Bangkok's Working Class Communities Face Tougher Times as Prices Soar

All over the world, working class and poor families bear the brunt ofrising food and fuel costs. In Bangkok, Ron Corben visits a slum areato see how people are coping. He reports that charities are stepping upefforts 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.

InThailand, inflation is at 10 year highs, with rice - the country'sstaple food - doubling in price already this year. The country'scentral bank warns inflation will get even worse over the months ahead.

Inthe Klong Toey morning market, residents gather at small outdoorrestaurants as shop owners start the day. The business people arepessimistic.

Lasalin sells newspapers and magazines. She says the government has not paid attention to people's needs.

Shesays the government has been troubled by political protests andsurvival over recent months rather than helping the people's economicproblems. 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.

Mostin the Klong Toey area earn little more than $150 a month. Many liveclose to national poverty line of just under $100 a month. And wagesare dropping as the country copes with higher prices.

InThailand there has been a sharp drop in the number of peoplecharacterized as poor in recent years. But still, the government listsalmost 10 percent of the country's 65 million people as poor.

FatherJoe Maier, a Catholic priest who has worked in Klong Toey for threedecades, fears that progress made in the area's economy over the pastfew years will be lost if things do not improve.

"This is acommunity, we don't grow anything around here - we buy and sell andwork and sell our sweat," he said. "And it's getting worse andnothing's going to get better until somebody really tries to dosomething and we don't see that happening."

Maier sees signs ofincreasing economic stress in Klong Toey. Families are starting to cutback, with children's education often the first casualty.

"There'smore kids coming to us, there is more kids on the streets, there's morekids who can't go to school," he said. "The price of rice isunbelievable. People who are used to salaries say of 4,000 baht (125dollars) - 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."

Maieroversees a community center and since January the center has stepped upspending to help families send their children to school.

Increasingnumbers of people are seeking emergency rice donations, leading thecenter 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.
 
"OhLord, oh Lord I don't know what we can do - we can keep feeding kidsand 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 drasticthan it was three months ago - if you come back three months from nowit's going to be much, much worse."
 
Rising costs can havetragic consequences. Nitaya Pakkayaka works at the community center.She says for one man, the financial pressures became too much.
 
"Theyhad a father who committed suicide drinking a poison because he has twodaughters who go to the school and he doesn't have the money to pay theschool fee and the school sending the letter asking the money, so he isdrinking the poison to kill himself," Nitaya said. "And his wife ranaway because she doesn't want to take any responsibility. Theseproblems are happening more and more in the society in Klong Toey."

TheThai government has begun giving food coupons to the poor. But many aidgroups question whether the program will reach the hardest hit. Thereal problem, say aid workers, is that the costs of day to dayessentials just keep rising - and there is little end in sight to thehigher prices.