Eni Lestari

Now We Speak for Ourselves

"To effect any kind of meaningful changes, one must listen and learn from the oppressed."- Paulo Friere

"For long others have spoken on our behalf. Now we speak for ourselves," says Hong Kong-based Eni Lestari, Chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance. A migrant worker from Indonesia who had suffered extreme abuse and exploitation, Eni now stands up for the rights of migrants who suffer like she had.

Born into a poor family, which eked out a meager living with the income from a small shop, Eni barely managed to complete school though keen on studies. With the 1997 Asian financial crisis dealing a body blow to the family business that got hopelessly mired in debt, Eni cannot realize her dream to go to college. But keen to support her two younger sibling's education and to help her parents tide over the crisis, Eni decided to bury her dream of going to college but instead look for work in Hong Kong.

Eni registered with a local private recruitment agency, where she was to first undergo a five-month training. Fed poorly and not allowed to leave the agency's premises even to meet family members, Eni, and several other women also waiting to be placed abroad, experienced slavery of the extreme kind. Eni and the others endured all this in the hope that on placement abroad, things would improve and they would be able to support their families in dire need of money even for everyday sustenance.

After five months, they were all shipped to Hong Kong for work. On arrival, their documents were taken away by the receiving agency and each was placed as a domestic help with different families. Eni's miseries started to worsen. She worked everyday, day-after-day, without a break, was paid much below the promised wages, given an accommodation that was barely enough for her to lie down, and fed poorly. Worse, she was not even allowed to pray and forced to eat pork - completely unacceptable for a devout Muslim like Eni.

After six months, unable to take this treatment anymore, Eni ran away from her employer and sought asylum refuge in Bethune House Migrant Women's Refuge, a shelter for distressed migrant workers. This was the turning point in Eni's life. At the shelter, for the first time Eni learnt about human rights - as also those of a woman, a domestic worker and a migrant - and ways to protect them. The training provided at the shelter was life changing as it provided Eni key inputs into ways of organizing migrants and collectively fighting for their rights. She learnt about the problems and issues faced by migrant workers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Thailand. She realized she was not alone. Then she and her fellow Indonesians formed the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong (ATKI-HK) where she was elected as chairperson.

Not wanting to deprive her family back home of the money she had been sending, Eni took up work with another family. But at the back of her mind was the idea of educating fellow migrants in Hong Kong and organizing them to fight for their rights. For instance, the Hong Kong government prohibits migrant domestic workers from taking up jobs if they are facing court cases. As the cases may take months, if not years, to resolve, the workers are forced to turn to temporary shelters run by churches, mosques or non-profit organizations for food and accommodation. The workers are also required to extend their visa till their case is settled and pay for their personal upkeep which is not subsidized by the state. As their condition worsens if they are unable to pay for their upkeep, women are forced to engage in paid sexual service, which exposes them to multitude of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV. They are not only victims of poverty but while abroad they are also victimized by structural discrimination that can result in STD and HIV/AIDS. Thus, since 2006, ATKI-HK (along with the HIV Education Centre of St. John’s Cathedral) regularly organizes seminars and workshop to educate migrants on issues related to STD and HIV/AIDS.

Eni attended several meetings and lectures by prominent trade union leaders to broaden her knowledge and understanding of migrant issues. She realized that fighting for the rights of a domestic worker and a migrant woman also meant that she had to stand up to the oppressive and exploitative structures not only in Hong Kong but the world over.

Says Eni: "There are over 200 million migrant workers all over the world. They mostly come from countries beset with economic and political problems. From which ever country they come from or whatever sector they work in, the situation of almost every migrant is deplorable. This is primarily because the situation in host countries and the reasons for migrating from their own country for work are the same."

The understanding of the context and premise of migration gave Eni the confidence to organize migrant workers. Along with like-minded women, Eni joined the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) and in June 2008, when violations against migrants and refugees around the world began to intensify with the global financial crisis, she became part of the group that set up the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) in Hong Kong. Eni was elected its first Chairperson.

The IMA, which organizes international campaigns to protect the right of migrants, is demanding that host governments stop criminalizing them, especially the undocumented migrants and refugees. It also wants the United Nations and other international bodies to stop forced migration as one of the processes for economic development. While addressing the international arena, Eni is conscious of the need to focus on national policies and development. Says Eni: "It is only when our own countries focus on industrialization and agrarian reform, instead of imposing economic liberalization policies, can we survive the impact of the global financial crisis." Eni is also conscious of providing women from the grassroots a voice, when she says: "The international arena must open up to the grassroots. Our (IMA) organized ranks in the national and international levels shall make sure that it does."

Eni is forthright when she says: "We are collectively exercising our power to show governments and big businesses that we are finally standing up against the modern-day slavery that is forced migration. Though the issues we are talking about are a part and parcel of our everyday life, the IMA aims to transform them from being a scattered set of knowledge to a collective one. And this collective understanding will become a force to strengthen and expand our movement nationally and internationally."

To the question, what brought the migrants together to form the international alliance, Eni says: "Although we are born in different lands, speak different languages and have different cultures, we have all endured the same kind of sufferings. We are poor and victims in the hands of the powerful; feeling disempowered throughout our lives. This is what brought us together."

She adds: "No one is going to help us; we need to fight for ourselves. And rather than fighting alone, it is best to fight collectively." And that is why it is important to be part of an organization, as NGOs and supporting institutions provide the necessary support and enabling environment to be able to fight collectively.

Eni believes that, "The process of empowerment becomes more significant, more meaningful if one's personal battle can be joined with the battle of others to create a big wave that can shake a structure. One small hand linked to another can create a whole movement working for social change. History has time and again showed us that this is a lesson to remember and value and use."

Confident of speaking for herself and co-migrants, Eni says: "Although we suffered tremendous pain, at the end of the day there is a very significant lesson to be learnt:  We have the power and that power is the spirit to make a change."