Sawai: Garment worker in Thailand

Hi, my name is Sawai, and I am from north-east Thailand. When I was 13 years old, I needed to get a job to help support my family, so I moved to Bangkok to get a job at a garment factory where one of my older cousins worked. The factory was a very small family business and was held within the owner’s home. We earned about 500 baht a month ($16.20 US Dollars), but had to give about 100 baht back for housing and food, which was only cooked rice. If we wanted anything else, we had to buy that separately. Our room we worked in was very dimly lit, cramped and had 5 sewing machines in it. The typical day I endured started at 8 in the morning and went until between midnight and 2 the next morning. I also had to take care of washing clothes, and cleaning the house. I was offered a job to increase my pay after working for a few months in the small house factory, but I refused it since I would sometimes have to work 48 hours without sleep and I was only 13 at the time. I then moved to a factory where there was 20 machines. However, the windows were barred, and nobody could see inside or out.  Since we worked 6 days a week in this room, it got to be very depressing working in such a dark and dingy place.