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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-40



[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
40]


159
 
Ethnicity/religion: Karen, Christian
Age/sex:            48, male
Family situation:   Married with five children
Occupation:         Day labourer (before relocation)
                    (village had 57 families; relocated four   
                    years ago to Yan Myo Aung village along    
                    with 650 families from eight villages)

The witness arrived in Thailand in early January 1998. Four
years ago, following an ambush by KNU soldiers in the forest
near Mye Yeh village when 14 SLORC soldiers were shot, the 
SLORC troops destroyed three wells and coconut, mango and
lemon trees in the village and rounded up all men, women
and children from the village as well as two neighbouring
villages (Ter Paw and Po Thaung Su), tied them up and kept
them in the sun, preparing their guns to shoot them. After a
soldier convinced the commander of the villagers' innocence,
they were not shot but made to walk to the relocation place,
four hours away. With regard to forced labour, starting two
years before relocation, the villagers had to work on road
construction every day throughout dry and wet seasons. One
person per family, man, woman or child, had to go and carry
stones. He himself worked six days, then his wife one day,
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a break to eat rice once a day but
no time to rest. While he was working on the road, his wife
earned money getting vegetables from the forest and selling
them. When his time came to do portering while he worked on
road construction, he borrowed money to pay instead of going
as a porter. After relocation, he had to do road construction
work only in the dry season, and only for a few days a month,
because the work was shared among many villages, in rotation.
When the villagers arrived at the relocation place, they had
to do sentry duty every day and night beside the road. His
quota was three days and nights in a row per month, in a group
of three people split between three watches. Between February
and November 1997, he had to cut fast growing grass/weeds once
every two weeks while on sentry duty next to the relocation
place. Seven times, he did carrying work for the soldiers:
before relocation, five times for three days each time; and
after relocation, two times, while on sentry duty. Throughout
the last six years, he was called up as a porter once a month,
but he paid instead of going; to be exempt from portering
three days a month, he had to pay 200 kyat a day. Everybody
had to do forced labour and go for portering, or pay. Some
people who could not pay went portering; his wife had a small
baby, and he was afraid to be killed while portering, so he
paid. Khin Maung Win (from his village) died while portering
in January 1997, leaving a young widow with a baby. He had not
wanted to go, but was rounded up by the soldiers. One of his
fellow porters came back and said that he had died with a
soldier, stepping on a land mine. Also in January 1997 four
people from Yan Myo Aung village were lost while portering, so
the other villagers guessed they died. After relocation, at
one time, one person from each family in the village had to go
to the forest and cut many kinds of trees and bamboo, for one
and a half months. Then villagers from two other villages, Lay
Way Gyi and Ner Gu had to go and plant chillies. Later, water
flooded the planted chillies and destroyed the crop, whereupon
the SLORC soldiers went to the villagers who had planted the
chillies and asked for 150,000 kyat from each of the two
villages (300,000 kyat total). While doing portering, soldiers
kicked him a few times. Once soldiers forced him to carry 20
shells, which he could not, so several soldiers kicked him on
the chest so that he fell down, punched him in the face, until
a sergeant-major came and ordered ten shells to be taken off
his load, so he carried ten to the next village. Once he saw
that a boy captured by the soldiers while looking after the
cattle was kicked and bled from the mouth but he doesn't know
why he was kicked. On road construction soldiers just yelled
at people but did not hurt anyone. The last time he did forced
labour was in November 1997, carrying shells for five days.
After that he always ran away (like all the villagers) when
SLORC soldiers approached the village. Since relocation, when
not doing forced labour, he lived from catching fish and
frogs, eating some, selling some. He came to Thailand because
there was no rice left in the house and he had no chance to
work for his own family. 
                    _________________________


160

Ethnicity:          Karen
Sex:                Male
Family situation:   Married with one daughter
Occupation:         Farmer (worked on his father's land)
                    (village had about 40 families; there was  
                   a military camp about three miles away)

