Time is of the essence!

Once a month, or rather, every full moon, Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate Poya Day. It’s a national holiday, so lots of places are shut for the day, including the factory. If I was in Ampara, I might see the empty factory floor, the machines sitting quietly, the fans immobile. But I’m not in Ampara. I’m running days behind schedule for a multitude of little reasons, from visa implications to accommodation availability. Frustrating as it is to still be in Colombo, it did mean I had some time yesterday to bury my head in the National Archives, and I would have gone again today had it not been for Poya Day.

Thankfully, I’m at last going to Ampara tomorrow, which will leave me with about three full days there before I’ll have to come back to Colombo for my flight home! I’m going to have to be super organised. I would still like to try the ‘ideal community’ activity with a group or two in the factory, and a peacebuilding organisation in the area are keen to meet up. I had hoped to conduct some questionnaires, but now with the time constraints I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get translation, distribution and collection done in time. I’ll talk to Padma in HR about it. Time is one of the biggest constraints in social research, and very often it is almost entirely out of the researcher’s hands. This means I have to be absolutely on the ball in the next few days, and hope that people in the factory aren’t too busy so I can draw in a lot of help!

I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been doing lots of shopping – a lot of this has been purchasing thank you gifts for participants of my mapping sessions. It’s taken forever, but I’ve managed to find little gift bags and tiny little elephants, and I’ll be filling them up with sweets and chocolates when I reach Ampara. I’ve also been printing out lots and lots of photos, so some of these will be going into relevant gift bags.
I’m just trying, in my head (and now on here too), to establish my plan of action over the next few days!

Provisionally, it looks a little like this:

Friday:

• Travel to Ampara by bus, via Kandy – arrive late afternoon
• Go shopping for sweets and chocolates with which to fill gift bags, and a couple of large tins of biscuits for Padma (translator) and Sanjeewa (photographer). Also buy Coca-Cola to satisfy my new-found dependence on the stuff…
• Ring the local peacebuilding group to organise a meeting
• Draw a map of the factory, line by line, section by section, in preparation of mapping the locations of workers of different ethnicities

Saturday:

• Go in to see all the girls, and distribute gift bags.
• Talk to Padma and Dhama Sir about the possibility of holding a couple of focus groups with some of the staff – ‘ideal community’ session
• If possible, hold a focus group today
• More participant observations during tea break – I’ll join the girls for this
• Talk to Padma about translating questionnaires – Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim?
• Mapping the factory floor in terms of ethnicity

Sunday:

• Hopefully go to Thirrokovil to meet with the peacebuilding group and hold an interview or focus group
• Go to the factory for tea break, and if possible, another focus group (if factory open)
• Distribute questionnaires (very tentative, and if factory open)
• Mapping the factory floor in terms of ethnicity (if factory open)

Monday:

• Focus group in factory
• Distribute questionnaires (very tentative)
• Tea break and participant observation
• Mapping the factory floor in terms of ethnicity

Tuesday:

• Any final interviews, another focus group if time
• Collect the questionnaires (if any at all completed)
• Farewells!
• Fly back to Colombo

Wednesday:

• Some photocopying at the archives
• And probably more shopping…

If this all goes to plan, it will be a miracle.
Here goes nothing…

Test Drive Successful

Today I held the pilot run for my participatory mapping sessions. I’ll explain this in more detail in a later post (when I’ll also explain time geography – having promised in one of my previous posts to talk more about this I’m very aware that I have ignored the topic entirely), but I’m basically asking girls to map their daily routines using a base map of the Ampara district and plastic overlays for different times of the day.

I spoke to Dharma Sir in the morning regarding the mapping sessions, and despite Mrs. G saying that sessions would have to be held lunchtimes due to production constraints, Dharma Sir was very conscious not to deplete the girls’ lunch hours. Instead, he suggested just taking two girls from each packing session at a time, and asking them to participate. That way the line can continue as usual, and the girls will only be gone for half an hour. This was far better as the lunch time logistics were getting a little fiddly – how long would it take to queue and eat the food, where would they wash their hands, who would take the plates back because it might offend the kitchen staff if they have to collect workers’ plates and so on. Instead, I have been given a full half hour slot with groups just after the lunch break.

I spent the morning finishing off preparations and explaining to Padma from HR, who’ll be translating for me, how the sessions would be run. This gave her time to ask questions, and time for me to demonstrate exactly what was happening. Baba G was present today also, just in case, but Padma speaks good English and understood what I was doing so Baba G’s input (thankfully, because she’s leaving tomorrow) was minimal.

