Detemined to finish - June 22nd Part 2

I am writing from Cambodia. There are a number of stories to tell from my experience here. However, I am determine to finish writing about my volunteer experience in Thailand. The part I left off from is that my group is just leaving from the Elephant Festival and heading to Three Pagoda's Pass. So enjoy June 22nd - Part 2

June 22nd part two – It was probably quite beneficial that we proceeded to the next part of the schedule with elation. After a serpentine drive around parts of Burma, we arrived at Three Pagodas Pass. Three Pagodas Pass is the place where Burmese armies crossed into Thailand to sack the capital city of the day. Thailand followed suit years later to attack Burma. After many minor conflicts, both sides decided to construct a peace symbol on the border in the hope that no more wars would be fought.

The foundation we work with has an office in the border town to assist with language classes, disease prevention, and immigrant resources for individuals crossing from Burma to Thailand. The official border is very exact and ornate with signs and guards indicating their allegiance to their particular side. However, due to some recent flare-up, and in spite of food and construction aid for cyclone relief, the border has been closed since March. A few hundred meters away, an unofficial border exists with soldiers again as guards, but here collecting tolls from individuals passing to and from in the hope of temporary work and money to send back home. We were asked not to take pictures here, a request that was unheeded.

Our first visit was to a shoe factory. Here the workers were finished for the day, or the boss told them that they were finished for the day. Around the table sat about twenty individuals, mostly women, ranging from 17-24. However, a few looked more like 15 and one said that he was twelve. We asked questions about how much they make, where they come from, and how long they work for. For the most part, they come from a few days travel away and work a contract period of a few months, making about 5-6 dollars a day.

We continued asking questions around what they hope for, what they want to do in the future, and what they would like to change. The worker's boss stood over the table to monitor the answers of his employees. As a result, the answers were marked with brevity and conciliation. For example, a question about what kind of breaks workers receive resulted in the kind of standardized answer that would make someone from in charge of US labor standards smile.

Overall, the conversation lacked in verbal information, but told in non-verbal communication. Every worker's face expressed a tiredness and desperation at the situation. Questions about what they wanted to do in the future resulted in answers like go back home when they earned enough money. Perhaps most telling was when we asked if they had any questions for us they said no, except for one woman in the back who asked if any one of us would trade places with her. There was some awkward laughter from the workers and us, but looking at the faces around, it was obvious that no one wanted or could fully imagine trading places with this woman.

I left with the group with a profound sense of helplessness and shared responsibility. No matter how good the capitalist system seems, there are always immense trade-offs and inefficiencies. I was so shaken up that by the time we arrive at the second warehouse operation, I was trying to defend the migrant worker system. I was still trying to convince myself that these people wanted these jobs and the opportunities of money that Thailand provides, but their home country cannot.

But I couldn't excuse the things in front of my eyes of squalid, damp buildings packed with sewing machines. Here, low hanging curtains hide the beds along the walls where workers sleep after their shifts. Since the workers don't speak Thai, it may be reasonable to conclude that they never leave until they earn however much money they need for their families. As the workers focus on their machines, a few children pass a ball to each other as they pass the time. For them, there seems to be no school, just waiting. The hardest part of me is the realization that our demand for cheap goods manufactured under any conditions is what brings about these situations. Additionally difficult, is that there is no easy solution to the conundrum.