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Window on Burma #3
BINA -- The Burma Independent News Agency --
Window on Burma #3 (from ?Mojo?, Issue 3, June 1999):
[Editor?s note: This letter was written last March by ?Ma Aye?, a 38-year-old
Burmese woman from Tavoy Township, Tenasserim Division (southern Burma), while
she was being held in the Thai Police?s Immigrant Detention Center (IDC) in
Bangkok.
Two years ago, the Burmese army had forced everyone out of her native village
during a military action against the local ethnic group, and had taken her
husband in forced labor. Unable to survive on the barren land where the army
had moved her, she gave her (then) eight-year-old daughter to relatives, and
set out alone for Thailand, to join the almost half million illegal migrants
struggling to find work and hope in Bangkok?s construction and manufacturing
industries...
A copy of this letter was given to the Mojo office by one of the women who
helped to bring her sick baby to the Chulalongkorn University Hospital in
Bangkok. We do not know where mother, the baby, or the daughter is now.]
?Please send this letter to my daughter?
Dearest Little Daughter,
I am always thinking about you. I am writing this letter while I am an IDC
prisoner in Bangkok. By chance, I met a messenger who agreed to send my
letter
to you. I know that this letter will make you sad, but I want you to know the
true condition of your mother, and of your little brother whom you have never
seen. As for us, I believe that things will get better, because ?it is never
darker than at midnight?.
But I am worried about you. The army took your father to be a porter when
they
forced our village to move. Then we had nothing to eat or drink, and I was
pregnant with your little brother. That is why I have taken this risk for
you.
For the child in my womb, and for your future prospect, I came to Thailand
where people told me I could find a job. I followed the broker to a place
I?ve
never been, with the plan to work hard so that we can meet together again.
Because we are illegal immigrants, we have to fear the Thai police and also
the
owner of the workplace. Furthermore, the job foreman stole our wages. We had
so many difficulties.
As soon as I arrived here, I got a job at a building construction site. I had
to carry bricks, cement, sand, and iron rods. Being pregnant, I sometimes got
dizzy and almost fainted. But I dared not tell anyone because I was afraid
that they would fire me, and then I would have even more problems. I was
getting 100 baht a day, although I had to pay 20 baht every day to the Thai
police not to arrest me.
I am so worried and heavy-hearted for my little daughter, who cannot attend
school, and has to work like her mother, in the hot sun at hard labor.
Unexpectedly, the building where we were working was shut down because of
economic problems, and now we are all jobless. I had to stay in the abandoned
building and look for iron scrap to collect and sell for one baht per
kilogram. Sometimes I could get five or six kilograms a day, but sometimes
only one. The delivery date for the baby had almost arrived, so I needed the
money.
One day the labor pains began. I couldn?t afford to go to the hospital, so
your baby brother was born in the abandoned building, with the help of some
other women laborers. He was so small and weak, but I was glad to see him
alive.
I made a good friend here, who is in the same situation as me, and we share
everything we have together.
As for your baby brother, when he was one year old, he could not sit up. He
was
not well. Whenever he sat, he could not hold his head up, he fell over on the
floor. When he was almost one and a half years old, he was ill and could not
breathe well. So some of the workers persuaded me to let them take him to the
Thai hospital. If not, he was sure to die, so I had to follow them to the
hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, people looked at us as if disgusted. Maybe
they thought we were beggars or criminals. When I gave my name, they asked me
which nationality I was. I told them ?Burmese? and they asked to see my
passport. I said I had no passport, so they asked me where I was working. I
said I was a laborer at a building construction site, so they asked me to show
my laborer?s card. How can I have a laborer card? I came illegally into
Thailand.
At last the baby had a chance to see the doctor. He asked me if the baby had
been vaccinated. I said no. The doctor said that the baby needs to go to the
Intensive Care Unit for treatment. When they were admitting him to the
hospital, they asked me who would pay the bill. I was in despair and didn?t
know what to say, but the workers who brought me to the hospital said they
would all share together, and pay the bill. This was enough to get the baby
admitted to the hospital.
After admission, many doctors came to examine the baby. They told me he
needed
careful treatment, as he had many diseases, and needed to be hospitalized
for a
long time if I wanted him to live.
Then the immigration problems started. They asked for my labor card, or
for my
husband?s ID card. How could I explain about your father who was taken as a
porter by the soldiers? Moreover, the workers who brought me to the hospital
also had no labor cards. If I confessed the truth, I was afraid that they
would discharge the baby from the hospital. So I had to lie, that my labor
card was at home, and I would go back and get it later to show them. I had to
do it so that the baby could live. We have no guarantee for our lives, even
though we are in great danger.
