‘Wanted to become a scientist before he died’: Kuki children of conflict look to ‘reverse time’

In Churachandpur’s Tuibuong, Kuki children staying in the Grace Academy relief camp line up with copies of the Bible to attend Sunday mass. Once a school for Tuibong’s Meitei and Kuki children, the building now serves as a makeshift relief camp for displaced Kuki families from Kangpokpi – sheltering 124 people, including 70 aged under 18 years. 

Thirteen-year-old Ginminthang, however, sits in a corner, away from his new friends. Once a chirpy teen, Ginminthang has changed since he saw a photograph of his grandmother’s body, his mother Nem Kho Chong tells Newslaundry. “His pi (grandmother) was shot four times in a church in Khoken, Kangpokpi, while she was praying. Her arms were then mutilated by a mob.”