CHAPTER 4

This is really what type of life Aliyah have.

Aliyah wakes at 3:00 a.m. at her small apartment, a 2 hours ride going to the factory where she is working. She arrives at the factory at 5:00 a.m. for a quick free meal at the canteen, then starts work at 6:00 a.m.

6:00 a.m.  The Shift Begins

Inside one of the world’s largest electronics factories based in Asian country, Aliyah, sits on a stool and assembles computer hard drives for an American company.

Her task is to help complete 1,600 hard drives — her workshop’s daily quota — and to make sure everyone is perfect. Seated in the middle of the assembly line in her black sports shirt, faded jeans and company-mandated white plastic slippers, she waits for the conveyor belt to deliver a partly assembled rectangular hard drive to her station. She places two plastic chips inside the drive’s casing, inserts a device that redirects light in the drive and then fastens four screws with an electric screwdriver before sending the drive down the line. She has exactly one minute to complete the multistep task.

Working at a company known for its precision manufacturing and military-style regimentation or the strict discipline enforced is not easy. Aliyah can take her cellphone to work, as long as it doesn’t have a camera, but no MP3 players are allowed. She can chat with other line workers, but on the line there are no wasted movements; they have been analyzed and tested with a stopwatch. If you do the same thing all day long you can become numb, but she gotten used to doing this type of work. She does not complain. This is her job, and for now she’s comfortable doing it.

Precision manufacturing is defined as the manufacture of individual pieces with extreme accuracy. This type of machining is used to make parts for various machines, including medical, aeronautical, and any other industry that requires identical parts to be created in large quantities.

11:00 am. Lunch Break

Time for a subsidized or a free meal at the canteen. This day, she had rice and scrambled egg with tomato and eggplant.

11:30 a.m. End of break time / Back on the Line

6:00 p.m. The Shift Ends.

9:00 p.m. She is at home to Sleep,

Aliyah returns to the apartment she shares with her friends.

She’s renting a room together with her cousin and two friends.

They are renting a room for they came from the countryside but their work place as in the city.

And every weekend Aliyah go home to her hometown.

In the countryside, Aliyah is living with her 50-year old grandmother Elsa together with her Aunt Clara and Uncle Peter with 7 children.

Their life in the countryside is not easy.

Aliyah belongs to a poor family living nearby the sea.

Their way of life is catching fish and selling fish on the market.

Her Uncle Peter is a fisherman.

Whenever her Uncle Peter go back from fishing, Clara her uncle’s wife and her grandmother Elsa sell the catches fish to their neighbor or on the market to earn money for a living.

Way back when Aliyah is just a teenager, she is also a fish vendor. But when Aliyah finished her study under the government program called alternative learning system or ALS.

It is a parallel learning system that provides a practical option to the existing formal instruction. When one does not have or cannot access formal education in schools, ALS is an alternate or substitute. ALS includes both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.

Why is there a need for alternative learning system?

Because many children from poor family  do not have a chance to attend and finish formal basic education (Grades 1-6 and Year 1-4) due to many reasons. Some drop out from schools while some do not have schools in their communities. Since every citizen has a right to free basic education, the government establishes ALS to provide all citizen the chance to have access to and complete basic education in a mode that fits their distinct situations and needs.

From that, Aliyah finished her studies and lend a job in the city.

Out of her salary she is helping her family in providing their basic needs.  

 Because of that Aliyah stays single and don’t get married yet.

Aside from that she has a personality disorder so finding partner in life is very difficult for her.

Her previous relationship all ends in break up for all men that who became her relationship partner don’t understand her attitude and behavior.     

For she always experience constant changes in emotions.

 In short, for Aliyah, everything feels unstable: moods, thinking, and behavior—even identity. Even her likes and dislikes change frequently in ways that feel confusing and unclear.

As a result her relationship partner leave her or vice versa.

Aliyah wants to say goodbye whenever she noticed there is a change of treatment than usual from her partner.

She end the relationship to avoid the feeling of being hurt or the feeling of being abandon.

On the other hand, Atif life is the opposite of what Aliyah have.

He is consider as a young billionaire in the society where he belong. He has all possessions that needed in order to be happy or successful.

Atif seemed to have everything – good looks, charm, and plenty of money.