When the baby was getting better, the nurse came to ask for the labor card, as
it was her duty. If not, she would have to take further action, she said. So
I had to say that when my friend came, I would ask her to attend the baby, and
I would go get the card. But how could I go? There was no card. So I didn?t
go.
The nurse said nothing for two days, but on the morning of the third day, she
told me not to go anywhere. At about 10:00 am, while I was feeding my baby,
two Thai policemen came to my bed with the nurse on duty. She said that
because I could not show the card, she had to inform the police. The baby was
frightened and began to cry.
I felt the greatest pain of my life, for being forced to come to another
country. Tears burst out. I was not crying, but it was tears of pain. I
never wanted to leave my country and my native village, but the situation was
so hopeless.
I faced the two policemen and asked them what they wanted me to do. One of
them tried to avoid my eyes. Maybe he had sympathy for us, he was also a
mother?s son. Everyone around us was watching to see what was happening.
So I
took up my plastic bag, and followed them out.
Why do we have to illegally enter another country? We Burmese people are
greatly attached to our families, our homes, our farms and villages. Whether
rich or poor, we never want to leave our homeland. But now the headman of the
village came and told us that our village was unsafe. For security?s sake we
had to move to another place within a month. But that place had no trees or
shade, no water, no edible plants, and no one to protect it.
As for us, full of tears, we had to leave the farm, the house, the paddy
fields
that we owned, our whole lives, and come empty-handed to Thailand, to try to
find a way to live, to start a new life. I am still dreaming about the day I
will go back to Burma.
One thing I want to remind you is to never let others suffer in order to get
some benefit for yourself. We never had such a bad mind as to get our
advantage by other people?s suffering. Even if we are poor and have great
troubles, we will always live honestly and industriously.
For our people at home, there will surely be a good government one day. It
cannot go on like this forever, there must be changes for the better. The
good
day will come for them, and for the reunion of our family to live happily
together again. I hope and pray for the other families like us to have the
same.
Your loving Mom and Brother
--=====================_10869440==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
BINA -- The Burma Independent News Agency --
Window on Burma #3 (from ?Mojo?, Issue 3, June 1999):
[Editor?s note: This letter was written last March by ?Ma Aye?, a 38-year-old
Burmese woman from Tavoy Township, Tenasserim Division (southern Burma), while
she was being held in the Thai Police?s Immigrant Detention Center (IDC) in
Bangkok.
Two years ago, the Burmese army had forced everyone out of her native village
during a military action against the local ethnic group, and had taken her
husband in forced labor. Unable to survive on the barren land where the army
had moved her, she gave her (then) eight-year-old daughter to relatives, and
set out alone for Thailand, to join the almost half million illegal migrants
struggling to find work and hope in Bangkok?s construction and manufacturing
industries...
A copy of this letter was given to the Mojo office by one of the women who
helped to bring her sick baby to the Chulalongkorn University Hospital in
Bangkok. We do not know where mother, the baby, or the daughter is now.]
?Please send this letter to my daughter?
Dearest Little Daughter,
I am always thinking about you. I am writing this letter while I am an IDC
prisoner in Bangkok. By chance, I met a messenger who agreed to send my
letter
to you. I know that this letter will make you sad, but I want you to know the
true condition of your mother, and of your little brother whom you have never
seen. As for us, I believe that things will get better, because ?it is never
darker than at midnight?.
But I am worried about you. The army took your father to be a porter when
they
forced our village to move. Then we had nothing to eat or drink, and I was
pregnant with your little brother. That is why I have taken this risk for
you.
For the child in my womb, and for your future prospect, I came to Thailand
where people told me I could find a job. I followed the broker to a place
I?ve
never been, with the plan to work hard so that we can meet together again.
Because we are illegal immigrants, we have to fear the Thai police and also
the
owner of the workplace. Furthermore, the job foreman stole our wages. We had
so many difficulties.
As soon as I arrived here, I got a job at a building construction site. I had
to carry bricks, cement, sand, and iron rods. Being pregnant, I sometimes got
dizzy and almost fainted. But I dared not tell anyone because I was afraid
that they would fire me, and then I would have even more problems. I was
getting 100 baht a day, although I had to pay 20 baht every day to the Thai
police not to arrest me.
