The Hidden Life of East Bali
Found a definitive solution to the problem of kids like Mardu and Kacrut. Indeed, a closer look is needed to understand the ties of culture, politics, history, and economics that bind parents, children, and employers in a system of child labour.
In the modern West, children are considered to be fundamentally different from adults, with special rights of their own. As beings who are not yet fully formed, they must be protected until they reach adulthood. In Bali , however, children live in closer contact with the world of adults. If the West has over 18 - movies and casinos, Bali has all – night, all – ages performances, rituals, and cockfights at which entire villages gather. While most parents will not make love in front of their children sharing sleeping quarters mean that children grow up quickly understanding the facts of life. Youth become full members of the village banjar organization upon marriage, whether this happens at 14 or 40.
Likewise, most Balinese don't draw a rigid line around “labour” as a category. Children fly kites while watching the cows, hunt for frogs while helping to plant the rice, or sing while searching for firewood, just as adults gath er to gossip and joke while harvesting or making offerings. There are no set “ working hours” and the daily load is dependent on the vagaries of the weather and the harvest.
Finding the Way Back to School
Back in east Bali , Mardu, the quiet boy, missed his friend Kacrut. He also missed school. “I liked it,” he says, “but there was no money to pay for it. What else could I do?” To help his mother, he began working in the village, sometimes as a construction coolie, or taking care of this neighbours' cows and chickens. At the age of ten, Mardu followed his older sister to the city of Denpasar , and began working in the market as a carrier, hauling loads of rice and other goods. Working ten hours a day, he could make around Rp200,000 a mont h, sharing a room
