クーデター後に失業、「川の掃除隊」に ミャンマー

【ヤンゴンＡＦＰ＝時事】ミャンマー・ヤンゴンの異臭を放つ川に、ユさん（３６）はポリスチレン製の簡易ボートを浮かべた。川に漂うプラスチックごみや空き缶を集めるためだ。（写真はパズンダウン川で、再生利用可能なごみを収集する人）
　パズンダウン川に明け方、１０人ほどの「川の掃除隊」が集まった。川で再生利用可能なものを集めて、業者に売る。これが、２０２１年のクーデター後に失業した掃除隊メンバーの唯一の収入源になっている。
　ユさんは家族を養うためにこの仕事を始めた。「近所の人と一緒に川に来た。初日にプラスチックや缶を収集して換金できて、とてもうれしかった」と語る。
　国際労働機関（ＩＬＯ）によると、クーデターにより国内経済は打撃を受け、１００万人以上が失業した。
　メンバーの一人（４１）は、ヤンゴンの屋台で野菜や魚を販売していた。職を失って、川の掃除隊に加わった。大工の夫も定職はない。「親や家族にはここに来ていることを話さなかったが、見つかってしまった。家族のためにやっていると説明しなければならなかった」とＡＦＰに語った。
　１日の稼ぎは１０ドル（約１３００円）までいくこともあるが、大体は３ドル（約４００円）ほどだ。
　住民によるとクーデター後、犯罪が増えている。川で働いていると、治安の悪化を実感することもある。
　ユさんは、仕事中に水面に浮かぶ死体をよく目にする。「簡単な仕事ではない…でも大事なのは子どもが飢えないことだ」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/02/20-12:54）

Ma Yu launches her makeshift polystyrene boat into a Yangon creek for another day of trawling the filthy waters for plastic and tin cans with her team of river cleaners.
Around 10 others join her in the dawn light, driven to work the foetid grey-brown murk of Pazundaung creek by the economic crisis that has gripped Myanmar since the 2021 military coup.
They gather recyclable materials to sell to traders, their only source of income since losing their jobs after the putsch that upended the economy and sparked widespread unrest.
There was no job for me on the land and I'm responsible for my children and my husband's healthcare, the 36-year-old Ma Yu told AFP, her cheeks and forehead daubed with the sandalwood thanakha paste popularly used in Myanmar to ward off the blazing sun.
So I rented some polystyrene sheets and I went onto the creek with my neighbour. On the first day we managed to collect some plastic and cans to sell. We were happy, she said.
Myanmar's economy has been battered by the fallout of the coup, with more than a million people losing their jobs, according to the International Labour Organization.
Ma Ngal, 41, came to the river after losing her job selling vegetables and fish at a Yangon stall, with her carpenter husband also unable to find regular work.
I didn't tell my parents and family members that we are doing this work, said Ma Ngal.
But they found out, and I had to explain to them that I'm doing this for my family.
- Dead bodies -
On a good day a picker can find trash worth 30,000 kyat ($10), but more often the take-home pay is around $3.
Before we started working there was lots of plastic, cans and bottles on the creek, says Kyu Kyu Khine, 39, who used to collect trash from Yangon's streets.
The pickers try to time their working days with the tides -- floating downstream in search of more trash when it ebbs and riding it back upstream at the end of a shift.
But the tidal surges can be treacherous, says Ma Yu, who was knocked off her boat on one of her early forays onto the water.
Sometimes I think that if something happens to me, I'm all alone here and I can't do anything, she said.
The waters also carry regular reminders of the breakdown of order in Yangon, where residents say crime is surging in the aftermath of the coup.
The pickers regularly see dead bodies floating on the water, said Ma Yu.
It's not an easy job but... the important thing for me is that my children don't starve, she said.
Her fellow picker Ma Ngal says there are some lighter moments.
Some people joke with us when they see us working. They say 'here come the municipal team, they know how to clean up the river'.