Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2014)
ASIA / PACIFIC Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER July 7, 2014 Hauling gravel: Daily toil for Myanmar boy, 11 By Esther Htusan GRUELLING GIG. Chit Toke, foreground, is helped by his mother to lift a basket of gravel weighing about 42 pounds in a barge anchored on the banks of the Yangon River. A worker receives 35 Kyats (3.7 U.S. cents) for hauling a basket full of gravel from a boat to shore, walking a distance of about 100 feet on a narrow timber beam. Early every morning, 11-year- old Chit Toke wakes up in the small bamboo shack where his family lives besides a creek. In the near dis- tance, he can see new luxury high rises springing up. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) The Associated Press ANGON, Myanmar — Early every morning, 11-year-old Chit Toke wakes up in the small bamboo shack beside a creek where his family lives. In the near distance, he can see new high rises springing up. He pulls on oversized green trousers — part of a cast-off school uniform — and walks over to the river where boats are docked. They are waiting for laborers to unload gravel collected from river beds to supply the booming construction industry in Yangon, the biggest city and commercial capital of Myanmar, also known as Burma. Chit Toke joins the queue of workers, seeking to earn enough to help feed his family by hauling baskets full of stones, each weighing more than 42 pounds, from boat to shore. If he can haul that basket 100 times each day over a 100-foot path, he can earn 3,500 kyats ($3.70). Child labor remains widespread in Myanmar as the country tries to rebuild its economy after five decades of military misrule. More than one-third of Myanmar’s children between the ages of Y seven and 16 work, according to the United Nations. Chit Toke’s family moved to the city after Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta farming region in 2008. “When we were hit by the cyclone, we had no hope and everything was gone. We could barely survive and I had to work from an early age, as my father had died,” Black Pearl Acupuncture Danh Yard & Garden Service Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine are great for: - Acute/Chronic Pain (i.e. neck, back, sciatica & shoulder) - Treating & Preventing the flu and colds - Stress Relief - Headaches/Migraines www.blackpearlacupuncture.com the boy recalls. He has been doing this backbreaking labor for almost four years. “When I first worked here, I felt really tired. My shoulders were really painful at night and my legs, too,” Chit Toke says. He lifts a cane basket filled with gravel onto one shoulder and gets his balance, so that he can safely walk barefoot over Sita Symonette Licensed Acupuncturist seasymonettea@gmail.com Mowing - Edging Maintenance - Pressure Washing Gutter Cleaning - Fall Leaf Clean-up Weed & Debris Removal - Trimming & Hauling Seasonal Yard Clean-up - Bark Dusting Mulching - Thatching Lawns Dien Danh dien_danh@yahoo.com | (503) 810-4454 Call to schedule an appointment: (503) 308-9363 505 N.W. Ninth Ave., Portland, OR 97209 AVAILABLE NOW In-Town moves from w TRUCKS $19.95 w TRAILERS w HITCHES w AUTO TRANSPORTS Plus Mileage 503-538-2008 RESERVE one now First United Engineering narrow wooden planks that connect the boat to land. Each time he dumps his rocks on a pile to be hauled away by trucks, he receives a chit to show he has hauled one basket’s worth. Each chit can be exchanged for 35 kyats (3.7 U.S. cents). He collects the chits in a small plastic bottle tied to his waist. An eight-year-old friend also works here. But some children are more fortunate. Each morning, he sees some of the neighborhood kids head to school in their uniforms. “I want to go to school with him,” he says, putting his arm around the shoulders of one of them, his best friend, Myo Oo. “But I cannot go because I cannot afford to go to school. I have to work.” TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Qualified small businesses will get at least 12 hours of technical assistance and training, tailored to meet the individual business development needs of each client. Prior to services being delivered, each client’s business development needs will be assessed and an individual Service Plan will document assistance to be provided. Contact: <leihosmillo@msn.com> or (503) 285-1994 A collaboration of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (HMCC), and the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon (PACCO) through a grant from the Portland Development Commission (PDC)
