Another Story from Indonesia Domestic Workers
Jan 21, 2015
First story
There it was ... a 60-second news on Tarsih's misery, a domestic worker from Karawang, East Java, who is treated badly by her employer but could not do anything else but to pray that this is all just a nightmare.She was raped, kicked, punched and all she could do was to be silent.
She is considered 'lucky' because she had the chance to run and ask protection from Indonesian Embassy. There are many others who are still in the hand of unknown miseries. Through her cry, she tries to speak to the world, that her tears wasn't the first one and sadly won't be the last either...
Indonesia government has tried to solve the problems faced by these domestic workers. However, the speed of problems growth is 'unbelievably' fast. Moreover, the biggest obstacle is that most of the problems are hidden and unheard.
I did my thesis on Indonesia women as domestic workers and I found that there are so many cases that did not even make it to the surface due to the fact that these women are considered as the lowest class in the world. They did not have anyone to turn to, so sometimes, some decided to change their destinies through the most desperate ways, like suicide or homicide.
This has to stop. I do not how I can contribute to help stopping the cruelty that these women face everyday. I start with writing their stories, to help telling their unheard voices.
She …
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who was “loved” with a palm of hand of those having the Dollars
is trying to portray a dejavu of tomorrow’s bliss
yet falling into a deep blackness and emptiness in an imperfect world
Failing to find a way to escape from the abstract depiction of her today’s tears
Attempting to erase the temptation to end her story in the world
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who was dedicated her all to volatile being so called laoban
Screaming the inner worm that gnaws at her frozen heart – in silence
Regretting the forcedly revolutionized dream of beautiful tomorrow into the abyss of shame
Breaking a vow of tolerating the last abuse
Building a will to survive
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who asked for nothing but respect
Thinking of the bloody body with her knife in his heart
Realizing that the sorrow has ended
Smiling on her outside, faltering on her inside
Struggling to find a path for the new future
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who is the new princess of jian yu Kaohsuing
Planting the new shoot of hopes and dreams but this time, her eyes are wide open
Blocking any manipulation once done by her “brothers”
Writing a new story of "I’ll begin again …"
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who by others is thought of as a despicable killer
Praying to her Allah
Craving that her sisters would be released from the ‘unexpected’ agony when pursuing a better future
but not swearing to those who sucked her hopes for a ‘sinful’ thing called money
because for her, they are still the brothers to love
Laying in the silence of the darkness
she, who was once admitted as the Indonesia’s remittance hero
Not knowing that she touched my heart in every possible way
She is the dreamseeker, the survivor, the sister of mine
-LM-
Dedicated to all Indonesian women as domestic workers