The Labourer

It is hard to ignore the sight of a dozen or more ladies all carrying buckets on their heads filled with heavy volcanic sand. One thing that has always troubled me is why there are so many Balinese women doing hard, manual work? I still don’t have an answer to this question, however I did take the time to catch up briefly with a wonderful lady, Ni Made Tamiari, whilst on a recent trip travelling between Ubud town and Tegalalang.

Time is money for Made, so we chatted whilst she continued to work, ferrying her 20kg load from the side of the road, down a narrow pathway and about 200 metres into a building site. Her English was limited and my Bahasa was not enough, so we relied on some translations from my driver and a huge smile whenever Made wanted to stress a point…… actually she smiled most of the time – how can you not adore and respect these people?

Made was born in Gianyar in 1975 and has spent all of her time living there. She attended the local school and graduated from Senior High in 1993. Her parents were both rice farmers and had 3 children, all of whom are working in similar jobs as Made.

She met her husband in the 1990’s when they were neighbours and married in 2000. Together they have two boys, aged 17 and 20. Her husband is also a labourer, however is usually working in a different area of Bali.

Although her dream when young was to be a businesswoman, her first job was actually as a tailor, sewing pillowcases for large hotels in Kuta and Legian. I asked her what her best job has been and she said “there is no best job, they are all hard and manual, but at least I am working and earning”. No government handouts here and she definitely has a strong work ethic.

Typically, Made’s work runs from around 2pm-7pm, however it is casual (on demand). Her job today is literally carrying bucket after bucket of sand to the building site and when the tall pile of sand is gone, the job is done, hence her rush. I was surprised to learn that the way she gets this kind of work is to wait for a large truck to drive through her village in Gianyar and essentially hop on the open tray at the back, along with other women, and be driven to a job – one she has no idea where it will be or what is involved. Whilst the work can vary a little, it essentially always involves some kind of manual labour. Unfortunately for Made, today’s work is her least favourite and will pay just Rp60K for the 5 hours (plus a couple of hours travel time).

When not labouring, Made is most likely at home, cleaning, cooking and fussing over her two kids. Food-wise, tempe and tahu goreng (tofu) are her two staples and I spy a little of each in the small bag she keeps for when there is a rest break during the afternoon carrying the sand buckets. I was happy to leave a little fresh fruit and water to complement this.