The witness left Myanmar in February 1997 because he was no
longer able to provide for the needs of his family, on account
of the work he had to do for the military. No one could take
care of his harvests when he was away. Five days a month
remained in which he could attend to his own work and crops.
He had to do portering twice a month for ten years. The
duration varied, but was never less than five days. Sometimes
trips could last as long as a month, if there were military
operations. All the families in his village had to provide one
male person for this kind of work. His brothers had to do
portering too. The order to act as a porter came from the
military, but was passed on by the village head. He did not
see any written order. He had to transport ammunition for
mortars (three inch mortar shells), food and cooking utensils.
There were around 40 to 50 porters for 150 soldiers. He was
not paid and did not receive enough food. He had been caught
up in a battle with the KNU. The porters had to stay near the
soldiers. He was subjected to ill-treatment: he was kicked for
being too
tired to keep up. He was threatened that he would be killed.
He saw two porters who had died because they were no longer
able to carry the load allotted to them. There were no
medicines available when there was illness. He also had to do
sentry duty by the road between Papun and Kamamaung. His post
was some three miles from his home. He had to stand guard
twice a month, each assignment lasting five days. He performed
this work in 1996 and until he left in February 1997. All the
villagers had to perform this work. His three brothers were
also forced to do it. In fact, only the very aged, including
his father, were exempted. About 400 people, including men,
women and children, worked at the same time as him. He had to
sleep near the road on these days. For this, he had to put up
a shelter. He also had to erect a fence along this road, to
serve as a defence against the Karen National Union (KNU).
Moreover, the villagers had to "clear" the road each morning,
which consisted of checking that explosives had not been laid.
If they missed a mine and an army vehicle blew up when it hit
it, the villagers had to pay a million kyat in reprisal. Each
villager and each village was therefore assigned a section of
road to be checked. He was not paid and had to bring his own
food. On one occasion in 1997, after the rainy season, he had
to repair a bridge while he was on sentry duty. The women of
his village were not ill-treated by the military. He had,
however, heard of women in other villages being raped,
including a woman from Po Gay who was raped by five soldiers.
He also had to construct barracks for the army in 1997. The
assignment lasted ten days and was three hours' walking
distance from his home (nine miles). Each day, 30 people
worked together (the total for the month being 300). These
people came from three different villages, including his own.
The orders were given by the military. The equipment and
materials (particularly the bamboo) necessary for building
these installations were provided and transported by the
workers, who received no compensation for this. It was
possible to pay another person to do the work, at a rate of
150 kyat per day. It was also possible to pay bribes, though
he did not personally do so. It was not possible to refuse,
and he knew people who had been arrested for refusing to carry
out this work. With regard to taxation, he had to give the
Government five baskets of rice out of every 100 harvested. As
regards sugar cane, five bundles had to be given out of every
100. All the villagers had to pay these sums. The village head
had to collect the taxes. The witness was not a member of any
political group. He would go back to Myanmar if conditions
changed. He feared he would be executed if he returned (DKBA
was in his village). 
                    _________________________


161
 
Religion:           Muslim
Age/sex:            30, female
Family situation:   Married with one daughter
Education:          3rd Standard
Occupation:         Itinerant trader
                    (village had 340 families)