A group of 8 girls should have arrived at 12:30, but instead I got two groups of four girls. I made sure to supply some biscuits, in an attempt to make the atmosphere a little more welcoming, although the girls were very shy to take them. Padma was very good at keeping the atmosphere light and friendly, with a lot of smiles and laughter. I drew the curtains back before the session to let in some factory light as I’m aware that natural light is limited in the factory itself, and I turned on the air con too, to keep the room cool – again, a luxury that’s not so available on the factory floor itself.

Generally, the girls understood what was being asked of them, and although being a little shy, they did understand what was being asked of them and I don’t think they were suspicious of job security or anything like that. Some had a few queries that were either corrected by companions or by Padma. I’m planning on holding three more sessions like this, and if time and if it’s successful, then maybe I’ll be able to do more. However, as each session is for 8 girls, after another three I’ll have data for 32 workers, which I feel is a decent amount. I’ll see how things go.

I spent some time with Baba G last night reviewing how the sessions would run, and we cut out quite a lot of steps that weren’t really necessary, so this ensured there was no need to rush in the session today, which was good. We were finished with plenty of time left over, so although there were no major issues today, if there are any misunderstandings or unforeseen problems with the method, then I will have contingency time in future sessions to deal with it.

To try to break the ice further, I introduced myself I Sinhalese and asked their names in Sinhalese. I’m also trying to get a couple of girls from my packing section into each session, so that there are at least some girls I know who will feel more comfortable and who may then be able to help others in the group.

I’ll think more about any potential improvements tonight, but having thrashed the method out thoroughly with Baba G last night, I feel things went pretty well today. Also, because I’m so conscious of the language constraints, I really have made sure that all instructions are as direct as possible, and that there are no unnecessary steps. We made a few minor changes to the steps today – taking out a little bit of wording here or there. This means that there aren’t too many opportunities for confusion. I’m heading back into work now for the tea break (despite not having worked in packing today… Feel a little guilty but the girls asked me to come along so it would be rude not to), and I think then I’ll stay there until the end of the day. I’m not going to work tomorrow, as there are buyers coming to look at the factory and I think the managers are a little nervous to see what the buyers’ responses would be to seeing an untrained white girl working in the packing section. So, that should give me plenty of time to catch up on here, get some photos up, tell you about a few little things that have been going on here recently, and review my plan of action for the next few weeks. The next mapping session’s on Wednesday.

Logistics, logistics, logistics…

This past week has been spent in the factory, participating, observing and learning, and my goodness I’ve learnt a lot, and I’ve come on leaps and bounds in terms of my relationships with the employees. But now it’s time for me to move onto putting into practice all the research methods I talked about in the run up to this. I still have so much data to collect, and so much yet to find out. In order to do so, I want to hold some focus groups and, what I’m most excited about, participatory mapping sessions.

The factory environment is not an easy one in which to organise this sort of thing however, and the workers don’t live in the town, as I had initially expected they would. The vast majority live in dispersed outlying villages, and go to and from the factory on buses. From the time they arrive until the time they leave, they have a 15 minute break, and a 30 minute break.

Logistical Hurdle No. 1: Time

Also, despite my efforts to learn little bits of Sinhalese here and there, and the workers’ attempts in return to speak English, communications are still largely centred on body language, mimicry and facial expressions, with key words thrown in from time to time. All too often, my exchanges on the factory floor will end in hopeless headshaking and laughter, as any form of understanding flies out of the window. As far as translation is concerned, Baba G has been wonderful, and if there’s anything key that I need to say or find out, she can find out for me in a flash and is on good terms with the workers, so they trust her. But, Baba G is leaving for Colombo on Tuesday, so I’m going to be ‘alone’ in Ampara, with very few people around who can speak English fluently. Some of the men in the factory can speak pretty good English, but as the focus groups and participatory mapping sessions are going to be solely women, I don’t want to bring a male in for translation. Also, many of the males who can speak English are in management, which is highly likely to inhibit what I might find out.

Logistical Hurdle No. 2: Language

And where to hold my focus groups and participatory mapping sessions? In the canteen, during the half hour lunch break? If the other workers’ behaviour so far is anything to go by, then within 2 minutes of initiating a session there will be an entire crowd gathered to see what’s going on, which would be distracting and would virtually eliminate any chance of later transcription. On the factory floor, maybe, on the large packing tables? Possibly, but again, there will be noise to contend with, other workers’ to deter, and I highly doubt food would be allowed anywhere near where garments are going be placed.

