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Help at hand

May Day also known as International Workers' Day or Labour Day is celebrated worldwide on May 1. May Day commonly sees organised street demonstrations and rallies by working people and their labour unions. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and also celebrated unofficially in many other countries.

In Nepal, it generally the political parties' trade unions and their cadres who celebrate the May Day with pomp and ceremony.May Day has been celebrated in Nepal since 1963. The day became a public holiday in 2007. May Day in Nepal means a special day usually for political parties' trade unions and cadres, but workers who are not affiliated to any political party really have no idea about what May Day is.

Focus on domestic helps
The domestic help, or maids and servants as we usually refer to them, form a very large group of such unorganised workers in the Valley. The government also does not have an exact data of domestic help in Kathmandu, it is estimated that domestic help number in thousands in the Valley alone.
They usually have no idea about May Day or their rights as they are not with any political party's trade union. No one also raises their issues on this special day. But all these helps want is lesser duty hours and right to education.

Why work as servants?
Poverty is the main reason that people resort to serving in other people's homes. A house owner from Purano Baneshwar (who doesn't want her identity to be revealed) opines, “Poverty is the main reason behind this, but there are secondary factors too like education, family relations, et cetera. I can't say these only are the reasons, what I think is may be the teenagers from the villages just want to leave and start a new life in Kathmandu and become domestic workers because of monetary problems.“

A second person who also doesn't want his identity to be revealed said, “The main thing of course is poverty but family relations also matter. A woman is working at my house because her husband does not support her and also tortures her. That is why she wants to become free of him and is working here.“

Sixteen-year-old Dinesh Siwakoti from Dolakha working has been working as a helper at a small tea shop at Anamnagar for a few years now. He came to Kathmandu because of his stepmother, who used to beat him.

And though there are other reasons for people choosing f to become servants and maid, the main reason is poverty as most such help pick that to be the reason.

Problems they face
The main problems that these helpers face are renumeration and working hours.They work over 15-16 hours a day but are paid Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 at the maximum in a month, while in most cases, they don't get a single rupee, they say. And leave is something of pipe dream for them.

Studying-while-working for young helpers is almost impossible, and even if they get an opportunity to go to school, the environment is not favourable. Imagine trying to squeeze in study time if you are working 15-16 hours a day?Another 16-year-old Niru Majhi from Saping, Kavre, who works as a domestic help at Purano Baneshwor and studying in Class III when she came to Kathmandu. She wants to go to school but is not able to. The same is the case with Khasal Lama, 16, from Sarlahi, who is also a domestic help but can't man age to fulfill her dream of getting an education because of her 16-hour duty.Sangeeta Magar, a 15-yearold from Ghumthang, Sindhupalchok, might be considered a lucky girl as she will soon be going to school and is really happy for that.There is a free school at Ghattekulo `Rudramati Primary School' where domestic helps are taught for free, but majority can find no time to attend classes here.

Challenges
The increasing number of domestic workers (mostly children) may create serious problem to the development of society as the increasing number of domestic workers increases the number of uneducated people in any country. So, it's not a good symptom for any country.
Talking about another challenging part, a house owner from Ghattekulo said, “It becomes a social problem and also a tendency that when a mother works at other people's homes tagging her children along, the children try to follow in their mother's footsteps. The child might perceive that s/he should also do the same work that their mother does".

Though it's difficult for the government to control the increasing number of domestic helpers, the government should have a strong mechanism to solve this problem.On the other hand, other stakeholders like political parties, media, society, I/NGOs, civil society have to think seriously on this.

Published on: 2 May 2011 | The Himalayan Times

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