A Woman’s Hope for the Future

November 9, 2009

WCRP: Around 8pm, as I watched football with friends, I over heard a young child’s voice from the small neighboring house. “’Mom, I’m hungry.’ ‘Yes, when your father comes back home you can eat.’’ I peered out my window and saw a mother tending to her 5-year-old child as her two other children played with rubber-bands in the corner. The metal roof of their hut was covered in holes and the three loosely tied bamboo walls were falling apart.

I encountered this family during a recent visit to Three Pagodas Pass, a large town on the border between Thailand and the Karen state of Burma. The family’s rent free hut sits atop a small stone hill on their neighbors land. My friends live across from the family’s tattered hut, yet close enough to clearly hear all their conversations. That night, as I laid in bed, I wondered why the child’s mother wouldn’t allow her son to eat until his father came home.

The next morning I woke around 6 am and saw a 30-year-old man from the same hut preparing to go to work. Through the hut’s walls I could see the family’s dirty clothes lying next to an old wooden box in the bedroom. In front of the house I noticed a 4-year-old child and his 27-year-old mother staring into to the distance. After breakfast I asked my friend about this family. My friend explained that the women, Ma Khin San and her husband were paid daily and the majority of their wages went towards dinner. I was surprised by their circumstances but unfortunately this situation is common through out Southern Burma.

Ma Khin San and her family came from Kyaik Htow Township, Mon State. Before moving to Three Pagodas Pass they grew rice at a large rice paddy field. Ma Khin San and her husband worked side by side, yet he earned 2,500 kyat (78 baht) per day and she earned 1,500 kyat (47 baht) per day. Their weekly schedule was inconsistent and they often couldn’t afford to feed their family. 4 years ago, in search of higher wages and cheaper living standards, they moved to the Burmese side of Three Pagodas Pass.

Ma Khin San has been poor since birth. Now 27, her face looks tired and weathered beyond her years. As she told me of her troubles, I wondered how many other women endured similar hardships ‘‘Now, we have a small income and high expenses, including education and food. My husband and I are working together and all our money goes to daily expenses. We can’t save any money,” she said while she prepared her children for school.

Ma Khin San and her husband have 3 boys, ages 4, 5 and 7. During the day, the 7-year-old attends school while the other two boys accompany her to work. Ma Khin San and her husband work together in a furniture factory, she is paid per item produced and he is paid hourly. Employees choose their pay plans on the first day of work. Sometimes her husband has to work from 6am till 7pm and he does not help his wife with the housework. She works, cooks, washes, and takes care of the children. She has no time to relax.

“When we have no job we have no food to eat. During the summer [dry season], my husband sold water for household use. He earned 150 baht per day. Now [in the rainy season], he works in a furniture factory and he earns between 120 and 170 baht per day. I also work in the furniture factory. I earn 50 to 70 baht per day. Together, we earn around 200 baht per day. After we buy food, we have no money saved for the next day. When my children see snacks at the market, they want me to buy some for them, but I have no money so how can I buy snacks?” said Ma Khin San.

With all of the family’s income going towards basic goods they have little money to spend on anything else. “We also have to pay 200 baht per month for electricity. One day, my husband was sick but we did not go to the hospital because we couldn’t afford it. Instead, he just bought medicine from the shop and slept.’’ she explained.

Regrettably Ma Khin San’s sad story is not uncommon; many people from her town, Kyaik Htow Township, Mon State, struggle as independent rice farmers. For people who do not own a farm, it is very difficult to get a job, so they move to Three Pagodas Pass to find better work. Some people work in shoe factories, some work in clothes factories and some drive motorbike taxis but those earning the most money own furniture factories.

As a child Ma Khin San was too poor to attend school and her husband dropped out of school after 2nd standard. Because they are not educated, they cannot help their children study nor can they pursue better careers. Ma Khin San worries about her children’s education and future more than her own. She does not want her children to suffer the same problems as her and her husband. Her oldest son is enrolled in school, but he often skips, possibly because he doesn’t have the desired support from his parents.

“My son isn’t interested in his education and doesn’t want to go to school. I cannot care for him very well because I have no time, I have to care for my two other kids. I cannot read or help him study,” she said as she wrapped her hair in to a bun.

Ma Khin San’s family is not alone in their struggles many families in Three Pagodas Pass have similar problems. ‘‘In my family we have 7 people but only 2 are working. When we have no raw materials for the furniture factory, we have no work and we have to find new jobs. Our business is not good so our expenses and incomes are not balanced. Now that the price of rice and cooking materials are so expensive and our income is so low, I have no idea how we will continue our lives,’’ said a 30-year-old woman who works at the furniture factory with Ma Khin San.

In Three Pagodas Pass, there are many different cultures and ethnicities. Not everyone is friendly and shares with each other. Some families face economic problems, and they want to borrow money from other families but no one will help them.

‘‘No one wants to leave Burma to work. I hope I can stay safely with my family in my village. I do not know if my dream will ever come true.’’ When I saw Ma Khin San’s eyes fill with tears, I felt sorry for her. I prayed that her dream would come true soon.
Chan Chan

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Feature