Singing Practice

Savira is very fond of singing. She constantly sings and dances everyday. She even followed audition for Australian Youth Choir and successfully accepted. According to the letter, her singing ability is too advanced for Probationary Class, so she will be joining Training Class, instead. This class requires her to rehearse on a weekly basis, and performs regularly. Talking about driving her around to many places..hm..As for Anugrah, let you be the judged. I think he has shown his personality in this video: a joker, a teaser, a good little brother, and an entertainer :-)) What matters is that the children enjoy themselves and express it in a variety of ways.

Nana's story

Next article is about a young girl, Nana (name has been changed to ensure confidentiality) who had gone through a remarkable journey in her life. Nana is one of my interviewee in my study. Let me know your opinion, or you might come up with some themes that can assist in my thesis writing...don't worry, you'll be acknowledged...;p and your views will be very much appreciated..;p

Nana is a 15 years old woman. She migrated from Jeneponto to Makassar, when she was 10 years old. She is the oldest of her seven siblings. Her family is very poor, and her parents do not have a steady job or own a land to support the family. Her father is an occasional farmer, working on someone’s land. However, he is quite often reluctant to work in the field due to his pride as he bears a name of Andi , a common noble title for Buginese. He always wants to work in the office, a job that goes well with his title. Her father is a stubborn man and cannot be dissuaded.

Her mother is a very dutiful housewife who does all the domestic chores. As long as Nana can remember, her mother always did whatever her father told her to. As the oldest in the family, Nana helped her mother most of the time especially in taking care of her young siblings. Her mother plants vegetables in their small backyard, raises some chicken and sells the eggs during a weekly market day. Nana also helped in the market. Sometimes she collected the eggs and sold it in the market alone. This was where most of their income was provided.

Nana had always wanted to continue her education. However, her father asked her to stop studying and look for job to support the family. He even considered marrying her to a local man who also carried Andi in his name, although he was nearly three times her age. Unable to speak against this and scared of her father, she decided to run away from home. One day, she ran away. She cannot recall the exact day, but she still remembers that it was a market day, when the village was full of people. She ran after selling her eggs and had some money in her pocket. She went to Makassar alone by bus. She had been to Makassar before with her mother and thought that this experience would be useful for her. She had no relatives in Makassar, but her strong will to leave kept her going. ‘I didn’t really care about anything at that time. I lost my fear and nekat (ignoring risk)’. Nana was shivered when speaking about this event. She actually admitted that she was terrified and confused, especially when the bus started to run. She said she wanted to cry, but she did not want anyone to be suspicious. Looking back to her past experience, she did not believe that she could do such things at such a young age. She was also amazed by her bravery.

Arriving at the bus terminal, Nana went to a small food kiosk in the terminal and met the owner whom she called Ibu (a name for an older woman). She started to cry and Ibu offered her to sleep in her house. Nana mentioned many times of how kind this Ibu was to her. She said she was lucky to meet her, as she did not report her to police and send her back. Their relationship continues to this day. Nana said that Ibu was like a mother to her, and Ibu’s children were also nice to her. Ibu is a widow who lives with her two teenage daughters.

Nana was finally able to find a job as a domestic servant through Ibu. She worked for a couple who had four children. She did all the work; cleaning, washing, and caring for the children. The family treated her nicely, buying clothes for her, and other daily needs. Nana was able to save her money, but she felt exhausted. She had to work almost all day long without a break. She woke up at five and the duties kept rolling until late at night. She worked for almost two years as a domestic servant and decided to quit when her friend, also a domestic servant, asked her to work in a restaurant with her.

Work in the restaurant was painful. Nana referred this as ‘kejam (tormented), tidak manusiawi (inhumane), penuh penderitaan (suffering)’. Nana’s duties were to clean the restaurant, including washing the dirty dishes and bringing food to guests. Her employer would not tolerate any mistakes. Breaking dishes meant cutting half of the day salary. Some guests were nice and tipped her adequately, but others were rude. Nana did not stay long in this place:

"Maybe only about six or seven months, but it seems forever. I could not stand the harsh words from my boss. He reminded me of my father. I also hated the guests who are lale (womanizer, flirting). They always pinched my bottom or winked at me when I served the food. They scared me".

Nana’s life continued. She moved from one job to another, from one house to another house. She started working in the factory when she was just turning 14.

"One day, my friend came to me and asked if I want to work in the factory. She said the company would pay us well. Besides, if we got sick, the company would pay for all the treatment, which I had never experienced from my previous jobs. When I’m sick, I have to pay for the doctor and the medicine. That’s why I don’t go to the doctor very often. It is too costly. I’m still young. I’m still strong to do any kind of jobs".

