All over the world, working class and poor families bear the brunt of
rising food and fuel costs. In Bangkok, Ron Corben visits a slum area
to see how people are coping. He reports that charities are stepping up
efforts to help families, as fears grow that things will only get worse.
In the bustle of Bangkok's inner city lies the working class area of the Klong Toey port.
In this crowded neighborhood, just surviving has never been easy. Now, it is growing even tougher.
In
Thailand, inflation is at 10 year highs, with rice - the country's
staple food - doubling in price already this year. The country's
central bank warns inflation will get even worse over the months ahead.
In
the Klong Toey morning market, residents gather at small outdoor
restaurants as shop owners start the day. The business people are
pessimistic.
Lasalin sells newspapers and magazines. She says the government has not paid attention to people's needs.
She
says the government has been troubled by political protests and
survival over recent months rather than helping the people's economic
problems. And, she complains, everything is more expensive.
A man who sells charms and necklaces agrees.
People, he says, have less money. And oil and other goods are costing more, which affects families.
Most
in the Klong Toey area earn little more than $150 a month. Many live
close to national poverty line of just under $100 a month. And wages
are dropping as the country copes with higher prices.
In
Thailand there has been a sharp drop in the number of people
characterized as poor in recent years. But still, the government lists
almost 10 percent of the country's 65 million people as poor.
Father
Joe Maier, a Catholic priest who has worked in Klong Toey for three
decades, fears that progress made in the area's economy over the past
few years will be lost if things do not improve.
"This is a
community, we don't grow anything around here - we buy and sell and
work and sell our sweat," he said. "And it's getting worse and
nothing's going to get better until somebody really tries to do
something and we don't see that happening."
Maier sees signs of
increasing economic stress in Klong Toey. Families are starting to cut
back, with children's education often the first casualty.
"There's
more kids coming to us, there is more kids on the streets, there's more
kids who can't go to school," he said. "The price of rice is
unbelievable. People who are used to salaries say of 4,000 baht (125
dollars) - now that salary is worth 3,000 baht (94 dollars) at the most
- so they've got to cut corners - they've got to eat."
Maier
oversees a community center and since January the center has stepped up
spending to help families send their children to school.
Increasing
numbers of people are seeking emergency rice donations, leading the
center to reduce the amount given out to three kilograms per family,
from five kilograms.
Maier worries that the center lacks the capacity help more families.
"Oh
Lord, oh Lord I don't know what we can do - we can keep feeding kids
and we can still teach them in school - we're a place of hope and joy -
hope no matter what," he said. "We'll carry on. It's a lot more drastic
than it was three months ago - if you come back three months from now
it's going to be much, much worse."
Rising costs can have
tragic consequences. Nitaya Pakkayaka works at the community center.
She says for one man, the financial pressures became too much.
"They
had a father who committed suicide drinking a poison because he has two
daughters who go to the school and he doesn't have the money to pay the
school fee and the school sending the letter asking the money, so he is
drinking the poison to kill himself," Nitaya said. "And his wife ran
away because she doesn't want to take any responsibility. These
problems are happening more and more in the society in Klong Toey."
The
Thai government has begun giving food coupons to the poor. But many aid
groups question whether the program will reach the hardest hit. The
real problem, say aid workers, is that the costs of day to day
essentials just keep rising - and there is little end in sight to the
higher prices.
News