Relocated Thandwe Twsp villagers face difficulties at new site

By Admin 27 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
27 June 2023, Thandwe

Residents of Jaithar Village in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, whose homes were forcibly relocated by the Myanmar military, are reportedly facing livelihood hardships and their children’s education is being affected at the new location.

More than 300 people from over 50 households in Jaithar Village were forced to relocate their homes by the military on September 28, as the houses were built on a plot of land that the Myanmar military claims ownership of.

The Jaithar villagers were relocated to Aseinma Hill, about 5 miles from the village. Around 20 households live at the new location and about 30 households moved to other villages and are staying at the homes of relatives and friends.

There were 40 students from kindergarten to Grade 7 in the village school last year, but this year, five Grade 6 and Grade 7 students dropped out, locals said.

“Some children go to school wearing two old school uniforms alternately. The parents are not well off, so the students do not even have the textbook,” said U Bo Ni, a former member of the village administration committee.

U Bo Ni added that the children who dropped out of school are working to support their families.

Twenty students go to school in Yaybyuai Village and over 30 students are learning their education at a school in Thabyuchaing Village.

Jaithar villagers said that since they moved to a new place, they have been struggling to make ends meet and afford their children’s education due to the lack of job opportunities and accommodation difficulties.

“As the new location is not like the place we lived in the past, we are struggling to make ends meet,” said U Nyo Min Lwin, a resident of Jaithar Village.

Jaithar Village is located close to the seashore, so villagers are theoretically able to work in the fishing industry and earn extra income catching crabs and mussels. The village is said to have been established in 1976. By 1996, Jaithar Village area was designated as a land plot owned by the Myanmar Navy, and residents of the village had to pay an annual tax of K500 per house.

The relocated villagers do not have their own business in the new place and jobs are scarce, so they earn a living as odd-job workers, said Daw Khin Myo, a local woman from Jaithar Village.

“We had to leave the orchards and jobs that we depended on for our livelihood. There is no opportunity for us to work in the new location. We face many difficulties,” she added.

Jaithar Village is said to have been established in 1976. By 1996, the village area was designated as a land plot owned by the Myanmar Navy, and residents of the village had to pay an annual tax of K500 per house.