The Invisible Worker

8.26.11
This is a way my highly educated Bambara tutor describes a certain group of people's role here in Mali. He says they do all the work, but get none of the credit. He says every day, they wake up before everyone else in the village, to work all day and night, and to go to bed, the last person to sleep in the village. This group's work never stops.

He explained that when their kids are sick, they're sick too - because they are the ones to drop everything to take the kids to the doctor, to buy the medicine, to administer the medicine, to put their life on hold to take care of the kids. When their mates are sick, it's the same story.

But when the Invisible Worker is sick...

No one to come to their rescue. To nurse them back to health. To help them do their work while they're recovering. Life just goes on without them.

Culturally, the Invisible Worker can get beaten and physically abused by their mate. When people hear their screams, it's like no one screamed. Who's going to help an Invisible person? The person everyone pretends doesn't exist?

The Invisible Worker is also pressured to have an average of seven kids in their lifetime. Let's just say regulated hospitals, sweet, caring doctors, clean facilities...not the same here in Mali.

The Invisible Worker is also forced, at a very young age, to get a specific part of their genitalia sliced and scraped off, usually with the same razor or shard of glass as the other soon-to-be Invisible Worker being mutilated before them. Risking AIDS infection. But the Invisible Worker can't speak up. Social pressure is so intense to undergo this practice, that, if the Invisible Worker refuses, that person is most likely unmarriable.

...And marriage is a big deal here.

In addition, in the States, there are child protection laws in place. There are age restrictions on when someone can marry, etc. But not here, not for the Invisible Worker. Oftentimes, at around 16 years old, maybe earlier, maybe later, the Invisible Worker gets to meet the mate arranged for them. They have no choice but to marry this person. And immediately start on that lucky number seven, the average number of children each Malian family has. To go against their family's choice would be cultural and social suicide.

Not knowing the love of their life could exist somewhere else, and forced to marry a complete stranger as a child, the Invisible Worker doesn't get to say anything if their mate is sleeping with other Invisible Workers behind their back. (And not using a condom) But, the Invisible Worker could NEVER carry on an affair. Again, social and cultural suicide.

The Invisible Worker can have one mate only. But...the Invisible Worker's mate...can marry up to four Invisible Workers at a time, polygamy. The Invisible Worker is forced to live with, raise their kids with, and like all the other Invisible Workers married to that person's mate. But the Invisible Worker could NEVER have four mates at once. No way.

The Invisible Worker's invisibility cloak takes place almost immediately after birth.

They're constantly not called on in the classroom, if they're that lucky at all. They've been told through social observations and from parents and elders, that their place is behind-the-scenes...invisible actually, and that they shouldn't speak up. They shouldn't hold positions of power. They shouldn't have a say in the decisions made for their family. They shouldn't handle money for the family. They shouldn't disagree with the decisions their family makes without their consent or knowledge. They shouldn't have a say in any of "those" matters.

Just. Stay. Invisible. Things are much, much easier that way.

They're taught to watch young kids, toddlers, infants, babies, when they're only babies. They're taught how to prepare Malian dishes for the entire family each and every day, each and every meal. They're taught how to sweep the dirt compound a certain way. They're taught how to clean up after all the members of their family - doing the family's dishes, hand-washing the family's clothes, pulling the heavy buckets of sloshing water from the wells, cleaning up the family's messes, silently.

They are told not to play sports. To drink. To smoke. To whistle. To wink. To drink tea with members of the opposite sex at night. To walk around at night. To show their knees, shoulders. In some ethnic groups, their faces are tattooed on the mouth to signify they're married. On the mouth. They are told Not to say "No" to members of the opposite sex. Not to become anything significant. Not to become president. Not to be powerful at all. That they "can't." They are told to dress a certain way, or else they are perceived as impure. Well, they're probably perceived that way anyway. They are not allowed to enter their house of worship during certain times in the month, again, because they're impure. They are the significant, significant majority sold into prostitution.

When people come over to the Invisible Worker's house, the guest gets the best seat in the house. And the opposite sex gets the second best. The Invisible Worker...the worst chair, a child's seat, the floor, the ground.

Because the Invisible Worker's work starts at such a young age, it really compromises their chances to a quality education. Instead of spending time on their studies, they're often cleaning up, cooking, taking care of kids, taking care of the family or the neighbors or elders, so they're not studying. And if push comes to shove and they can't study, they can't earn good grades, and they can get "fired" from school. And if push comes to shove and they really do want to study, but the family has to choose between educating them or educating members of the opposite sex, The Invisible Worker gets to remain invisible...without an education.

This is why it is no joke when I say that most of Mali's illiterate population are The Invisible Workers.

It's even easier to stay invisible when you have no education...or rights...or say...or voice...

You can't really participate. You can't know what's going on. You're not going to be the "go-to person" on an educated topic. You're probably not going to be an educated voter...One of my college essays asked whether we thought the right to an education was a civil rights issue.

There's really no way to participate in your community, in making change, in doing much of anything, if you've never, ever had an education.

And for the invisible years actually spent in the schools, all kinds of things can happen to make this group disappear from school. Teachers come on to them. They start raising a family. They're pulled from school to tend to the family. Oh, and if they either choose to, or are forced to (can't speak up, remember) have sex, they cannot insist on using a condom. That would be means for intense offense taken by the member of the opposite sex.

Slowly...disappearing...

When the Invisible Worker starts a family, every ounce of visibility diminishes.

The duties the Invisible Worker was raised to do come into effect, the cooking, the cleaning, the babies, the working in the market on their feet all day for 50 cents profit (if that), the farming under the scorching sun, the lack of education, the lack of access to anything, the disrespect, the never, ever, ever receiving thanks for their work, the working, the working, the working...

All under the cloak of Invisibility...All without thanks...All without credit...without any acknowledgement that they are the glue that holds everything in this entire country together. Without any acknowledgement that the reason a family can survive is because of their work. Without any acknowledgement that the family couldn't even eat without their work. Without any acknowledgement that they're tired, that they might want some rest, that maybe they want a break...but that doesn't happen. And those who do receive thanks, praise, acknowledgement... get judged, get abused, get chased out of town, get ridiculed and aren't usually accepted.

The Invisible Worker lives everywhere. Their story is slightly different from place to place, but the same story exists. They do most of the work, they are the world's beast of burden. They carry the load, receiving none of the credit, advantages, benefits, thanks. They live in Mali, in America, elsewhere, everywhere. Their situation is different, yes, but story is still the same.

But the Invisible Worker keeps working. In fact, she never stops.