Burma Link | December 20, 2013
Htay Htay is a half Karen half Burman woman who came to Thailand in search of a better life. Now, she lives in a rubbish dump in the outskirts of the border town of Mae Sot on the Thailand-Burma border. Htay Htay is one of about 400 people who live in the dump, all barely making a living by picking up and selling rubbish. Htay Htay says that although they really don’t want to live amidst the rubbish, they have no choice. Read her story to find out why she feels that life ‘living in the dirt’ is better than life in her home country.
We just had to sleep in the water
Htay Htay is a 32-year old woman whose mother was Karen and father Burman. She grew up in a small rural village called Nga Htway Sote in Kyaukgyi, Bago Division. Htay Htay says that life in the village was a constant struggle due to annual flooding and lack of work.
It was very difficult to work. There were almost no jobs. Around harvest time, the people who live around the village go work for daily wages in other people’s farms. And in the summer, people go fishing. Those are the only jobs that people have… When I was young my father died of a snake bite. And my mother died about ten years ago.
… The village is close to a river. In the rainy season it always floods. The land is low in the place where I lived, where my house was… Even when we sleep at night, the flood waters reach the floor where we sleep. So we just had to sleep in the water. Every rainy season it was the same thing.
Kids die falling into the water. Because the whole village is flooded and they have nowhere to go. If some people have houses that are taller than other houses, if they have very tall poles, they might not have water. Those whose houses sink into the water have to go and stay in the taller houses. So in the rainy season a lot of families stay in the tall houses. I also went and stayed in other people’s houses with my children.
When my husband came back we moved to the rubbish dump
I came to Thailand about 4 or 5 years ago. When I arrived I felt like a fool. It’s someone else’s country, not my country, I didn’t know what to do. My sister came to get me and let us stay in her house… She lived in Mae Tao Clinic and was married to a Shan man. But I didn’t want to bother them. I wanted to just live with my own family no matter what I would earn or how hard life would be.
Htay Htay is married to a Burman man who is 16 years older than her.
I called my husband, who was in Bangkok, to come back and stay with the family. But my husband had gone to Bangkok only a few months before. He went there with someone else’s money and he hadn’t earned enough to pay back the money yet. So he had to stay there and work until he could pay off his debt.
Somehow Htay Htay had to find a way to manage on her own. She explains how she begged a Burman man to be able to live in a small hut on a farm where the man was working. He let her and her children stay there and the Thai owner knew nothing about it. Htay Htay made a deal with the farmer; she would help with the work and they let her and her children stay in the hut.
I lived in the farmer’s hut for two years. When I lived there I had no worry all the time if the owner finds out. Every time I left the hut I had to worry if I could come back. The hut was very close to the Mae Sot rubbish dump.
When my husband came back we moved to the rubbish dump. My husband and one of our sons built the house where we live in now. We couldn’t get anyone to help us because we had no money… In Burma, when people build a house their neighbors help them. But only if you can give them something to drink or eat. We couldn’t afford to do that. So no one helped us… We had to sleep on the ground for about 15 days before the house was built.
… Where ever you live you just have to be happy there
We don’t want to live here. We live here because we have no choice. We have to live here without complaining about the place. The place is disgusting but you just have to get used to it, to get used to living in the dirt.
Htay Htay explains how they once had a pig in the dump.
We bought a pig from one of the women in the rubbish dump. But the pig was very wild and no one wanted to buy it. But we bought it and kept it under the house. A few days later the pig run away to the sugar field. We tried to catch the pig but… Because the pig was very clever we couldn’t catch it. We asked the neighbors to help and catch the pig. If anyone could catch the pig dead or alive we would give them a drink. But no one could find the pig.
Htay Htay says she really wants to have another pig, because it’s the only business you can have in the dump.
But since that happened my husband has been disappointed and doesn’t want to get another pig. But I am trying to save to buy a new pig.
Htay Htay’s brother had been to Thailand already two years before she arrived there. He has been living in the dump for a long time now, and he is now a chief of one of the areas in the dump.
I had heard that life in Thailand is better than in Burma. Especially my brother told me that. I also think that life in Thailand is better, because here there are no floods. I have been here for almost five years, but nothing has changed. We got nothing except a place to stay in the rubbish dump… But where ever you live you just have to be happy there.