Logistical Hurdle No. 3: Location

Some of the production lines are mixed ethnicity, whilst some are solely Sinhalese. I need to somehow select workers of a mixture of ethnicities, whilst still ensuring that they come from roughly the same area in the district, to make mapping viable and meaningful. Also, the 30 minute lunch break is staggered, so I need to recruit workers of mixed ethnicities, from similar areas in the district, who are all on the same lunch break.

Logistical Hurdle No. 4: Recruitment

The sheep have been jumping over these hurdles time and time again as I’ve been trying to get to sleep, and last night especially, goodness knows how many times I turned things over in my head. With time pressing, though, today I had to come up with a final plan for how on Earth things were going to be successful. And with Baba G’s help, here are my solutions.

To combat the time issue, I’m left with very little choice apart from just immense organisation and preparation. As far as focus groups are concerned, I will start just be holding a very informal one tomorrow with Chamila and her friends, and Baba G will be around for translation. Time is more of an issue for mapping. The lunch break is half an hour. This needs to involve eating time, and freshening up and washing hands and all the rest. So, as much as possible will be prepared in advance. Any aspects of the mapping that can be done prior to the session will be done, so instead of asking the workers to create the map (which would have been fun), I will prepare a skeleton outline of the district, including main towns and the sea. Instructions will also be kept brief and to the point. If clarity is maintained, and the session well prepared for, then hopefully, although brief, I will be able to get some data collected for my time geography take on the movements of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese employees through the district on a daily basis.

Hurdle No. 1: Jumped

I’m losing Baba G to Colombo, and I don’t want to use a male employee, but there is a very kind lady in HR who speaks good English and seems very approachable, so Baba G is going to ask her to join the sessions and translate for me. I’m also going to hold a pilot run of the participatory mapping session on Monday, with the girls from my packing section. They know me, and Baba G will be there to explain exactly what’s going on, and the HR lady too with any luck, so that she will know the drill for future sessions. Also, if this first pilot run is successful, and the girls from my packing section ‘get it’ (I’m going to try not to be too obscure… a common trait of a human geographer, I fear), then I’m going to recruit a couple of them to be my research assistants. One girl is half Sinhalese and half Tamil, so I’m really hoping she’ll be able to help with translation in later sessions if any of the Tamil workers need further explanation. She’s shy though, which is my one concern right now. I hope she agrees. I will also write up the ‘instructions’ for the mapping session in very clear, simple language, so that then it can be translated into Sinhalese instructions, which will limit the talking I need to do. Things said during the session by the workers can hopefully either be translated by the HR lady or filmed for later translation (with the participants’ permission, of course).

Hurdle No. 2: Jumped

I don’t think the factory floor or the canteen will work as locations, but Baba G and I quizzed Mrs. G at lunch time today, and it’s been decided that a meeting room near the canteen will be okay. Food can be eaten there, and we shouldn’t have (too many) interruptions. And there’ll be air conditioning, which is just a small bonus for me, because I find the factory floor very hot and I’ll probably be a little flustered during the sessions anyway.

Hurdle 3: Jumped

As I mentioned, I’m hoping to recruit some of my packing line to be my research assistants. By the end of the session on Monday, I hope they’ll be very clear about what on earth I’m doing. Chamila and Tamhara didn’t seem fazed when Baba G was explaining things today, so I’m hopeful. I need to stop saying hope. It’s asking for trouble really, isn’t it!? Anyway, I’m going to ask them to find recruits for future sessions from lines who have the same lunch times, and they are already starting to get that I need a mix of ethnicities. In fact, I think work of my research is starting to spread through the factory. One girl came up to me today, and with a big smile on her face, simply said, “Tamil!” I laughed and thanked her very much, and asked her name and told her mine. I feel this bodes well, if girls are not shy about what ethnicity they are and are eager to contribute, then this is going to make the whole thing a lot simpler. I’m planning also on having a day in between each session, to give my research assistants time to find recruits for the next one – there should be about four in total.

Hurdle 4: Jumped

My hurdles seem to be dealt with. The sheep can remain peaceful tonight. Although, really, there is just so much space for everything to fall to pieces. I’m just praying that if and when disaster strikes, the result is nothing worse than laughter! It’s going to be a manic week.

