Local residents displaced from Kawlin Town and nearby villages that were recaptured by the military junta are facing shortages of basic food, consumer goods and medical supplies, as well as water shortage, according to displaced people.
“For these many people, there is only one well with a water pump. It spends about 2.5 gallons of fuel a day. So, we can’t afford it. That fuel is donated by IDPs, and an external charity organization comes to donate water about twelve truck a day. It is only convenient for bathing, and they can’t drink it,” said a monk who is helping IDPs at the foot of Natshin Mountain.
These IDPs are currently dependent on donors for their livelihood, and there are no regular monthly donors.
“Donors sometimes come with PDFs and donate one basket of rice per person and a bottle of edible oil per person, but there is no specific number of times a month. The PDF battalion also donates a barrel of kerosene and a barrel of gasoline, but they run out in a short time. Since Kawlin was taken over, the electricity was cut off, and we cannot afford the price of fuel, so we can only run a generator once every four days at night,” continued the monk.
Since early February 2024, due to the raids of the junta, most of the people could not carry much of their belongings, and some of them had to flee with only the clothes on their backs.
After the military junta took over Kawlin from the revolutionary forces, public houses were being burned down every day, residents unanimously said.
A displaced person living in a hut in the woods said, “I am not happy here because this is not my own house. I’m unemployed. I use my savings. I have to go far to get some water. I feel very bad both physically and mentally. I don’t know where to run if the junta column comes to this side again, and I have no home to return to.”
There are about 500 IDPs living in the monastery at the foot of Natshin Mountain. 172 families from Pin Lel Bu, Kawlin Town and its surrounding villages live there and face many difficulties.
Another IDP said, “To earn a little income every day, I go around villages and sell green goods. It’s not possible to do anything. I only have two sets of clothes. I don’t have anything, so I have to think hard about buying something. Water is scarce here. If possible, I want to go back home and just live in a hut.”
In the eastern and western sides of Kawlin Township, IDPs variously live in monasteries, schools, forests and villages, and they suffer difficulties in everything
