Country Girl – City Girl

Pyaw Kyaw Aung is a journalist from Myanmar’s Delta region.

Those who live in the Delta are typically poor farmers, many of whom are now becoming urban migrant workers. Pyay Kyaw Aung decided to follow one of these workers, 23-year-old Thaw Tar San.

Thaw Tar San is a seamstress in a Yangon garment factory where she is paid $100 a month. She has worked there for four years. To make more money, she also works as a seamstress at home in the evening. She does not have enough money to buy her own sewing machine, so she rents it from a local owner for $10 a month. With this extra work she earns another $30 per month. She is able to save $35 a month to send back home to her family. She lives in a dormitory that houses hundreds of girls like her, all migrant workers. For now she can afford the rent, “but things are becoming more and more expensive” she says, echoing the worry of many as the cost of living soar in Yangon.

Myanmar is still one of the few countries in the world with a predominantly rural population. But Thaw Tar San’s generation is quickly changing this statistic.