Who is Chiko from Bamboo People and what is their importance?

Chiko is a fifteen-year-old Burmese boy who lives at home with his mother, Wei-Lin, in the city of Yangon, Burma. Chiko's father, Joon who is a respected and capable physician, had been arrested four months before. He had been caught leaving his house in the dark to treat a sick man who was a dissident. Chiko is a bright youngster who loves to read and learn and wants to be a teacher. Schools are often closed down in Yangon and learning is difficult. Chiko had been tutored by his father and is able to read and write in both Burmese and English - a rare ability in Burma.

Chiko decides to apply for a teaching position. He travels by rickshaw to the government building to fill out an application. However, there are no open positions. The advertisement for the jobs was just a ruse to lure young men to recruit for the army. Chiko is apprehended and taken to a military training camp deep in the Burmese jungle. He puts up with beatings, mental abuse and sheer terror during his days at the camp which more closely resembled a prison. The conditions were inhumane.

Chiko was sent on a mission into the jungle to learn the operations of the Karenni tribe. He and his small unit of recruits are the victims of a land mine blast. Chiko is the only soldier to survive but is badly wounded. He is discovered by a young Karenni boy, Tu Reh, who must decide what to do about him. In the end, Tu Reh decides that the young boy's life is worth saving.