Factory Observations: Day 3

I bought breakfast on the way to work today – two sweet bread things from the bakery and a bottle of mango juice, all for about 50p. I hadn’t quite finished by the time I got to work, and I didn’t want to risk missing the start of the morning routine, so I took the last morsels through to the packing area to finish it there. The morning routine hadn’t started yet, so people were just lounging around. Tamhara patted the cardboard next to her so I went and perched there until the morning songs and exercise began. The workers in the packing section are all very friendly with each other, it seems, and I assume it’s the same with other parts of the factory too. As we were sitting there waiting for things to begin there was a very relaxed atmosphere. There were I think four of the Sinhalese girls from my line, and two of the boys. One of the girls was sitting on the box next to one of the boys, and had her arm draped across his leg, but not in any context beyond that of being friends. The men and women are clearly all just very comfortable with each other and get on well.

Things all got quite exciting when I was introduced to some new jobs today! I have gone past just label assembly – I am now attaching labels too, and even got to use the kimble gun to attach some of them. There’s a big shipment they’re preparing for, so the packing section were asked to do overtime tonight. I stayed on for an extra hour until being summoned by Mrs G and Baba G, but the rest are still there now and will be until around midnight, finishing things off. I had intended to stay with them a little longer than I did, but the driver came earlier than I expected due a misunderstanding – I felt so bad leaving, but I think the fact that I stayed behind at all pleased them. Gestures like this, I feel, are really important for maintaining and improving relations with the workers and for reducing power relations.

I’m getting on increasingly well with the girls, and some of the boys I’m getting to know too. And they seem to approve of the work I’m doing, as whenever a manager wanders over, I get compliments like ‘honda’ (good), and have been told I’m quick and smart. Thank god. Apart from little visits from managers, lots of girls from other sections and production lines drop by during the day, either just to watch me or to try to make conversation. Today, I noticed it was mostly Muslim girls who came over to talk to me, one who kept returning with different friends to introduce to me. I tried asking their names in Sinhalese, and interestingly, the regular girl (whose name I really should remember) translated this to her friends in English. They seem most confident with their English, out of the Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim workers, whilst the Tamil workers seem least confident. Perhaps different schooling curriculums?

Whenever a male worker comes over, there’s always a lot of discussion in Sinhalese, and a lot of glances in my direction accompanied by laughter. It’s not too unnerving, and I usually end up throwing my hands up in the air saying ‘Now what?!’ Chamila is sneaky as anything, and giggles a lot, and going by previous conversations with her, I have a horrible feeling she and the other girls are trying to select a male employer to be my boyfriend, despite my protesting. There’s another girl called Chamila, in another section, and she seems to be in the minority of workers who come to work wearing makeup. Chamila 2 came up to me today and held her hand out, palm up. I had no idea what she was doing, but it looked like she wanted to take my hand. I hesitated, so instead she took hold of my hand and turned it palm up too. She was comparing. She then turned it back over, and examined the skin on my arm for a little while. The other girls were watching, smiling, and explained ‘white, beautiful!’ Just like many white women just want a good tan, the girls out here are the opposite in that they just want to be fair. It’s the same in a lot of South and South East Asian countries, and perhaps in other areas too, and thankfully I’m familiar with this otherwise Chamila 2’s examination would have been a little unnerving I think.

That’s all for now – I’ve probably forgotten 101 things, but that’s why I’m going in every day. I know I said I’d put up details of my rough plan of action today, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

2nd Factory Day

I think after last night’s splurge on blog posts, I’m going to keep this one short. I walked down to the factory this morning – it’s about a ten minute walk from the house, on a road that first runs alongside the lake, and then divides at a roundabout with the big blue and white clocktower at the centre. Although it’s short, it’s a nice walk – it’s quite a peacefgul town, and on the far side of the lake there’s a big white temple that gleams in the sunlight across the serene water.

I joined in with the morning routine – singing little parts of the anthem, and participating with the dance. The girls in the packing line insisted I stand in front of them, primarily so they could laugh at me. They’re absolute devils.

I spent the day assembling more labels, memorising more names, and rehearsing more Sinhalese. I hadn’t had breakfast, as although I eat some seafood, I can’t deal with it when it’s very fishy. This morning I was presented with very fishy pancakes, and I’m afraid I left it. When the factory workers found out, everybody went into a panic trying to find food for me until I was told Mrs G had brought sandwiches for me and put them in the office. I popped off to eat them as quickly as I could and hurried back to packing to resume with label assembly.

