Porters at Arakan State’s border trade camps face large-scale joblessness since storm

By Admin 14 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 July 2023, Maungdaw

Porters at border trade camps in Arakan State’s Sittwe and Maungdaw are struggling as border trade has not yet returned to normal since Cyclone Mocha battered the state in mid-May.

More than 300 locals from Mingan, Chaung Nwe, Zawmadat and Byinephyu villages rely on the Shwe Mingan jetty border trade camp in Sittwe, and many are in dire straits without a regular income.

“There has been less cargo, so we don’t have much work to do. Ships are not leaving for Bangladesh since the storm,” Daw Ma Hla Thein, a resident of Chaung Nwe Village, told DMG.

Myanmar’s trade with Bangladesh has been in decline as the latter has restricted imports from Myanmar. Moreover, buildings at the border trade camps were damaged by the storm, disrupting export and import procedures.

Daw Ma Hla Thein and her husband have been working at Shwe Mingan for some 10 years. Having been jobless for the two months since the storm, the couple have had to borrow money to feed themselves.

Zawmadat villager U Kyaw Sein Maung said: “We have several children to feed and so we often have to starve ourselves to feed our children. I only earn 5,000 kyats a day.”

U Kyaw Sein Maung and his wife earned more than 15,000 kyats a day before the storm, but they typically only earn about 7,000 kyats daily now.

The porters say they can’t simply find another job in Arakan State, where decent employment opportunities are scarce. Meanwhile, food prices have jumped in the aftermath of the storm, taking an added toll on porters whose income has significantly declined.

Daw Wai Than Sein, from Byinephyu Village, said: “My children have had their schooling affected as our income has declined. I can’t give any pocket money to my children.”

Some 160 people are working as porters in the Maungdaw border trade camp, and they now work on alternate days, said foreman U Ayas.

“There are not enough jobs for all the workers as border trade has not yet returned to normal. So, we divide workers into three groups. When one group works at the camp, the two other groups do casual jobs at other places,” he said.

Currently, Bangladesh only allows imports of ginger and onion from Myanmar. Meanwhile, many warehouses and border trade camps have yet to be repaired of the damage inflicted by Cyclone Mocha.