The Plight of a Domestic Worker

Laily, a ten- year-old girl was sharing something with her younger sister Moina near Malibag intersection last evening while I was passing by them. Suddenly Moina started crying, but Laily remained silent. When I took a close look at them, I found a middle aged woman hitting Moina demanding her money back. Once the woman left, I decided to go to them and ask their whereabouts. What I discovered from our conversation surprised me. "I work as a domestic worker and have to do many chores like washing clothes, cleaning dishes, arranging the house, taking care of children, wiping the floor and so on," Laily said. "I do all of these works for one thousand taka only. When I requested them to increase my salary, they told me that they could not pay me any more as they had to spend money for my food and clothing as well. Here is my younger sister who has been working as a domestic helper for eight months. But she is not getting paid either," she continued. "We have to share whatever we earn with this woman who head hunted us. We ought to pay her three hundred taka per month for her service. She recruits a group of young girls and boys for different types of jobs throughout the city, some of which are very risky," Laily ended in a depressed tone. There are laws for the betterment of domestic helpers in our country, but they are rarely implemented. As these youngsters are also the future of the nation, our honourable ministry of women and family welfare affairs and concerned agencies should take proper action to ensure a life with minimum payment, respect and safety in their life.
Bipul K Debnath
Dhaka College, Dhaka

An Unfair World

This happened when I was on a public bus. It was during rush hour when my bus started going past the airport signal as the green light turned on. All of a sudden, a posh private car coming from the Link Road hit my bus severely. We felt a huge shake. In no time, a suit-draped, seemingly rich man came out of the car and stopped the bus subsequently. A big dent was found  above the car headlight. All the passengers evacuated hurriedly and mentioned that it was the private car driver's fault. Then the man hit the ceiling and made the bus pull over.  After a brief argument, the man started hitting the bus driver. A short while later, some traffic police came over and held the bus driver responsible, whereas it was obviously the other man's fault.  The man held the bus back and, maybe, later on he took money from the bus owner. I had to take another bus as I was running out of time.
The man should have eaten a humble pie and let the bus go. There is no shame in admitting guilt for something he actually did. I hope he shaped himself up after getting hit by self-conscience.   
Samiul Raijul
North South University, Dhaka