The witness left Myanmar in early January 1998 on account of
the forced labour for the military. She personally had to do
portering and sentry duty by a road. Her husband was also
requisitioned for portering and had to work on the building of
the road. He had on average ten to 15 days a month to do his
own work. The forced labour was done in rotation, one member
per family. Generally, she shared forced labour with her
husband. She had to work as a porter on several occasions. In
1997, she had been requisitioned on 12 occasions in all,
including four times in the dry season. She had worked as a
porter eight times before. Each time, the assignments lasted
at least 15 days. During the two months preceding her
departure, she was asked to go from her village to the
Mawhpokay military camp, which was near the border. This was a
journey of some eight days. The total length of this
assignment was 15 to 17 days. On the trip there, she had to
climb a mountain for five days and spend three days going back
down. One hundred and twenty soldiers took part in this trip.
It was the village head who organized the work required by the
military. Sometimes, the soldiers arrested the people they
needed directly. One member per family had to act as a porter
when required. Her husband, niece, sister and brother had also
had to do portering. It was generally her husband who had
performed the portering over the last 15 years. Both men and
women could be requisitioned to do portering for the military.
Sometimes, there were as many as 30 to 40 women. The men were
generally placed at the head of the column and the women at
the rear. She had to transport mortar shells (five) and food
(rice). She was not paid and did not get enough food. She was
not personally ill-treated, but several of her female friends
had been kicked when they could no longer carry the very heavy
loads allotted to them. The soldiers took advantage of the
night to touch them and threatened them with their weapons if
they cried out. She had been touched on one occasion. Four men
had died from exhaustion during portering. It was possible to
pay to be replaced, but she had not done this since she did
not have the necessary money. She did not know if it was
possible to pay bribes. Any refusal could lead to arrest. She
knew some people who had been arrested for this reason. She
had also had to stand guard near the Mon Naing to Nyamaraw
road (14 miles) during the last eight years on one occasion
each month. Each assignment lasted five days. One person per
family had to do this work, which was performed solely by
women. She worked alongside around 130 other women. She had to
sleep near the road with four other women in a shelter. She
had to "clear" the road so that the military could move around
it safely. She also had to keep the military informed of all
the movements and all information concerning the KNU. She was
not paid and had to provide her own food. When she was away
performing this work, her husband also often had to be away
portering for the military and working on the road. Her
husband had to work on this 10 days per month, four months a
year, over the last three years. This was the same road she
had to stand guard over. The road was mainly used by the
military for moving troops, equipment and rations. She
considered that the Muslims received the same treatment as
the other villagers as far as forced labour was concerned.
However, some fifteen Muslims who had tried to return to their
village around three months ago (they were still in her 
village) were said to have been arrested and transferred to a
Buddhist monastery where they had been forced to worship
sacred objects of Buddhism. If they refused, they were beaten
by members of the DKBA. Finally, a tax on harvests had to be
paid to the government. Out of every 100 baskets of rice, five
had to be given to the government. Out of every 100 bundles of
vegetables, seven had to go to the government. She did not
think the Muslims had to pay more than the members of other
groups (Buddhists or Christians) in her village.
                    _________________________


162

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            48, female
Education:          10th Standard
Occupation:         Head of a village section
                    Kayin State (village had around 200        
                    families and was divided into eight        
                    sections; each section had 20 to 30
                    families)

The witness left Myanmar in early February 1998 because she
had finished her period as section head and no longer wished
to be in contact with the military. The soldiers knew her. If
she had stayed, the soldiers might have come to her house. She
had done her work against her will, but could see no other
alternative since she could have been arrested or beaten if
the military found her work unsatisfactory. Villagers took on
the role of section head on a rota basis. She had been section
head for a month and had helped her successor for six months.
Women are often appointed section heads or village heads
because they are generally less badly treated by the military
than men who take on the same functions. She did not dare
return for fear of being arrested. At the request of the
military, she had to organize the villagers' work on the
building of the road between Hpa-an and Dawlan. The order
received from the military was a written one. One member per
family had to contribute to this work. She had to organize the
work of 150 people, including 90 women, over six days. The
villagers were neither paid nor fed. They were generally
reluctant to work, but ended up complying and in the end
seemed happy to work together. A person who refused to perform
the allotted work could face sanctions administered by the
military. In cases where a family could not contribute to the
work, it had to pay. She then used the money collected in this
way to buy food for the other villagers who were working. It
was also possible to pay a substitute. She also organized
portering, which had to be done once a month. The work was
performed in accordance with a written order from the
military. Each time, eight to 12 villagers from her section
were designated. The villagers could pay her money directly if
they were unable to go, or they could engage a substitute.
There were two types of portering. The first consisted of
carrying materials, equipment or food from one camp to
another. The second was required during military operations.
Women generally did the former type, while the latter was
reserved for the men. Women's portering work lasted one day on
average, whereas the men's portering depended on the scale of
the military operation. The porters were not paid, but were
too frightened to refuse to go and do the portering demanded.
In the case of an unjustified refusal, the military threatened
to relocate them or burn down their village. Further to this,
she had also once a year for three years had to organize the
construction of two military camps which were close to her
village (three miles away). The villagers also had to provide
the necessary materials (mainly wood), for which they received
no compensation. They were not paid. She had to organize the
collection of food for the military. Twice a month, the
villagers had to provide pigs, chickens and vegetables for the
military, who paid less than half the market price for them
(70 kyat a bundle instead of 150 kyat). Finally, at the
request of the military, she had to convince the members of
the KNU living in her village when she was section head to
leave that organization. She did not do this of her own free
will, but was expressly required by the military to do it.
                    _________________________