I was feeling so much more awake today, which was a huge relief, and like yesterday I had plenty of visitors, and many more laughs shared with the workers. One man came over and started to speak to Tamhara, whilst holding her arm. When his back was turned, I whispered, ‘Your boy!?’. ‘No! No!’, she remonstrated. ‘He’s black boy!’. I was confused at first – I wasn’t sure if she’d said bad boy or black boy. Then Chamila pointed to the skin on her arm saying, ‘black, black!’. It’s true, he was darker than the others, but I hadn’t expected them to use it as a reason not to date a boy! They also explained that he was fat, so it looked like he was pregnant. None of this was said to his face, but there was so much sniggering that I think he might have realised we were talking about him. Poor chap.

I went back to the house for lunch and to freshen up a bit. I should perhaps try to spend some more time in the canteen, but it’s nice to have a proper break so that I can collect my thoughts. And I do get ridiculously hot in the factory. There’s a fan above our heads, but at times it just feels like it’s blowing more hot air at us, and I can feel myself perspiring.

After lunch, same again, and the girls and one of the boys took it in turns to write down their names in Sinhalese, encouraging me to then write it in English beneath. I had to guess at spellings, but I think I got it just about right. Rainuka, one of the Tamil girls in the line, refused to write her name, despite me saying with a smile that she could write it in Tamil, so instead Chamila wrote it for her. Rainuka had been shy yesterday, even with the Sinhalese girls, but this perhaps was due to my presence, as today she seemed chattier, and although I can’t understand the language, she seems able to converse with the Sinhalese girls.

At tea time, the girls all go to the canteen, but yesterday I went to the office instead. Today however I decided to join them in the canteen, and they were absolutely thrilled. They herded me on through amongst the throng of other workers all heading in the same direction, and we all found a table together, and sat sipping tea and dipping biscuits. Just as with morning routine, I felt like all eyes were on me, but thankfully, all of these eyes were also accompanied by big smiles, and curious whispers. I heard later from Dharma Sir that apparently all the girls had been really pleased that I joined them, and despite the managers offering me the private room to the side of the canteen where senior staff have tea, I declined and said I’d rather sit with the girls. It was mostly just packing girls from my line at the table, but Rainuka had gone to sit elsewhere so it was just the Sinhalese girls. I scanned quickly around the room, and I could see Muslim girls had mixed in with everyone else: they’re distinguishable because of the clothes they wear and the colourful headscarves. At some tables it was just boys, but some of the boys had mixed in with the women workers too. I still find it difficult to tell Tamil from Sinhalese, especially at a distance if I can’t see whether or not they have a talika or bindi. I’m going to keep going for tea in the canteen, as I think this is an important space to observe as the girls choose who they seat themselves with, rather than the production and packing lines where they do not choose who they are next to.

After tea, Chamila and Tamhara were chatting away to me – I say this as if we were in fluent conversation – far from it, but there were lots of moments today of prolonged interaction, involving a mixture of stunted language, hand gestures, drawings, facial expressions and laughter. They then proceeded to invite me to their houses. Although they live about 30km away, I think there’s a possibility that I’ll go to Chamila’s house on Sunday, when they should hopefully all have a day off. I’ll try to find out more about this tomorrow.

I walked home at the end of the day, mulling things over, and since then I’ve had a very careful think about the logistics of focus groups and participatory diagramming/mapping sessions. I’ve got a rough plan of action, which I’ll share with you tomorrow, but I think things are starting to take shape nicely.

My First Day as a Garment Factory Worker!

I crawled out of bed at 6am this morning feeling very sorry for myself – yes, another night with little sleep. Tonight I’m determined, hence why I’m now on a massive typing spree so I can get everything out of my head and into cyberspace so it’s not flying around stopping me from sleeping. Dharma Sir, a manager who’s staying at Family G’s house in Ampara gave me a lift in, ready for my first full day of participant observation for my research project. He was chatting away chirpily: “I tell all the girls you must do good things and you will get good things in return!” he explained as we neared the factory. “Do you go to church every Sunday? My wife is a Christian. But I am Buddhist! But still I tell the girls to do good things and God will be kind to you”. I explained I only went to church sometimes. “Oooh you must always go to church! Always, always go to church!” – he managed to repeat this a further four times, and was still telling me how good the girls are as we walked into the factory and to his office. He showed me his Buddha shrine, where many of the girls come in the morning to offer flowers and pray. He himself has a long morning routine of arriving in his office and lighting his oil lamp and offering flowers to Buddha and praying earnestly.

