Moe Set Aye, 37, left her home in Dawei more than a decade ago and travelled to Thailand in search of a better life.
She is one of hundreds of thousands of Myanmar migrant workers who form the backbone of Thailand’s export-driven economy, doing back breaking work in agriculture, fishing, textile factories and the tourism industries.
The importance of their contribution is well-documented, and so are the abuses and exploitation they suffer in the hands of unscrupulous employers and law enforcement officials. Successive Myanmar governments have indicated a wish to encourage these often skilled migrants to return home, a prospect likely to worry Thai business leaders.
Moe Set Aye shares her neat, one room flat with two other workers in a huge, five-storey building that is home to hundreds of workers from central and eastern Myanmar.
“I’ve been in Mahachai for over 15 years now. I left home because I wanted to be self-sufficient and not have to ask my parents for money.
“My parents aren’t rich. They are farmers. Two of my sisters are still at home. They make traditional food and sell them at events.
“When I first got here I worked in a fish processing factory. Even if you wash yourself 10 times a day the smell won’t go away. It follows you home and stays with you. So I moved to a textile factory and I’ve been with them for a few years now.
“My passport will expire next year and I hope to go back home for a visit then.
“My most treasured possession is a picture that someone has taken of Mother Suu when she came to visit us,” she said, sitting cross legged on the bare floor and recounting the day her hero came to Mahachai in 2012. Suu Kyi was embarking on her on her first trip outside Myanmar for over two decades.
“I’d heard of the news but not in detail. So when I found out she was here, I dropped everything I was doing at the factory and hailed a motorbike to try and find her.
“I got to one place but she’d already left. By the time I got to the top of the street where the migrant workers’ rights office was, I couldn’t go further because the crowd was so big.
“I could only hear her voice and the crowd shouting, “Mother Suu, Mother Suu”. It gave me goosebumps.
“I remember vividly what she told us that day. She said, ‘Be good. I will come and get you back home in three years.’
“From my experience, I find it is difficult to trust people. But I trust her.”
(Interviewed Oct 2015)
