A half day at school means it’s time to enjoy eating your meal to satisfy your hunger. But Manoj Gurung has never got a half holiday. If he asks for a half day, his employer rebukes him and threatens to fire him.[break]
He has never attended a school. The 12-year-old Manoj works in a hotel by the highway and he is busy picking up after customers. Even though it’s time for the school students to eat their lunch, Manoj still hasn’t eaten his first meal of the day. “Of course, I’m hungry but we’re only allowed to eat after work,” he says.
He has to wake up by five in the morning and by the time he gets to bed, it’s usually 10 pm. Because he works in a hotel by the highway, there’s no scheduled time for waking up and sleeping. He explains, “Here we’ve have to get up at any time if a customer comes.”
In his previous job at another hotel he earned Rs 500 per month. It’s been three months in this hotel and now he earns Rs 1500 per month. “I had to do a lot of work in the previous hotel and the pay was also less. It’s easier here. I don’t have to wash that many dishes,” he says.
The money he earns doesn’t come to him. “Sometimes my father comes from the village and takes the money. It’s been three months he hasn’t come here for the money,” he says. His home is in a remote village in Dhading district. He has two sisters and one brother who live with their parents.
On starting work he received a pair of new clothes. “This is new,” he says happily, showing the clothes he is wearing. It’s been three months since he received the new clothes.
He wants to go to school. “I wanted to but I could never go. The school was very far in our village. And here at work, there’s no time even to sleep,” he says. There are other young boys his age in the hotel. Some are younger than him. “It’s not just us. There are many others our age,” he says. Like he says, there are many like him washing dishes in the many hotels along the highway but no one has the statistics on how many exactly there are.
Manoj is just one example. The hotel he works in is quite near to Kathmandu. From time to time there are speeches on child rights in the capital. However, many like Manoj have no interest in the people who give such speeches, nor do they have any interest in children like Manoj.
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