I left him to it as I felt like I was intruding a little, and went to wander around the factory. I stood next to a machine that was quietly whirring, and gazed at the empty factory floor, dimly lit only by the morning sunshine that was filtering through the windows. Then, as I was gazing, there was a movement, and I realised that there was a man sleeping on a pile of trouser fabric, about 6 metres from where I was standing. Then I started because I suddenly realised another man was sleeping on a heap barely 3 metres from me. I really hope they weren’t awake, because it must have seemed like I was staring right at them…

I continued to wander for the next twenty minutes, occasionally popping back into Dharma Sir’s office to see the long stream of girls depositing flowers at Buddha’s feet. Then, as 7am neared, we went to one of the factory entrances, and greeted the girls in all three languages, along with some of the other staff. Then, we headed back inside to one half of the factory floor where the workers had congregated in long lines. A few announcements were made in multiple languages, and the National Anthem was sung in Sinhalese, and then a kind of tribute was spoken to the factory, recited by the workers with hand on heart – this was said in at least two of the three factory languages (Sinhalese, Tamil and Urdu). And then it was time to exercise. Music was played out over the speakers, and the exercises were a short routine containing arm whirling movements, high-knee marching on the spot whilst patting alternate thighs, and then some more patting and clapping, all in time to the music. Some did this rather half-heartedly, and I joined in trying to look happy about it (it really is quite bizarre, but oddly fun) because most workers’ eyes in the room seemed to be trained on me with smirks and giggles and grins to be seen everywhere, and then there were a few who really went for it, including some of the boys at the ends of the lines. Very enthusiastic marching/dancing: good for them, I suppose!

It took a lot of explaining, hanging around, explaining more and then just outright telling the packing area manager what to do, before I eventually was allowed a spot with one of the packing sections. The managers had been a little confused by it all, and kept just trying to explain factory processes to me, again. Eventually I just said to one of them “Just find a job for me to do, any simple job, please.” He looked puzzled for a couple of seconds and then said hesitantly, “Okay, quality checking?” As this hadn’t really been the plan, and I didn’t trust myself to be checking the quality of garments, I said “No, packing will be okay.” So, he took me over, and before too long I was seated and contentedly (though sleepily) assembling labels surrounded by several giggling and curious Sinhalese girls, one quieter Tamil girl, and several curious-from-a-distance boys.

I had no idea this photo was being taken, as Baba G had sneaked up on me, but the girls instantly noticed and grinned readily. I couldn’t figure out why they were smiling so much until I turned around.

 

I got the hang of label assembling pretty quickly, and gradually got faster as they day went by. There were times when I considered just getting up, leaving and going to bed and coming back tomorrow, but then thought better of myself and stuck to my guns. I gradually got round to talking to the girls too, trying out tiny bits of Sinhalese here and there, and in return they were attempting English. Big barrier, but lots of laughter involved too, which made it much more fun to actually try the language.  A good ice breaker was learning numbers. I’m now up to twenty, and the girls with me, Chamila and Tamara were using me to demonstrate their teaching skills; whenever a manager came past they would make me count up to twenty, quickly correcting me wherever I went wrong. They put me to shame though, because they can rattle out all of their English numbers with ease. I was asked my name, my age, where I was from (Australia or England?), father and mother, brothers and sisters, and I must have looked nicely hot and sweaty as another common question was “England cool?”

Interestingly, or amusingly, or both, one of the questions they were keenest to ask was whether I had a ‘boy’ (boyfriend). They asked if I had a boy in England, a boy in Sri Lanka (no and no) and later on went back to asking again (no, I still don’t). They suggested ‘Sri Lankan boy – Nice boy!’ to me, which made me laugh. One of the men who’s joined the conversation was busy claiming that the girl next to me was his ‘match’, whilst the other girls were saying ‘Yes, yes, he’s her boy!’, to which she was shaking her head profusely, whilst blushing and saying ‘Ne, ne!’. He gave me a knowing look after the girls suggested I get a Sri Lankan boy, and said “Aaah, white boy!” as if I’d silently rejected any idea of getting a Sri Lankan boy. They all laughed again.