I am so worried and heavy-hearted for my little daughter, who cannot attend
school, and has to work like her mother, in the hot sun at hard labor.
Unexpectedly, the building where we were working was shut down because of
economic problems, and now we are all jobless. I had to stay in the abandoned
building and look for iron scrap to collect and sell for one baht per
kilogram. Sometimes I could get five or six kilograms a day, but sometimes
only one. The delivery date for the baby had almost arrived, so I needed the
money.
One day the labor pains began. I couldn?t afford to go to the hospital, so
your baby brother was born in the abandoned building, with the help of some
other women laborers. He was so small and weak, but I was glad to see him
alive.
I made a good friend here, who is in the same situation as me, and we share
everything we have together.
As for your baby brother, when he was one year old, he could not sit up. He
was
not well. Whenever he sat, he could not hold his head up, he fell over on the
floor. When he was almost one and a half years old, he was ill and could not
breathe well. So some of the workers persuaded me to let them take him to the
Thai hospital. If not, he was sure to die, so I had to follow them to the
hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, people looked at us as if disgusted. Maybe
they thought we were beggars or criminals. When I gave my name, they asked me
which nationality I was. I told them ?Burmese? and they asked to see my
passport. I said I had no passport, so they asked me where I was working. I
said I was a laborer at a building construction site, so they asked me to show
my laborer?s card. How can I have a laborer card? I came illegally into
Thailand.
At last the baby had a chance to see the doctor. He asked me if the baby had
been vaccinated. I said no. The doctor said that the baby needs to go to the
Intensive Care Unit for treatment. When they were admitting him to the
hospital, they asked me who would pay the bill. I was in despair and didn?t
know what to say, but the workers who brought me to the hospital said they
would all share together, and pay the bill. This was enough to get the baby
admitted to the hospital.
After admission, many doctors came to examine the baby. They told me he
needed
careful treatment, as he had many diseases, and needed to be hospitalized
for a
long time if I wanted him to live.
Then the immigration problems started. They asked for my labor card, or
for my
husband?s ID card. How could I explain about your father who was taken as a
porter by the soldiers? Moreover, the workers who brought me to the hospital
also had no labor cards. If I confessed the truth, I was afraid that they
would discharge the baby from the hospital. So I had to lie, that my labor
card was at home, and I would go back and get it later to show them. I had to
do it so that the baby could live. We have no guarantee for our lives, even
though we are in great danger.
When the baby was getting better, the nurse came to ask for the labor card, as
it was her duty. If not, she would have to take further action, she said. So
I had to say that when my friend came, I would ask her to attend the baby, and
I would go get the card. But how could I go? There was no card. So I didn?t
go.
The nurse said nothing for two days, but on the morning of the third day, she
told me not to go anywhere. At about 10:00 am, while I was feeding my baby,
two Thai policemen came to my bed with the nurse on duty. She said that
because I could not show the card, she had to inform the police. The baby was
frightened and began to cry.
I felt the greatest pain of my life, for being forced to come to another
country. Tears burst out. I was not crying, but it was tears of pain. I
never wanted to leave my country and my native village, but the situation was
so hopeless.
I faced the two policemen and asked them what they wanted me to do. One of
them tried to avoid my eyes. Maybe he had sympathy for us, he was also a
mother?s son. Everyone around us was watching to see what was happening.
So I
took up my plastic bag, and followed them out.
Why do we have to illegally enter another country? We Burmese people are
greatly attached to our families, our homes, our farms and villages. Whether
rich or poor, we never want to leave our homeland. But now the headman of the
village came and told us that our village was unsafe. For security?s sake we
had to move to another place within a month. But that place had no trees or
shade, no water, no edible plants, and no one to protect it.
As for us, full of tears, we had to leave the farm, the house, the paddy
fields
that we owned, our whole lives, and come empty-handed to Thailand, to try to
find a way to live, to start a new life. I am still dreaming about the day I
will go back to Burma.
One thing I want to remind you is to never let others suffer in order to get
some benefit for yourself. We never had such a bad mind as to get our
advantage by other people?s suffering. Even if we are poor and have great
troubles, we will always live honestly and industriously.
For our people at home, there will surely be a good government one day. It
cannot go on like this forever, there must be changes for the better. The
good
day will come for them, and for the reunion of our family to live happily
together again. I hope and pray for the other families like us to have the
same.
Your loving Mom and Brother
--=====================_10869440==_.ALT--