Even as Burma’s military government downplayed the damage from Cyclone Nargis and blocked international aid for several crucial weeks, thousands of Burmese volunteers delivered food and medical supplies to survivors of the storm in the Irrawaddy Delta. Watch this slideshow to learn how 21 volunteers, some of them also pro-democracy activists, were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms – a situation that Human Rights Watch describes as a “largely forgotten dimension to the post-Nargis reconstruction effort.”

Many photos were provided by Burma’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), which is part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.