Appendix 6 - Statements from two child outworkers
Statement No.1
When asked how I feel about my parents being outworkers, I
feel very bitter and angry that my parents are outworkers. Growing up with tow
little sisters and one little brother and one older brother, I feel very
disappointed and disadvantaged with my parents working seven days a week, 20
hours a day without one day off no matter what day it is, Christmas or New
Years Day.
With my parents working so much and my brother in Year 12, I
started looking after my little brother and sisters a lot. After school I
would go and pick them up at school and we would walk home, not having enough
money to spend on a bus or train ride home. I would them make them do their
homework or have a shower, then I help my parents to sew. We would always be
quiet at home because we were scared to make too much noise and distract my
brother from doing his homework.
I would make dinner around 6 O'clock and we would eat it
except my parents would keep on sewing. Then they would go play some quiet
game or something while I helped my parents again. Around 9 O’clock they would go to bed, since we didn't have a TV I wouldn't have to tell them to turn it
off. They would go to bed without me telling them to and during the time they
were asleep I would bring my parents dinner. It was exactly the same thing I
had except it was cold and they didn't want me to heat it up because it would
make the gas bill bigger and since we didn't have a microwave they would eat it
just like that. During the time they ate their dinner I would help them sew
the clothes.
Sometimes my little brother and sisters wouldn't see my
parents for a whole week unless they went out to the garage to see them but
then my parents would tell them to get out of the garage and do their
homework. Soon we needed to buy more stuff for my brother such as his
textbooks and his calculator so I would help my parents more to get more money
and soon my little brother and sisters had to walk home from school by
themselves while I helped my parents.
There were times when I would sew till 5am and go to sleep then wake up at 7am to make my little brother and sister’s breakfast and lunch
and then I would go to school.
During mid-year of my Year 11, I decided to quit school completely
and stay home and help my parents sew and find more money to send my brother to
University. After I quit school I helped my parents everyday and they started
to accept more work and I would sometimes not sleep for a couple of days to
help my parents. I feel really sorry for my little brother and sisters because
my parents never have time to spend with them at all and they know never to
disturb them.
My little brother and sisters never go out because they are
expected to go home straight after school and are beginning to help them sew,
cut or iron. My youngest sister is eight and does some small jobs.
I think it is a great injustice because they are just little
children eight, ten and twelve years of age and are needed to help our parents
sew, cut or iron. The same age as when I began helping to sew. So they have
enough money to pay the bill and buy food. I quit school two years ago and I
don't think I will ever go back because my parents need me too much at home.
TANG - 17 years, March 1998
Statement No: 2
As a child my family and I lived in poverty in Vietnam till
we immigrated to Australia. I thought we would be better off in Australia than
in Vietnam, but then we couldn't pay all the bills with my mother and father
began working as outworkers.
They started sewing a lot and soon I didn't see my parents
much except when they asked me to help them because they couldn't finish all
their work.
Soon whenever I had spare time I would be in the garage
sewing and helping them sew the hems and iron the dresses and shirts or
whatever their bosses would give them to sew. I was in Grade 6 when I began
doing this work.
After a few months I would stay up till 2am to help them out and wake up around 5 am to help them sew because we never seem to have spare money
to buy the things we needed. Every month my parents would dread the bills
coming so they accepted more work and soon I would come home straight after
school to help sew.
Sometimes if we were really desperate I would stay home the
whole day and help them. On those days my parents would always worry how my
school work was suffering and what bad parents they were. I always tried to
comfort them by saying that I was doing find and would do my school work during
the spare times I had.
In reality I didn't have any spare time and I would always
have bags under my eyes and felt really tired. Recess was a time when I would
try to get some sleep or do my work. My friends knew what I was going through
because they were going through the same things so that sometimes we would
compare how much sleep we got.
This year I am in Year 12 and I wonder if I going to pass
this year because now we aren't getting paid a lot because the boss keeps
telling us about how we have sewn the garments wrong and refuses to pay us. My
parents and I know that there is nothing wrong with the garments but my parents
are too scared that their boss would find a problem and fire them. Then we
won't have any money to pay the bills and we might be forced to go back to Vietnam.
So now my parents are accepting more work everyday and we've got less time to
do it in.
I just hoped that I could pass my V.C.E. and get a decent
job because I didn't want to end up like my parents being outworkers and being
paid next to nothing.
LINH - 17 years March 1998
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