When the police come we have to run and hide
Htay Htay and others in the dump make money by collecting any recyclables in the rubbish and selling them to the nearby factory. Htay Htay’s brother, the chief, explains that they have developed rules for living and working in the rubbish dump.
The people can only take what is in front of them… When a truck arrives, the people have to take their own places. And they can only take the rubbish just in front of them. These are our rules, so people don’t fight each other.
Htay Htay says they have lived in the dump for two years now.
When the police come we have to run and hide. I hide with my children in the sugar field… If the police catch you, they ask for money. They take the people to Mae Sot and they ask for money. Then they just leave them there, so the people have to come back on their own.
The old man with white hair is helping us
[all the people in the dump]. If we have a health problem we call him and he takes us to the [Mae Tao] clinic… In Burma, if you don’t have at least 3,000 kyat you will die; you can’t go to a clinic. He also gives us drinking water.
Htay Htay explains that she is very happy and grateful for the help they get from the foreigner, but the water they get is still not enough because she has six children.
The white man usually gives us one bucket of water per day. But because my family is big it’s not enough. Sometimes when the white man is away we have to arrange the water and we might get only one bucket for every two days. The chief is in charge of distributing the water equally to the people.
Last year, we got 1,500 [baht] for one month from picking up and selling plastic
In Burma, Htay Htay’s children couldn’t go to school because the village was flooded every rainy season. Htay Htay never went to school and has only recently learned how to read a little bit. She says that for about two years, after they came to Thailand, the children couldn’t go to school because the situation was very bad. It was only after they moved to the rubbish dump that school for the children became a possibility.
When we moved to the rubbish dump, I asked the nearby migrant school if my children could go there. But in the beginning the children couldn’t go to school because we couldn’t pay the school fee. Also the only job we [she and her son] have is picking up the rubbish and selling it… We have to pay 100 baht for one student for the school fee. But we could only pay 200, so we said we will pay the other 200 later.
Htay Htay’s youngest daughter is too young to go to school and her eldest son cannot go because he needs to help the family with picking up rubbish. Also her eldest daughter sometimes cannot go to school.
She needs to be in the house and look after the youngest child when I go out to sell some plastic.
Although Htay Htay’s eldest son has to work every night picking up rubbish, Htay Htay says he is happy to live in the rubbish dump.
… He said that if we move to Burma he doesn’t know how to help his mother. But as long as we live here, he knows how to get money and help… He is very helpful. When people cut sugar in the field, he goes and cuts the sugar to make some money. But now is not that time of year so he is picking up plastic. When the truck comes they go and pick up plastic. He works especially at night time. So he sleeps in the morning and daytime.
My life is now a little bit better. My husband follows the rubbish truck and he earns about 4,500 baht per month… We buy rice with credit. We pay for the rice at the end of the month… But because now we are living in our own house, one good thing is that we don’t need to live in other people’s houses… My son, the oldest one, has helped us a lot this year. Because my husband works in the rubbish truck, and I have to look after the children in the house, my son has to go. He can earn 200 or 300 baht for one week of work… Last year, we got 1,500 [baht] for one month from picking up and selling plastic. But this year we don’t get that much anymore.
In Burma, I could only see them [foreigners] in videos
Htay Htay dreams of having her own land and house with a well in Burma.
If I can’t get that I will not go back. I will die here. Even if my family goes back now, we have no place to stay. Because we don’t have any land. Even if you have one piece of land with no house you can still stay there with some bamboo sticks as a roof. In Burma, even the worst places where people don’t want to live, the price for the land is very expensive so how could I ever get that money?
Everyone wants to go back to their country. But in Burma you have to live with trouble. Because we have no choice, we have to live here… I am very happy when foreigners come to the place. The place is very disgusting so people don’t want to come there… I feel like they are my family, my brothers and sisters… I also like to take a picture with a foreigner and keep it and later show it to someone. To show people I can take a picture with a foreigner. In Burma, I could only see them [foreigners] in videos. I had never seen a foreigner outside in real life.
Htay Htay’s story is based on an interview with Burma Link. Written by Burma Link.
See this photo gallery for a window into the daily life of refugees and migrants from Burma living in the Mae Sot rubbish dump.