163
 
Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            37, male
Family situation:   Wife and two children
                    State

The witness left Myanmar early in 1997. Villagers were
required to do portering for the military, and forced labour
in the form of logging operations, sentry duty, working as
messengers, doing construction work in the army camp, road
building and minesweeping. The work was arranged through
orders to village heads with rotating assignments for one
person from each household. Sometimes, however, the soldiers
directly rounded up people for portering. He witnessed
beatings of forced labourers, including his uncle being beaten
unconscious. He also saw porters being tied to prevent their
escape. Most of his experience with forced labour came
from when he was living with his wife's family just after
getting married, in 1996 and 1997, before his departure to
Thailand. People from all the villages in the area were forced
to do logging operations. They were not paid for the work, and
had to bring their own food. Logs were cut down and then
transported to the sawmill at nearby Paw Po Hta. There the
logs were cut into lumber (previously, logs were sent to
Hlaingbwe). He did work carrying the logs after they had been
cut down. Orders were issued for this work indicating how many
labourers were needed. The villagers were told that if they
did not go when ordered, the village would suffer One penalty
was that soldiers would come to the village, search the
houses, and plant false evidence of incriminating activity,
such as weapons, then come back later, accuse the person of
rebel activity, then ransack and steal belongings and ask
for payment of fines. Soldiers kept a close watch on the
workers during forced labour. There were no problems if they
did what was required. But they were beaten if they
complained. His uncle and cousin were beaten in this way. His
uncle was beaten unconscious and left on the ground. No one
could help or they would be beaten too. On one occasion he was
shot at by soldiers, and a friend who was with him was
wounded, when they returned to the village to get food during
a time when the area was in dispute and subject to fighting
between the Government and KNU forces. This shooting took
place four to five years ago, when SLORC first took control of
the area. Villagers who went to the Thai border were accused
of being rebels when they returned, even if they only went for
medical treatment. For forced labour one labourer was required
from each house once or twice a month. The length of time
varied depending on when the job was completed, usually about
two or three days each time. Overall, orders for this labour
were received by the village three or four times a month with
the work done by the villagers on rotation. Villagers were
also required to do portering for the military. This included
carrying goods, doing sentry duty on the roads, and serving as
messengers. Sentries were used for guarding the roads when
convoys of military equipment came through. He did not do
portering himself since he was new to the village. His
brother-in-law served as a porter many times, including two
years ago. He was given only one meal in two days. He ran
away after two days. Soldiers would arrest and take as many
porters as they could catch, though sometimes this was done
through orders to the village head too. Villagers (including
women) were used to sweep the roads for mines. They used
brooms and sticks. He did not see anyone hurt by mine
explosions in this way himself. Forced labour also was used
for road building on the road from Klaw Ka Hti to Paw Maw Hta,
but not for the past two years. 
                    _________________________


164
 
Ethnicity:          Pa-o
Age/sex:            30, male
Family situation:   Wife and five children
Occupation:         Farm labourer
                    (village had 1,000 households)

The witness returned to his village in mid-1997 for a six-
month period after being in Thailand since 1988. He did forced
labour and portering many times in the past (pre-1988) but not
on his recent return visit since he did not register with the
authorities. From what he saw, there was not much forced
labour taking place now, apart from portering. The soldiers
did come in and take porters from time to time, so the
villagers had to hide when this happened. Also, some portering
was still done on a rotation basis. Before 1988 he did
portering for the army, doing whatever had to be done, usually
carrying rice and supplies. He went one time in 1987 for seven
days. They travelled on foot for the whole day, slept and
repeated the process the next day. Soldiers were very abusive
and would swear at them and beat them if they had trouble
carrying their load. Last year when he was back in his
village, he paid once to not have to do portering. The
situation was very bad during the six months he was back. He 
had work but still could not get sufficient food, since half
of everything he earned had to be given to the military as
porter fees. The village was divided into sections for regular
once-a-month portering work. A certain number would be called
from each section to serve military's needs. He paid to avoid
this, because even though he was not personally liable (he had
not registered), he had to contribute to the porter fees paid
by the household he was living with.
                    _________________________


