Slave Narratives: Mainya

Mainya lives with her parents and five siblings in a one room shack. From 6am to 6pm, the sixteen year-old girl breaks rocks into stones, just as she has done for eight years. She has labored with her mother and younger brother on the outskirts of Kathmandu since her father injured his eye and could no longer work. When her mother is ill, she prepares dinner for her family after her 12-hour day.

Mainya is paid 1.50 rupees for each basket of stones. On a good day, she earns about 20 rupees [$0.42], which help to repay the hundreds of rupees that the contractor has lent to her father. She is mostly grateful to her bosses. "I have nothing to complain about. Of course, it's hard to work during hot days, and I get tired. Almost every day I have small injuries. I get backaches." She has never been to school and sees little use for it. "What good can school do for me? What can I do with what I'd learn?"

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