her three sons.