More than 200,000 people have become innocent victims of the armed conflict between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army (AA) that erupted in 2018. Among the displaced people, many are elderly and children who remain displaced after more than five years.
As time passes, the elderly IDPs face increasing hardships and difficulties, including lack of medical care. In fact, they should be able to enjoy freedom and joy in the remaining days of their lives, but the elderly in IDP camps suffer from all kinds of hardships, and their hearts know no peace.
In this Vox Pop, we asked some elderly IDPs how they spend their remaining days of old age in the camps, what difficulties they face and how they cope with them.
Daw Sein Mya Phyu (Thayet Oke IDP Camp) Sittwe
To be honest, I don’t want to live in the IDP camp anymore. I really don’t want to, but I can’t go back home. We can’t eat well. We can’t live well here. We have too many hardships to endure. When we get sick, we can’t go to the clinic, partly because we can’t afford it. We can’t even afford medicine. As we get older, our health deteriorates. One affliction or another. As we age, our body hurts. We can’t move well anymore. Sometimes we want to get an injection, but we don’t have the money. We have to endure this situation. It’s the same with food. We can’t eat or drink what we crave. We have to be satisfied with what we have. So is our life here. Back in the village, we could keep the Sabbath in the monastery and enjoy our lives freely. But here we can’t take care of worship, we can’t meditate; we only worry about food for the day.
Daw Kyar Thwin Oo (Nga Sai Chaung IDP Camp) Sittwe
I’ve lived in this camp for almost five years now. For five years I’ve suffered hardships and difficulties. More hardships are awaiting ahead. As long as we can’t return home, we must endure these hardships. Cyclone Mocha made our situation even worse. We had to flee from the war, and now the storm has thrown us into even greater difficulties. We don’t have enough food. We don’t have proper shelters. Our houses were destroyed by the storm. This has been a very difficult situation for us. Now we’re living our lives waiting for donations. Life as an IDP is very difficult. It’s very different from our life back in the village. In the village we don’t have to worry about food or shelter, but here we have to stay cooped up in a small room and endure rain or shine. Thanks to the donations and help, we haven’t only gone hungry. I have no idea when we’ll be able to return to our village.
U Aung Tun Sein (Wibizzawardi IDP Camp) Sittwe
IDP camps are not for older folk like us. They are noisy and crowded. At this age, we want peace and quiet. Here we can’t eat and drink what we want. Sometimes we want to eat something we crave, but we don’t have money for it. We just have to endure this situation. Our children also have no jobs and have to struggle to feed their own children. Now we are old and don’t know when we will die. Our health is also deteriorating. We would like to have access to medical care. We can’t afford the cost, even if we want to go to a clinic outside the camp. Our lives are destined to be like this. This is our fate, which we have to accept.
Daw Ma Shwe Nu (Buddha Maw IDP Camp) Sittwe
I’m 80 years old now. I’ve been in this IDP for five years. I had to flee the war at this old age. I consider this suffering. We had to fled our village after it was bombed. We had to flee through forests and across creeks, and have suffered since. As luck would have it, I survived. If unfortunate, I would have been dead since. I don’t know what has become of the village. As time goes on, only troubles increase in the IDP camp. I’m not feeling well now. I want to have medicine but have no money for it. I don’t know when the political situation will return to normal. I’m seeing the years go by quickly. I don’t know if I will die in the camp or village. We just live here in the camp eating. I wish to return to the village one last time before I die. But I guess it is impossible now. So my life will just fade away like this.
U Thein Aung Kyaw (Ma Ni Yadana IDP Camp) Sittwe
We IDPs just have to live with what donors give. Even if we want to eat something we crave, we just have to hold back the feeling. We can have only one or two meals with meat or fish a month. We struggle to buy medicine when we fall sick. We’re living this way here. Our lives here are very difficult during the storm. We had no other place to go. All we could do was just stay, risking our lives. I want to escape these hardships but I can’t. We can’t return to the village either. The soldiers are stationed in the village. If we can’t return, we’ll just have to live here until our life ends. How unfortunate for us to meet with these hardships at this old age.
Sent by DMG.