Interview #2

Karen Farmer
Ye Pyu Township, Tenasserim Division, Burma

. . . Now, mostly what we have to do for the soldiers is we have to cut bamboo and build a fence around the outpost because they make the fence two layers. [The interviewee was interviewed in January 2001.] The order came from the soldier to the village headmen, and the village headmen ordered to the village.

Now in the village the battalion was based there with about six or seven soldiers and the commander stayed there. Every month we had to go and work for the soldiers from LIB 282 more than ten days, and sometimes it was almost the whole month. Last year, in August [2000], we had to cut the bamboo and build the fence and repair the road almost the whole month. We had to go by rotation. . . . Every day we have to clean the outpost, cut the firewood, carry the water, and cut the bamboo. One person from each house has to go. In my house, I did not go because we are old, and my son went for us. We cannot send him to school any more because we do not have time to earn money for him, and moreover he just had to go for labor every time when it was our house's turn.

Before I came here we had to go and build the bridge . . . and we had send one person from each household. In the village there were about 100 households, so it took about five days to finish it. . . .