165

Religion:           Muslim
Age/sex:            43, male
Family situation:   Married with seven children
Occupation:         Farm labourer
                    (village had about 300 to 400 households)

The witness arrived in Thailand in May 1997. He left because
could not stand the trouble and oppression of the SLORC any
longer. His village was relocated in December 1996. He
performed wide variety of forced labour and portering
assignments on an extensive and continuous basis, especially
in 1996 after a military camp was built near the village. In
August 1996, he witnessed a woman who was doing road building
work being beaten to death by soldiers when she could not do
the work. In the six months before relocation, 28 of 31 days
per month were spent on portering and forced labour. In June
1996, he had to do road building work on the Nabu to Kyondo
road. This work was done by the villagers in rotating shifts
throughout the year. Also, a new camp was built in 1996 before
the village was moved using forced labour. A third type of
labour that was required was portering. All these types of
labour were taking place one after the other on a continuous
basis. The village was not given the order to relocate until
all this forced labour was done. For six months they were
doing the three kinds of forced labour: road building, army
camp work and portering, one after the other with almost no
rest or time off for their own work. There was, at most, one
day's rest from time to time. People died from exhaustion and
inadequate food. All adults had to go, not just one person per
house: women and children as young as 13 were required to go.
They even put him and some women in stocks. Orders for this
work would come through the village head. But if they had a
problem filling quotas then the soldiers would come directly
to the village and arrest people. With regard to roads, about
200 to 300 people at one time, from several villages, would
work on the road for 15 days at a time. They could return to
the village to sleep. The work of the group ended only when
the designated assignment was completed. They were told what
to do and by what time it had to be done. Road work involved
digging earth for the embankment, clearing trees and roots,
and breaking stones for surfacing. He himself went on four
different assignments of 15 days each during the six months
before relocation. There was six months of continuous work on
this road before the relocation using people from his village. 
When he returned from this assignment there was portering or
army camp work to do. With regard to army camp work, there
were three army groups: Infantry Battalions 541, 548 and 549.
They built three encampments in Nabu village. They were built
right on villagers' land that was appropriated for this
purpose. The villagers had to clear the land, destroy the 
houses, then build the camp buildings. They cut timber and 
carried it to the site. It took one year to build the three
encampments from the time they started the clearing of the
ground. The buildings were constructed of cement and wooden
posts. This was also done in rotations of 15 days. When the
building was finished there were other types of work they had
to do in the camp. It was an endless process of forced labour.
The situation was so bad that when the relocation came it
was almost a relief, because it gave the villagers a chance to
escape. Women and children were also involved in the army camp
work. The soldiers cursed the Muslims and beat them if they
worked slowly. He also did portering three times for ten days
each in 1996. He had to porter way up into the Dawna mountains
in Kayin State, to very high elevations. Sometimes the
soldiers would make the porters go through the night, without
sleep. For portering half the time orders would go through the
village head, the other half the time they would just come
and round up porters by arresting them where they could find
them. He was arrested three times: he ran away twice and
finished the portering assignment once. The first two times he
portered, he escaped. His load was of rice and ammunition, and
artillery shells weighing 20 viss (33 kg). Soldiers would
swear at the labourers and beat them as you would a buffalo or
a cow. They would shoot at them if they tried to flee.
Beatings were about the same in forced labour as for
portering, but the treatment was worse in portering because
food was not available. Sometimes porters would be starving
and be only given rice soup. In contrast, labourers brought
their own food to forced labour sites. All porters received
was two meals, morning and evening: a total of one condensed
milk-tin portion of rice, no salt, curry or fish paste. They
picked leaves from the forest to eat with the rice and worked
all day without breaks, sometimes through the night too. If
you fell sick there was no treatment or medicine. Porters were
left by the side of the road if they were too sick to
continue. He never saw a porter shot by the soldiers, but has
heard about this happening. Normally, there were no women
porters taken. The youngest boy working as a porter that he
saw was about 13 years old. Men of up to 70 were also taken.
Sometimes women were called if the soldiers could not get men.
He did not see any cases of sexual abuse of women. There were,
however, other kinds of physical abuse. During army camp work
villagers had to provide their own food and everything that
was needed by the soldiers, including food for the soldiers.
If the villagers did not give what was requested there was
trouble. If they could not provide animals they had to
give money instead. The village was relocated in December
1996. When that happened he went to other Karen villages and
stayed there until he could escape to Thailand. Between
January and May 1997, he was in hiding in various villages, so
he did not perform forced labour. The witness added that
everyone was subject to forced labour, not just Muslims. But
the oppression of Muslims was even worse than the treatment of
Karens. In September 1997, he received the news that the
Mosque in Nabu had been destroyed by soldiers now living there
after relocation. At the time of relocation another site was
selected for the villagers to move to. But there was no water
there and it was a bad area, so no one went. The villagers
knew they could not survive there. "They had no compassion for
us" he said.  
                    _________________________


