An Outworker's Daughter Dung speaks
at Maribyrnong Hoi Conference February 1997.

I was asked about my feelings and experiences of being a child in an outworker family and why I need to help my parents with their work. To tell the truth, I've never questioned why. I guess it is natural that I would. As children, especially children of out worker parents, we cannot stand by and watch our parents work from morning till night to make ends meet and not pitch in and help.

Since the age of eleven, or rather since coming to Australia, which was seven years ago, I helped my parents with the work. We all did. As a little girl I helped with minor tasks such as the ironing of the facings, sewing simple hems and lines etc. However, since 1994 when my older sister started Year 12 I had to step in and take her place at the sewing machine. This means doing everything from sewing hems of dresses to collars on shirts to finishing the whole garment.

There were days when the work was needed urgently. My parents would stay up all night and I had to get up at 5 am in the morning to sew until it was time to go to school. Those days I used to do my homework during recesses and lunches at school because there was simply no time to do it at home. Being an outworker family there is not time off, no holidays. We work every day of the week, every week of the year. Even now, a day away, from our New Year, there is work to be done at home.

Being a daughter in a working family means devoting free time to help with the work. Children of outworker families do not have much freedom, or time to go out as often as children of normal families. On weekends when I want to go out with friends I have to check whether there is work needed doing at home. If there is, I'd have to stay home to do it.

In hearing that we work every day of the week, every week of the year you would think we would obtain substantial income from it. The truth is we barely have enough to pay for the many bills and payments. The price for most of the work we do is very cheap therefore we have to do a lot to have enough money. I think if we want to help people working at home, especially women and children such as myself, one of the many things that could be done would be to pressure the large companies to raise the work price of garments.

I am currently doing Year 12 at school. My hope is to obtain high marks to enter university for higher education and qualification so that I won't have to do labour work like my parents because I know how hard and depressing it is.