War War Hywe, a 29-year-old migrant worker from Myanmar's city of Mandalay who is pregnant, unemployed and dependent on money lent from relatives, wishes she could go home.
At the very least she and her unborn child should have plenty to support herself. But the hard truth is that the Country remains sealed, and despite the ongoing Covid-19 turmoil, she can not pursue a new employment, while her debts begin to accumulate.
Once the epidemic hit, her husband went back to Myanmar to apply for a visa, but the border closed before he had a chance to travel to Thailand to be back with her.
War War Hywe lives alone in a small rented room in Nakhon Pathom's Om Yai area, where she and her husband worked for five years at a textile factory before the business was closed.
"If I weren't pregnant, it would be fine if I skipped a meal, but now that I'm pregnant for four months, I'm very worried about the health of the baby," - War Hywe, a migrant worker.
She delved into her savings to cover rent and bills for food but ran out of funds fast causing her to take out a loan. She relocated into a leased space that she shares with other migrant staff to cut costs.
War War Hywe recalls when her factory boss told her and her fellow migrant workers to take extra days off with no pay. The move did not even then strike her as spelling an end to her job.
Although Thai employees at the factory are protected by the social security scheme and earn protection from unemployment, migrant workers carrying pink cards are not so fortunate. The card grants migrant workers the right to temporarily work in Thailand, pending their work permit application.
"My friends agreed to help me with the room sharing and to help find money to buy food. They took pity on me," War War Hywe said, adding she has run up debts of over 10,000 baht. "All I want now is for somebody to take me home so I don't have to deal with this myself anymore."
"If I were not pregnant, it would be perfect if I missed a meal, but now that I'm pregnant for four months, I'm really concerned about the safety of the boy," she said, stroking her bulging belly. All she can do now is continue to reassure her baby to be healthy while waiting for her husband to return early.
Male migrant worker from Laos, Khamphun is in a better condition. He still has a career, but he now operates only two or three days a week, receiving between 20 percent or 30% of the salary he earned before Covid-19.
He has been working for more than 10 years at a plastic factory in Bangkok's Rama II district. He and his wife used to send home 10,000 baht a month before the crisis, a lot of which is used to repay his mortgage and feed their children back in Laos.
Today, the pair struggles to wire Laos only 2,000 baht a month since they've needed to accept a pay break. Mr Khamphun 's mother had to borrow money to pay him back the debt.
"I hope the crisis in Covid-19 will blow over early, so that everyone will return to usual," he said. In two years, the pandemic has squandered his hopes of paying off his mortgage and saved 200,000 baht to open up his dream business of repairing electrical appliances in his home town of Savannakhet province.
The social security system covers He and his wife. Around 500 baht a month was removed from their salaries and added to the Social Security Fund (SSF). However, in view of the Covid-19 situation, the fund has suspended the monthly payments of the workers for three months until next month.
The cessation of monthly SSF payments is one of the steps that was carried out to alleviate employees' expenses. Non-governmental organisations that campaign for the interests of migrant workers have asked the government to do more to mitigate the effect of the recession's economic effects on migrant workers.
They proposed the government to set aside a fund to help boost employment and finance the rehabilitation of companies damaged by the outbreak of Covid-19.
Source Bangkok Post
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