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Episode 1: I Can Do This

Episode 1: I Can Do This

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 Two stories, one from Bangladesh and another from Indonesia. In both places, family needs meant that garment factory work was the best option from a very young age, despite other dreams and talents. Confronting the realities of exploitation and abuse in those workplaces brought profound realisations of collective possibilities, and also of personal strengths. Links and contacts Griffith Review: griffithreview.com Matthew Abud (producer): tasi-sound@proton.me Clean Clothes Campaign: cleanclothes.org Patch Pheasant (bass player): patrickpheasant@yahoo.com.au Transcript Kalpona Akter (KP): My name is Kalpona Akter. I am from Bangladesh. So, we, you know, we were like kind of middle-class family. So my life would be going to school, playing with siblings, playing with friends. Uh, it's like all focusing on my study and also helping my mum with the household work as I was the eldest in the family. So, my life was easy like other, other child. So the life basically, clearly changed when I was like 11-ish. So 11, little plus, when my dad got ill, he got a stroke, and he was the primary earner in the family. So, my mum first started working in the factory. She left two months infant at home. And she couldn't continue more than six months because of, you know, baby got ill and mum got ill as well. So then it was me who started working in the factory. Mum said, it is time. Because we had a little discussion on it, two of us, and I understood. It's like, you know, I suddenly got older, and I understood what she said. It was tough being a child in the factory. My first day in the factory was like absolute, absolutely a cultural shock. I haven't seen that many people together. And I never heard that big sound together that was, you know, coming from the machines in the production floor. I haven't heard that adult screaming on the adults and verbally abusing them. So all those was like very, very new to me. You know, as a, as a person, I'm always being strong inside. So, I didn't cry. But I felt really sad, seeing the situation. It was hard, and very first day, I stood up like 14 hours to 16 hours. So I get off from the factory like 10:30 p.m. and it was tough. I was stood up in my feet for whole day. So, I would be working over 450 hours or over 400 hours and making only $6 a month. I could see my school playground from my factory rooftop. So during lunch break, we were able to go there, and that was like one big pain that I got like every day, seeing my friends are playing in the playground and I was in the factory. Mbak Titin (MB): So, I stayed home. Just me and my second older sibling, who was two years above me in the same school. That was it. Only the two of us at home. We cooked together, we ate together. We were two small children, cooking by themselves in their house. On the way home from school, we'd gather dry straw from the rice fields. Then later, when there was no rain, when there was drought, we'd sell it. Then when I passed middle school, I was inspired by a midwife in my village. She had a clinic and went around in a car. And it can bring honour to the family. So, I told my parents and also my older sibling, who was working in Malaysia at that time, that I wanted to go to nursing school. Then I and two others enrolled in the nursing school in Jepara town. My marks were high enough to enrol me. But I was too short for their criteria. They said that if I paid $200, I could study in that school. My parents and my older sibling wanted to get that money any way possible. But I thought about my parents' financial situation. It was really poor. So, if I insisted on going to school, they'd get in a lot of debt. So against their own wishes, I said, I wasn't interested any more in studying. I decided that, also because I was offered a job at a factory called Nikomas Gemilang in Serang City. I started there, hoping that I could earn some money to help support my family. I didn't want my father to have to migrate any more looking for work. I wanted him to enjoy his old age together with my mother. I'd be able to install a well so my mother could have water. I could pay to connect electricity to the house. I could pay for a proper toilet. Those kind of things. Matthew Abud, Producer (MA): We're sharing stories from several different garment workers, including in languages other than English, performed by voice actors. Can you introduce yourself and who's story you're presenting? Sekar Sari (SS): Hello, my name is Sekar. I'm performing as Titin from Indonesia. I think Mbak Titin is someone who has so many layers of identities. She was an entrepreneur who sell some clothes from door to door, and she did so many things. She never stops, like, standing up again for herself and other people she loves. KA: Two years after my work, I was like barely 14 years old, we went for a strike in our factory. We were like 1800 workers. So, it was two days back and forth. After that, we won the strike. And then we ...
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