“Every day I would go to the market to sell eggs,” says 65-year-old Abdul Rahim, who having not left the quarter since the barricades first appeared in June 2012, relies on the slim earnings his son makes at a nearby shop. “Now I’m all the day sitting and thinking, and feeling unhappy”. If hospital treatment is required, inhabitants have to seek an exit permit from authorities; this is usually granted only in emergencies. U Khasin, 87 and suffering from high blood pressure and water retention in his legs, instead travels to a community clinic on the edge of the Thae Chaung refugee camp behind Bhumi Quarter. The journey along a potholed road from his house through Thae Chaung and to the clinic lacks much distinction these days – he has watched as his own neighborhood has been transformed into a guarded camp of its own.