166

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            34, female
Family situation:   Eight (her, husband and six children)

The witness testified in the presence of witness 167. She had
been in Thailand for two months (since early 1998). She and
witness 167 arrived together. She served as village head with
another woman. They received written orders for a wide variety
of forced labour assignments and portering, including repeat
orders that included bullet and chilli threats (twice). In
addition to forced labour, the village had to provide two
thirds of all food and money to the army as tax. It was thus
impossible to survive in the village. The population was
disappearing into towns or Thailand. People could not stand
extensive forced labour and did not have enough food to
survive because they had to give too much to the Government.
They were allowed to keep only one third of everything, which
was not enough to survive. With regard to her functions as
head woman, she was chosen as village head jointly with
another woman, since men dared not hold the job. They knew
that they would be beaten or killed. Women had it a bit
easier. So the women did the job in turns and hers came up.
Two served at a time for 15 days among those who had the
ability to handle the job. Two women were used because a
single woman would not dare to deal with the soldiers alone.
The garrison was not in the village so there was a trip to be
made. The women feared the soldiers and the journey if they
had to go alone. She served three times as village head, and
had to arrange assignments of forced labour duties. She also 
had to arrange for chickens and other food that soldiers
demanded. Written orders for work assignments were sent to her
by messenger. Sometimes, she had to go and meet with the
soldiers at the army camp. The number of workers needed was
set out in the orders. Other times porters were arrested
directly. Sentry duty for three days at a time was continuous
and done on rotation. Work in the army camp consisted of
cutting bamboo, making a fence and making bamboo cords for
tying thatch. Porters were used on a regular basis of five
days at a time by rotation. She did portering herself many
times, usually for one or two days, and only for short
distances. Her husband and the men did it for longer periods
and longer distances. She did portering when not serving as
village head. There were also emergency porters called
to work as the soldiers moved from village to village. New
porters were picked up as the troops advanced. Women were
replaced first, then children and old men who were also used
for porters. Anyone who could carry a single military backpack
could be used as a porter. Thirteen or fourteen year olds were
the youngest she was aware of. She carried ammunition: six
shells of about 25 kg total. If the orders were not followed
and the required number of workers not sent, then the village
was fined a certain number of bottles of alcohol or a certain
number of chickens. A second order usually was sent, this time
with a bullet, chilli or a piece of charcoal as a warning. The
bullet means the recipient will be shot. The charcoal means a
funeral or burning the village. She did not know what the
chilli meant exactly but it was not good. She got this type of
warning letter twice. The first time was to get more porters
because the proper number had not been sent. The second time
was because some of the work was not done properly. The first
time the second warning order was written in red ink and had a
bullet and charcoal. The second time it had a bullet, charcoal
and a chilli. She did not have any penalties against her as
village head. But others serving as village heads were locked
up in the army camp and their legs put in stocks for one day
or more. The village had to deliver a ransom of chickens or
pigs to free them. On one occasion the military camp had fired
a shell at the village and injured one person because they
thought the KNLA was in the village. If a villager could not
go as a porter they had to pay 500 kyat to the soldiers to
hire a substitute. Because of extensive forced labour and
payments, the villagers could not deal with life anymore. Many
had left for the hills and more were expected to follow.
Already, because the village was so small, the people had to
do forced labour very frequently. The village needed to
provide 20 people at a time, so nearly every day more people
had to be sent. People were spending one day on forced labour
and one day off. Usually, for each family, one person ended up
doing the forced labour and the others worked the farms. But
then the villagers also had to give two thirds of all food and
money to the army in addition, so there was no way to make
ends meet. 
                    _________________________


[END OF SLICE 40]