Everybody was very curious, workers and managers alike. I had a lot of people coming up to me during the day to try to find out more about me. Often it would just be a couple of girls who’d sneaked over from their section, who would stand next to me watching me, giggling and whispering, and would then go over to one of the girls in my section to ask questions. They were all less than subtle, which actually made it far more bearable because they were so open with their curiosity that I didn’t feel uncomfortable. The girls in my section would then laughingly introduce the visiting girls to me, and the girls would either be too shy to talk, or would attempt conversation with varying success levels. If a manager ever appeared everyone would hurry back to their positions. Although usually they were well aware in advance of manager’s positions. Tamara or Chamila would say a manager’s name to me, and I would look around, but for minutes I wouldn’t be sure why they’d said this name. Then, the person would suddenly appear. The power of the grapevine. These little exchanges made the day fun, and interesting; I dread to think of how much chatter there must have been about me though, and goodness knows what they must have been saying! I’m trying very hard to learn their names, and I’m trying simultaneously to improve my Sinhalese.

I know I’m calling the workers girls, but everybody seems to refer to them as girls and I’m not trying to be derogatory. I think it’s because they’re constructed as the factory’s daughters, in a way. There are very strong family related discourses that run throughout the factory. These discourses have been prominent since Premadasa’s 200 GFP, if not before, although especially since then due to parental concern over the lack of supervision in urban garment factories. It was very important then to construct rural factories as safe, family orientated spaces where parents are happy for their children to work. Indeed, at this one, they even have songs at home time to honour the workers’ families, and everyone stands with their hands pressed together, singing along, at 5:30pm on the dot. Then, the workers all run out to the buses like excited schoolchildren. Despite the early morning, I’m looking forward to work tomorrow! I think it should be good fun, and hopefully I’ll improve my Sinhalese a little more.

 

Satellite Factory

A small garment factory

This is a picture I took inside the small satellite factory we visited yesterday. This factory is almost entirely devoted to machine operations, but only has around 150 employees and just 3 production lines. The factory I’m starting work in tomorrow has about 1600 employees (this figure keeps changing depending on who I ask), 25 production lines, CAD, fabric and trim stores, marking and cutting (both machine-operated and manual), trimming, 4 packing lines, a washing and dyeing plant nearby, and more. The only thing I’m qualified enough to try is packing, so that’s where I’ll be tomorrow. For those who are just joining the blog – I’ll be joining in with factory work in order to conduct participant observation, which is a very useful and insightful social research method. Baba G reassures me it’s pretty much ‘monkey see, monkey do’ kind of work, but I’m still a little concerned I’ll make a mistake… Yikes, wish me luck!

Day 8 Observations

I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep last night, perhaps almost three hours even, so as you can imagine, I wasn’t exactly feeling fresh and fantastic when my alarm went off at 5:30am this morning. I tried to get a little sleep in the car on the way across to Ampara though, and although I didn’t get to enjoy much of the countryside, I was feeling a little better by the time the car pulled up outside one of the satellite factories.

The glimpses I did catch of the scenery were just stunning. Palm trees blossom out of the ground wherever you look, lakes and rivers shimmer in the shady green of dense vegetation, and emerald mountains proudly challenge the sapphire overhead. Nestled amongst the fronds of tropical jungle are little houses, some made of little more than wattle and daub, with enormous leaves woven into their rooftops. These homes, or gayas, are spread far apart to create large sprawling communities, some with electricity, some without, some with running water, some with wells. Every now and again, atop a hill, you can spot a large Buddha, reflecting golden sunlight off golden skin, and when you reach a town, the everyday hubbub fills the streets as tuk tuks motor around, street dogs meander from shop to shop, women stroll under colourful umbrellas, and plantation workers crowd into the trailers of old rusty tractors.

I’m not attempting to be hyperbolic with the above description; rural Sri Lanka is just like something out of a film, making the distance between Ampara and Colombo – which is barely a six hour drive – feel much longer. The roads have been greatly improved recently, and most are smooth and free of potholes, although they are not quite as well kept as you reach more Eastern parts. The first factory we reached was a small factory with about 150 employees. It was shut, because it’s the weekend, but the manager came to let us in, and I had the chance to ask him a few questions about the factory. Whilst the workforce is predominantly Sinhalese, there are also employees of Tamil and Muslim ethnicity, but this does not cause problems in the factory as most of them are able to speak Sinhalese. Even in the small canteen, apparently, employees will all sit together regardless of ethnicity. They come from a roughly 10km radius, and are collected in a lorry each morning from selected pick up points in each community. One of the first things I noticed was the brand of the sewing machines; “Oh! Juki!” I exclaimed, and then explained that the book I’d just finished reading was all about the ‘Juki girl’ stigma. I asked if any of the girls here were labelled with the ‘Juki girl’ nickname, and the manager laughed and said “Not any more”.  Baba G went on to confirm that this is a respectable job, unlike some of the city-based garment factories. Overhead in the factory were lots of motivational signs, one of which read ‘Unity is Power’. I also noticed that there were two flags displayed in the factory: the Sri Lanka flag and the Sinhala Buddhist flag, and in one of the offices was a large golden Buddha, visible to the factory floor.

