Myanmar’s ‘old man’s land’ seeks new lease of life

Myanmar’s ‘old man’s land’ seeks new lease of life

They call it “Old Man’s Land” — ravaged by conflict and economic deprivation, Myanmar’s southeast Mon state is a place bereft of its young, who have flooded overseas in search of work.

An elderly woman uses an old weaving loom to make cotton clothes at her house in Mawlamyine, Myanmar’s Mon state, on March 14, 2013. Myanmar’s southeast Mon state is a place bereft of its young, who have flooded overseas in search of work.

But with a reformist government now promoting peace and economic development in impoverished border areas, the region is now looking to its future — and its lost youth.

The rural Mon community of Ywarthit is a place for the old and the very young. Locals say around 70 percent of households are missing the generation in between.

Many teenagers leave once they have finished school, crossing the border into Thailand to seek work in factories or as domestic helpers.