You may also like:
“I Want To Go To School, But I Need To Help Mum…”
Living off Rubbish in the Mae Sot Dump
Prisoners of Mae Sot
Life in a Burmese Migrant School on the Thailand-Burma Border
Myanmar Workers in Thailand Plead not Guilty to Criminal Defamation
Thailand: Ex-General, Dozens Convicted in Landmark Human Trafficking Case
Htay Htay is a 32-year old woman whose mother was Karen and father Burman. She grew up in a small rural village called Nga Htway Sote in Kyaukgyi, Bago Division. Htay Htay says that life in the village was a constant struggle due to annual flooding and lack of work.
It was very difficult to work. There were almost no jobs. Around harvest time, the people who live around the village go work for daily wages in other people’s farms. And in the summer, people go fishing. Those are the only jobs that people have… When I was young my father died of a snake bite. And my mother died about ten years ago.
… The village is close to a river. In the rainy season it always floods. The land is low in the place where I lived, where my house was… Even when we sleep at night, the flood waters reach the floor where we sleep. So we just had to sleep in the water. Every rainy season it was the same thing.
Kids die falling into the water. Because the whole village is flooded and they have nowhere to go. If some people have houses that are taller than other houses, if they have very tall poles, they might not have water. Those whose houses sink into the water have to go and stay in the taller houses. So in the rainy season a lot of families stay in the tall houses. I also went and stayed in other people’s houses with my children.
When my husband came back we moved to the rubbish dump
I came to Thailand about 4 or 5 years ago. When I arrived I felt like a fool. It’s someone else’s country, not my country, I didn’t know what to do. My sister came to get me and let us stay in her house… She lived in Mae Tao Clinic and was married to a Shan man. But I didn’t want to bother them. I wanted to just live with my own family no matter what I would earn or how hard life would be.
Htay Htay is married to a Burman man who is 16 years older than her.
I called my husband, who was in Bangkok, to come back and stay with the family. But my husband had gone to Bangkok only a few months before. He went there with someone else’s money and he hadn’t earned enough to pay back the money yet. So he had to stay there and work until he could pay off his debt.
Somehow Htay Htay had to find a way to manage on her own. She explains how she begged a Burman man to be able to live in a small hut on a farm where the man was working. He let her and her children stay there and the Thai owner knew nothing about it. Htay Htay made a deal with the farmer; she would help with the work and they let her and her children stay in the hut.
I lived in the farmer’s hut for two years. When I lived there I had no worry all the time if the owner finds out. Every time I left the hut I had to worry if I could come back. The hut was very close to the Mae Sot rubbish dump.
When my husband came back we moved to the rubbish dump. My husband and one of our sons built the house where we live in now. We couldn’t get anyone to help us because we had no money… In Burma, when people build a house their neighbors help them. But only if you can give them something to drink or eat. We couldn’t afford to do that. So no one helped us… We had to sleep on the ground for about 15 days before the house was built.
… Where ever you live you just have to be happy there
We don’t want to live here. We live here because we have no choice. We have to live here without complaining about the place. The place is disgusting but you just have to get used to it, to get used to living in the dirt.
Htay Htay explains how they once had a pig in the dump.
We bought a pig from one of the women in the rubbish dump. But the pig was very wild and no one wanted to buy it. But we bought it and kept it under the house. A few days later the pig run away to the sugar field. We tried to catch the pig but… Because the pig was very clever we couldn’t catch it. We asked the neighbors to help and catch the pig. If anyone could catch the pig dead or alive we would give them a drink. But no one could find the pig.
Htay Htay says she really wants to have another pig, because it’s the only business you can have in the dump.
But since that happened my husband has been disappointed and doesn’t want to get another pig. But I am trying to save to buy a new pig.
Htay Htay’s brother had been to Thailand already two years before she arrived there. He has been living in the dump for a long time now, and he is now a chief of one of the areas in the dump.
I had heard that life in Thailand is better than in Burma. Especially my brother told me that. I also think that life in Thailand is better, because here there are no floods. I have been here for almost five years, but nothing has changed. We got nothing except a place to stay in the rubbish dump… But where ever you live you just have to be happy there.
When the police come we have to run and hide
Htay Htay and others in the dump make money by collecting any recyclables in the rubbish and selling them to the nearby factory. Htay Htay’s brother, the chief, explains that they have developed rules for living and working in the rubbish dump.