We moved on from there and went to Baba G’s house in Ampara to dump our things and freshen up before visiting the big factory that I’ll be researching. I was expecting this one to also be empty, but various stations had people working at them, getting various pieces finished off. Today, the workforce seemed to be surprisingly evenly constituted of men and women, however, there can’t have been many more than 400 workers there today, and I’m told there are nearly 2000. They’ll all be there tomorrow, so I’ll see then what the workforce dynamics are like. Baba G took me on a tour of the factory, and introduced me to various supervisors and other employees whom she knows from previous visits. I was also introduced to the manager of the factory, who’s a very jovial man who’s going to give me a thorough tour of the factory tomorrow morning. Everyone seems to be very amused by the idea of me coming to work in the factory, but not unpleasantly so. I had a couple of gentle punches on the arm from one woman, and a few giggles accompanied by ‘(something something) Sinhalese?’ from another, to whom I smiled and shook my head. I’m learning bits, although apparently a lot of the workers have a basic grasp of English too. On the whole, everyone Baba G introduced me to seemed very welcoming, but I will admit I am a little nervous. The speed of the girls who were stickering pieces of fabric was phenomenal, so will I keep up? And language is not going to be straightforward, so I really hope I don’t make mistakes. I’ll only be putting things into boxes with labels I think, but there’s always space for error. I have no idea what I’ll do at lunch time, who I’ll sit with or what I’ll eat, and I don’t even know whether I should take a bottle of water with me or quite what. Apparently all the other workers have their own cups, so should I take my own also? Whilst there are these unanswered questions, I think these are all things I’ll learn in the next couple of days. And I’m also excited. Realistically, I don’t think for a minute that I’ll be shown the slightest bit of hostility, judging on the responses I saw today.

As far as what I should be wearing is concerned, the women in the factory were wearing long skirts, knee length skirts, or trousers, with a t-shirt or blouse, so that’s easy enough to replicate. And the majority seem to slip their shoes off too while working, which saves hot and sore feet by the end of the day. I might go shopping tomorrow for some more basic t-shirts though: the manager told me that Tuesday would be a 7am start, and I won’t finish until around 5pm, so I want to be comfortable on what are likely to be quite long and tiring days. I’m now shattered – there’s probably more I should be writing about today but I’ll have to amalgamate it into tomorrow’s observations. Night for now!

P.S. Baba G has just decided to go through my blog. The elderly gentleman previously mentioned who appeared in the kitchen the other day was her driver, he’s not that elderly, and he was wearing a sarong, not a towel. Also, she’s told me what the maids call me: Sudhu Baba. White Baby.

Observing. Carefully. And more.

One of the methods I want to use throughout the project is participant observation. In essence, watching. But with some very important ingredients thrown in. Firstly, as Charles Darwin notes at the very beginning of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, it’s more than just noticing what’s going on. It’s about observing things carefully. Secondly, participation. This is the key element. I’ve already decided on a participatory approach, hence why I will be pursuing some intensely qualitative methods, and participant observation can provide very insightful data. So how to participate in a garment factory in Sri Lanka?

Work there.

Initially I was led to believe that I would only be allowed to ‘cut thread’. Now, however, it would seem that the packing team are always enthusiastic for more people. Feeling chuffed at having been promoted!

On a serious note, there are considerations, such as language barriers and how I will be received by the other employees. I am hoping that by joining the women in the factory, some of whom will (hopefully) be participants in later research such as focus groups and participatory diagramming, I will be able to start building up a positive rapport with them and diminishing any constrictive power relations between us.

It will also provide me with an introduction to factory employment as they see it – the tasks performed during the day, the social interactions within the workplace, the attitudes towards one another and so on.

I hope that also, once it gets to holding participatory groups activities such as focus groups and participatory diagramming, there will be fewer barriers to communication, less uncertainty among the participants about who I am and what I am doing, and a more relaxed and familiar atmosphere.