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Janakri works in a home in Kathmandu. |
Janaki Kumari Gurow
Her Family
Janaki, of the Tharu ethnic group, is the eldest child in her family of nine.
She has three brothers and three sisters, all of whom still live in her home in
Nawalparasi, Ratwal. Tharu is a very economically depressed community in Nepal,
where domestic work is prevalent and is considered a traditional profession.
Janaki started as a domestic worker at the age of 7, originally at her
cousin's residence in her nearby village. She kept on moving from there: first
Butwal, then to Narayanghat, Chitwan and eventually to Katmandu. Ever since she
understood family life, they have been living as a neutral family. Her parents
own a small land of about half ropani and a shelter to keep them warm. Her
father is a carpenter by profession and is the only breadwinner at home: he
earns 300-400 Rupees (around NZ$10 - NZ$15) per month, but he has four other
siblings who are financially dependent on him. Her mother works on their own
land and keeps some hens, ducks, goats and other livestock. By selling them and
their products her mother tries to bring in extra income.
Janaki's 10 year-old sister also works as domestic worker in Katmandu but her
three brothers live at home and go to school. These three help out their mother
and father at home in times of need such as the farming season, looking after
the livestock and their brothers and sisters. Janaki believes that because of
her parents she is working as a domestic worker. If her parents have wished she
could have worked in the village itself and worked as a daily-wage labourer. She
could have earned more money in the village itself, in spite of the hard labour
required in domestic work. She says "Staying away from my parents is really sad,
but now I am used to it."
Her Work
The kind of work Janaki performs at home is simple domestic household tasks.
But ironically, the nature of her tasks can be considered simple only for an
adult 18 years older. The responsibilities of a 15 year-old girl along with
physically challenging work doesn’t seem hard for Janaki. According to her she
has been doing it ever since she was 7 years old.
She works from 6 in the morning until 9 pm at night. She washes clothes and
dishes, goes shopping for household necessities, sweeps and helps with food
preparation. She is not allowed to cook because she was born a Tharu: the
conservative Brahmins and Chettris look upon them as untouchable, though they
are not officially an untouchable caste in Nepal. She feels bad about it, but at
the same time she is happy that her workload is reduced.
Her owners stay in a rented house, so Janaki also works at the residence of
her owner's landlord; that makes her work double. The landlord has promised to
pay her 100R per month. She finds the behaviour of the owners toward her is
acceptable. They usually give her good food, but many times she is given stale
food: she said “the owners’ dog also eats the same thing." She also has
developed a gastro-intestinal ailment. “I feel bad when they are ignorant about
my health condition” she expresses, her eyes wet with tears. She was once taken
to clinic and the doctor gave her medication and had advised a follow-up visit
after she had finished the medicine. Her owners were ignorant about it.
She is paid 400R per month by her owners. She tells us: “My father takes the
money and spends it gambling, he doesn't give a penny to my mother. I get mad at
him because he is gambling with my hard-earned work payment and my mother is
lying sick at home”, besides which he has 4 other people to feed at home along
with his own family. "I get one new set of clothes a year and sometimes a few
old clothes from my owners. I send those clothes to my brothers and sisters.
Like my brothers I also want to go to school but my owners doesn't want a
school-going worker and I feel I am too old to go to school too." When asked
what learning experiences she had and the new things that she had seen from
working in the city, she was not able to talk or didn't wanted to tell us.
