On the water with Myanmar’s ‘river cleaners’

As financial circumstances decline in Myanmar’s largest metropolis, a few of Yangon’s inhabitants are gathering recyclable supplies from polluted rivers and creeks so as to survive.

By AFP

Ma Yu launches her makeshift polystyrene boat right into a Yangon creek for one more day of trawling the filthy waters for plastic and tin cans along with her crew of “river cleaners”.

Round 10 others be a part of her within the daybreak gentle, pushed to work the foetid grey-brown murk of Pazundaung creek by the financial disaster that has gripped Myanmar for the reason that 2021 army coup.

They collect recyclable supplies to promote to merchants, their solely supply of earnings since dropping their jobs after the putsch that upended the economic system and sparked widespread unrest.

“There was no job for me on the land and I’m liable for my kids and my husband’s healthcare,” stated 36-year-old, her cheeks and brow daubed with sandalwood thanakha paste to chase away the blazing solar.

“So I rented some polystyrene sheets and I went onto the creek with my neighbour. On the primary day we managed to gather some plastic and cans to promote. We had been glad,” she stated. 

Myanmar’s economic system has been battered by the fallout of the coup, with greater than 1,000,000 individuals dropping their jobs, based on the Worldwide Labour Group.

Ma Ngal, 41, got here to the river after dropping her job promoting greens and fish at a Yangon stall, along with her carpenter husband additionally unable to search out common work.

“I didn’t inform my dad and mom and relations that we’re doing this work,” stated Ma Ngal.

“However they discovered, and I needed to clarify to them that I’m doing this for my household.”

Useless our bodies

On a good day a picker can discover refuse value K30,000 ($10), however extra typically the take-home pay is round $3.

“Earlier than we began working there was plenty of plastic, cans and bottles on the creek,” says Kyu Kyu Khine, 39, who used to gather trash from Yangon’s streets.    

The pickers attempt to time their working days with the tides – floating downstream in quest of extra trash when it ebbs and driving it again upstream on the finish of a shift.

However the tidal surges might be treacherous, says Ma Yu, who was knocked off her boat on considered one of her early forays onto the water.

“Typically I believe that if one thing occurs to me, I’m on their own right here and I can’t do something,” she stated.

The waters additionally carry common reminders of the breakdown of order in Yangon, the place residents say crime is surging within the aftermath of the coup.

The pickers usually see lifeless our bodies floating on the water, stated Ma Yu.

“It’s not a straightforward job however… the vital factor for me is that my kids don’t starve,” she stated.

Her fellow picker Ma Ngal says there are some lighter moments. 

“Some individuals joke with us after they see us working. They are saying ‘right here come the municipal crew, they know how you can clear up the river’.”