The people can only take what is in front of them… When a truck arrives, the people have to take their own places. And they can only take the rubbish just in front of them. These are our rules, so people don’t fight each other.
Htay Htay says they have lived in the dump for two years now.
When the police come we have to run and hide. I hide with my children in the sugar field… If the police catch you, they ask for money. They take the people to Mae Sot and they ask for money. Then they just leave them there, so the people have to come back on their own.
The old man with white hair is helping us
Htay Htay explains that she is very happy and grateful for the help they get from the foreigner, but the water they get is still not enough because she has six children.
The white man usually gives us one bucket of water per day. But because my family is big it’s not enough. Sometimes when the white man is away we have to arrange the water and we might get only one bucket for every two days. The chief is in charge of distributing the water equally to the people.
Last year, we got 1,500 [baht] for one month from picking up and selling plastic
In Burma, Htay Htay’s children couldn’t go to school because the village was flooded every rainy season. Htay Htay never went to school and has only recently learned how to read a little bit. She says that for about two years, after they came to Thailand, the children couldn’t go to school because the situation was very bad. It was only after they moved to the rubbish dump that school for the children became a possibility.
When we moved to the rubbish dump, I asked the nearby migrant school if my children could go there. But in the beginning the children couldn’t go to school because we couldn’t pay the school fee. Also the only job we [she and her son] have is picking up the rubbish and selling it… We have to pay 100 baht for one student for the school fee. But we could only pay 200, so we said we will pay the other 200 later.
Htay Htay’s youngest daughter is too young to go to school and her eldest son cannot go because he needs to help the family with picking up rubbish. Also her eldest daughter sometimes cannot go to school.
She needs to be in the house and look after the youngest child when I go out to sell some plastic.
Although Htay Htay’s eldest son has to work every night picking up rubbish, Htay Htay says he is happy to live in the rubbish dump.
… He said that if we move to Burma he doesn’t know how to help his mother. But as long as we live here, he knows how to get money and help… He is very helpful. When people cut sugar in the field, he goes and cuts the sugar to make some money. But now is not that time of year so he is picking up plastic. When the truck comes they go and pick up plastic. He works especially at night time. So he sleeps in the morning and daytime.
My life is now a little bit better. My husband follows the rubbish truck and he earns about 4,500 baht per month… We buy rice with credit. We pay for the rice at the end of the month… But because now we are living in our own house, one good thing is that we don’t need to live in other people’s houses… My son, the oldest one, has helped us a lot this year. Because my husband works in the rubbish truck, and I have to look after the children in the house, my son has to go. He can earn 200 or 300 baht for one week of work… Last year, we got 1,500 [baht] for one month from picking up and selling plastic. But this year we don’t get that much anymore.
In Burma, I could only see them [foreigners] in videos
Htay Htay dreams of having her own land and house with a well in Burma.
If I can’t get that I will not go back. I will die here. Even if my family goes back now, we have no place to stay. Because we don’t have any land. Even if you have one piece of land with no house you can still stay there with some bamboo sticks as a roof. In Burma, even the worst places where people don’t want to live, the price for the land is very expensive so how could I ever get that money?
Everyone wants to go back to their country. But in Burma you have to live with trouble. Because we have no choice, we have to live here… I am very happy when foreigners come to the place. The place is very disgusting so people don’t want to come there… I feel like they are my family, my brothers and sisters… I also like to take a picture with a foreigner and keep it and later show it to someone. To show people I can take a picture with a foreigner. In Burma, I could only see them [foreigners] in videos. I had never seen a foreigner outside in real life.
Htay Htay’s story is based on an interview with Burma Link. Written by Burma Link.
See this photo gallery for a window into the daily life of refugees and migrants from Burma living in the Mae Sot rubbish dump.
You may also like:
- “I Want To Go To School, But I Need To Help Mum…”
- Living off Rubbish in the Mae Sot Dump
- Prisoners of Mae Sot
- Life in a Burmese Migrant School on the Thailand-Burma Border
- Myanmar Workers in Thailand Plead not Guilty to Criminal Defamation
- Thailand: Ex-General, Dozens Convicted in Landmark Human Trafficking Case