Village girl Nasiroh takes risks to earn a livelihood

JAKARTA: Nasiroh, 14, looks small for her age, but she tries to appear more mature. She always wears a loose, ill-fitting shirt and skirt, and sandals.

Born into a farmer's family in Mariut village, Subang, West Java, Nasiroh says she take responsibility to change her life.

Before completing elementary school, Nasiroh, the second child of three was forced to leave school. That was two years ago.

Her parents, who work all day in a rice field, asked her to look after her young brother, who at the time was only four years old. Her mother would always tell her to learn to earn money whenever she asked for pocket money.

Her sister, Nengju, left to work in Saudi Arabia after finishing elementary school.

Nasiroh's mother only reached third grade in elementary school, while her father never attended school.

After looking after her young brother for almost a year, her uncle took her to Jakarta to work in a factory.

Using her sister's elementary school certificate, Nasiroh applied for a job at PT GK in Cicadas, Bogor.

The ink marker company hired her as an operator. She was placed in the refilling section.

Here she arranged bottles to be filled with what the company called premix. A bottle is filled by hand, then fitted with a ceramic lid.

If premix gets on a person's skin it can create a very hot feeling and cause blisters.

Nasiroh worked in the refilling section for 10 months. Then she was moved to the aerosol section where she still works.

Nasiroh is paid a basic wage of Rp 27,600 per week. She works seven hours a day. But, if she works four hours overtime each day she can earn Rp 60,000 a week.

Hot

Nasiroh spends her wage on food, daily needs and on rent for a simple house.

She often works overtime to earn more money.

According to Nasiroh, her working environment is fairly clean, but very hot, not to mention the noise from industrial machines.

The company recently started to provide safety equipment, such as helmets, protective jackets and masks, but the workers are reluctant to use them.

Nasiroh said she was not trained but instead learned her duties by observing her colleagues.

"Even though my job is not too hard, it seems to be very dangerous. But I like working here because this way I get money," Nasiroh said.

She said one of her friends vomited blood after accidentally swallowing premix. Nasiroh herself said she felt dizzy and coughed after she accidentally inhaled aerosol.

Accidents, she said, frequently occurred at her workplace, such as when a tin exploded when being filled with aerosol.

Nevertheless, workers said the management had never explained to workers how to avoid accidents -- except for the few signs saying "dangerous" and "no smoking".

They said there were no medics either.

"When there is an accident, workers just report to the health division," Nasiroh said, which gives workers pain killers.

The worker is then given about three days leave, while management reimburses medical costs.

Worker's said they sometimes had to put up with sexual overtures from their superiors.

"Despite everything, I'm still working here," Nasiroh says. There is no choice, she adds, any other job requires a school certificate.

Another 14-year-old, Ida Narsinah, works at a biscuit factory in Tangerang, West Java.

After her parents got divorced, she dropped out of high school and moved in with her grandfather. She had to work to support her grandfather, three sisters and a brother.

In the factory, she works with 100 other children aged between 12 and 15. All work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. She earns Rp 3,000 a day.

After the weekly pay day, the round-faced girl repays her debts at food stalls around the factory.

Her wish: "In the future, every child should be able to attend school and not have to do heavy jobs."

Aas Asnawaty, 15, has been working for three years.

"I have to work in bad conditions, there is so much noise and so little space.

"It gives me a headache. I work overtime regularly until 9 p.m. and sometimes, if the factory has extra orders I start working from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. the next day," Aas said.

Aas lives with her mother, a younger sister and brother.

Her mother recently lost her job and so the whole family relies on Aas' wage, which is about Rp 150,00 per month.

The amount is not enough for all of them and sometimes Aas has to do extra work to earn more money.

"I don't hate work, but it's not right that we, children, have to work as hard as adults," Aas said.

Aas completed secondary school. She dreams of furthering her education and being just a regular child.

-- Child Labor News, Kompak organization for child workers