Seeking to break the “dumb” stereotype that has stuck to Indonesian foreign domestic workers (TKW) for years, tech-savvy maids Nessa Kartika and Karina Maulana published a compilation of stories about
domestic helpers.


“We started our book project around the time of the Sumiati case. We were concerned about people still regarding us [maids] as dumb. [Thus] we wanted to show them a different side of us,” Nessa, a 27-year-old maid originally from Wonosobo, told The Jakarta Post recently. She created her own blog, nessakartika.blogspot.com, with the catchy tagline “Babu juga bisa menulis” or “a maid – babu is a derogatory term used to refer to a maid — can also write”.

Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa was a young Indonesian domestic worker who was stabbed, beaten and burned by her Saudi employer last year.
Nessa and Karina’s book, titled Karenina Singa Bauhinia, is a compilation of 13 short stories recounting the lives of domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Nessa wrote her stories from the Lion (Singa) city-state, while co-writer Karina, the 27-year-old from Blitar, penned hers from Hong Kong, which has Bauhinia flower as its national floral symbol.

Nessa has been working in Singapore for the past four years.

She met Karina – who has worked in Hong Kong since 1998 – for the first time through the social media network Facebook, out of their similar passion for writing. They then worked together on a writing competition, the UNSA (Untuk Sahabat) Award in 2010. The duo yielded a short story titled Yang Tak Kan Berakhir (Endlessness), about the long-distance love between an Indonesian migrant worker and his
girlfriend back home. The story touches upon the issue of loyalty and virginity. Their other stories revolve around relationship, life and work issues faced by migrant workers, such as romantic relations with a male employer, abusive employers, rape, prostitution, homosexuality and surrogate motherhood.
“We didn’t win the competition though. [But] we started writing more short stories on Indonesian maids, which became this book,” said Nessa, born with the name Annisa Hanifa, and daughter of domestic
worker-cum-writer Maria Boniok.

Nessa and Karina spent three months collecting and writing their stories as well as communicating mainly via chat, Facebook, SMS and over the phone.

“My working hours stretch from 6 a.m. to midnight. I rarely take my day off. The Internet and writing are my only salvation after midnight,” said Karina.
Similarly, Nessa, who has not had day off since the past two years, said: “I dug out my old stories, then rewrote and typed them up in my boss’ laptop [with their permission], after I finish the chores.”

Nessa, who last year also initiated the online community for Indonesian Migrant Workers (BMI) in Singapore through a social media account, credited her employer’s teenage son for bringing Facebook to her attention.

“He taught me how to use Facebook to play online games. Now I find it useful for writing,” she said. Nessa also hopes she will get the license to publish the book in Indonesia this year, through a Jogja-based publisher, Leutika. An English version of the book will follow soon.

Nessa and Karina are not the first Indonesian migrant workers to have published their writing. They definitely won’t be the last ones either.

Their book was printed in January by the Hong Kong-based Dragon Family Publisher, an-indie label publishing house that belongs to Mega Vristian. Vristian, also a domestic worker, produced “Nubuat Labirin Luka” (Predicting the Labirin wound), an anthology of poetry to honor the late human right defender Munir. Other migrant workers-cum-writers include Eni Kusuma who published a motivational book titled Anda Luar Biasa! (You are incredible!) in 2007, as well as Nessa’s mother Maria Bo Niok, who wrote the memoir Geliat Sang Kung Yan (The Maid's Wriggle) and a guide book for job seekers abroad, Gee Sky! Terbanglah untuk kembali (Gee Sky! Fly to return). – Agnes Winarti

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