Nana began to undertake factory work hoping to gain experience and enrich her life. She did not know what type of jobs she would be doing or in what kind of environment she would do the job. All she knew was that she would be working in a shrimp company. There was no health assessment or interview; . no questions were asked about her. She was recruited as a piece rate worker to peel the shrimps and sort them according to size. She received one weeks training to do this. She was paid according to the amount of shrimp she peeled. She was very happy at first, having a larger salary than in her past jobs. She earned at least Rp10,000/day, while her last job as a cleaner in a shop only paid her Rp8000/day (note: as a comparison, the regional minimum wage for South Sulawesi is Rp24,000/day). Then, after working for several months, her life started to crumble. She realized that she has to pay a rent since the company does not provide any accommodation for the workers, pay for her daily needs, food for breakfast and dinner, and she was disappointed when she found out she was not eligible for work cover because she was employed just as a piece rate worker. Only permanent workers could be covered with insurance.

Nana works in a cold storage room. The company does not provide a jacket, only gloves for the workers. She brings her own jacket, a very thin one, which does not protect her from the cold temperature. She works from 8 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday. Sometimes she works night shift which starts at 7 pm and continues until midnight. The company operates 24 hours a day, especially during the harvest month.

Nana’s health problems started to emerge. She started to have a bad cold constantly, she had headaches, feeling numb in her both hands, she had sore legs from long hours of standing. Such pain became part of her life. Taking leave due to ill-health was not an option for her. Workers can only take two days off if they are sick and provide the company with doctor’s certificate. Violating this rule will result in reducing the salary, or even worse, replacing them with other new workers. This rule created a dilemma for Nana, as she cannot visit a doctor due to high cost. Nana relies on traditional medicine for her illnesses or buys cheap medicine provided by a small drug store without doctor’s prescription. She always carries 'minyak angin' (traditional oil for a quick relief of headache and fever).

Nana lives in a small room occupied by two other workers. They share the rent of Rp45,000/room/month. There is no bed, only thin mattresses. They sleep in this room surrounded by a stove, plates, pans and other Kitchen ware. When she faces a financial shortcoming, she has not option but to eat instant noodles or share food with her roommates. Sometimes she borrows money from a kiosk near her room and repays the loan after she earns money. She also belongs to an arisan (rotary saving club) and found this helpful to help her in saving her money.

As for her family, Nana did go home a year after running away. But her father was very angry when he found out that she worked as a domestic servant. He said that Nana was a disgrace to the family. She tried to stay longer in her home village because she missed her mother and her siblings so much. She felt sorry for her younger sister who did all the jobs that Nana used to do. Her brother, in Nana’s eyes, is useless. He is well-protected by her father, who does not allow him to help around the house as her father wants him to grow into a real man. According to her father, doing housework will turn him into a woman or a 'banci' (a man acting like a woman). Nana felt useless living in the village. She went back to the city, working, earning money and secretly sending some of her income to her mother in the village.

Nana still needs her factory job. Despite the hardships of working in the factory, she enjoys the freedom and independence of living alone, and being able to decide about her own life contribute to her maturity. Nana has lost her childhood. But she never regrets this, as she said:

"I didn’t have a childhood. My childhood was my job. But what do I care? I have never experiencing it anyway, so I miss nothing about it. I’m grateful enough that I did not end up in the street. As long as I have a roof to sleep, food to eat, that’s all that matters".

Nana still wishes to improve her life. She has given up attending formal education and wishes to take some courses. She wants to learn English as she wishes to work as a migrant worker someday.

(Date of interview: 9, 10 and 16 December 2006. Time of interview: After working hours, afternoon, and sometimes continue until night. I conducted the interview in her room. We occasionally went out for dinner in the nearby warung (food vendor). Nana called me kakak (older sister). One night (12 February 2007), Nana called me and asked if I can bring her to hospital. She fell on the wet floor while working and was vomiting when she returned home. I asked whether she reported the accident to her supervisor. She said she did, but her supervisor told her “anak kecil jangan cengeng” (small kid, don’t be spoiled). She begged me not to report this accident as she was afraid of being found speaking about her working condition. I also asked how she handled similar condition before she knew me, and her answer was ‘pasrah saja’ (give in).

Nugrah as a magician

Hiding behind the beauty, part 2

Another picture by Iman Burhanuddin. The river runs through in the backyard of my rental premise in Mamuju. People turn this place into a picnic area, where they can bring food to share or just sitting quietly and enjoying the scenary. Some people even swim in this river, especially little children. They usually swim after school with a group of friends. Some of them are as young as five years old, or even younger. It is such a delight to see children's faces. Laughing freely, splashing water to their friends, jumping from the rocks above. They show no fear....But, do you know what's hiding under this seemingly calm water? Crocodiles......According to people who has been living here almost all their life, there's always a case where a child gone missing in this river, at least once a year. So, those who has fear are the parents...for children?? Neee........crocodiles can not and will not stop them from having a wonderful childhood.....

(PS. I wish I could go back to Waru'e..a very kampung area in my home village, Pattiro Bajo, Bone, where I usually swam with my sisters...soaking our feet in the clean, flowing water, sitting on the rock in the middle of the river, and ate mango with salt and chilli while swimming...But those days are gone. I was told that the river is ruined now. The water is already polluted, no more gravel and rocks...I wonder, where else can I bring my two children to experience swimming in the real river??? Up to now, at the age of almost 10 and 11, they haven't felt the river....yet....)