Just Imagine

I live in Indonesia. I come from a village family. We always grew our own food and made our own clothing. Fathers chose the husbands for their daughters, and children never spoke out against their elders. Many times there is never enough food for everyone. I grew tired of this, I believed I could have a better future. I do not want to have as many children as possible, not knowing if I will be able to support them. I left my village at 14, striving for independence. I know longer speak to my family, but when I am successful I will visit and show other young women what they can become. Every morning I wake up at 4 am and walk to hours to the sweatshop. I sew swooshes on tennis shoes of every color imaginable. I always dream of having my own pair, but they are not in my budget yet. The bosses harass me verbally, physically, and mentally if I mess up and say I am costing them money. I do my best because I do not want  to lose my job. Recently there have been protests in front of the factory. White people wearing the rainbow shoes with swooshes on them holding signs that push for better working conditions and less abuse. My girlfriends say this has happened at some factories that they worked at and got them shut down. I would hate for my factory to get shut down. It was so hard to get the job to begin with. I walked everyday for months always trying to be first in line so that when somebody was fired I would be more and more likely to get the job. When I got the job, it was the happiest day of my life. I knew this was the beginning of a successful future for me and my family. All these people protesting believe sweatshop labor is bad because it abuses their workers, but the abuse is not as bad as what the village like was like; we choose to work here and do not expect to get five star treatment from the companies. My name is Maya and I am a sweatshop worker at Nike.

This is what I believe sweatshop workers think of the importance of their jobs.
This is made up from studies I have read about.

Happy imagining!
Madison Broadway