Pawns in a hellish blame game

Two decades ago, Sar left her bleak rural village in Myanmar’s Mon State for Thailand. In those days, she was taught by her mother to do chores only. She cooked and cleaned day in and day out. Her mother did not allow her to go outside alone. She discouraged her daughter from going to the cinema with friends out of fear she would “stray from the course”.

At the age of 19, Sar decided to approach a labour agent. Clutching her bag, she travelled by bus, boat and pickup to find what her future held. It was initially difficult for her to adapt to the outside world. When she arrived in Samut Sakhon, a port town an hour outside Bangkok, she worked at a shrimp peeling shed. It was a tough time. She remembered getting up as early as 2am to get down to work.

Many months later, police raided the factory and rounded up all migrant workers, but her employer did…