Angelina Joseph began working as a domestic worker seven years ago, at the age of 10. Reflecting upon the experiences she shared with girl domestic workers in her surrounding Tanzanian community, Angelina recalled, “we have been violated, discriminated against, and beaten, working without payment for years.” Losing the opportunity to attend school marked one of the most devastating aspects of Angelina’s childhood. When the Kivulini organization approached her five years ago at her employer’s home, however, her circumstances changed dramatically. Mobilizing hundreds of domestic workers in Tanzania, Kivulini provided Angelina with access to other child domestic workers, as well as vital education about her rights as a domestic worker. Today, she has become a leader in her organization, which strives to assist other child domestic workers in accessing their social and labor rights within domestic work contexts. Kivulini continues to advocate for domestic workers’ rights within Tanzania, in order to assure decent working conditions and the protection of child workers. As Angelina conveyed, “We can go to our government as a group, so we ask for our rights together.” This week, Angelina joined eight other former child domestic workers at the International Labour Conference. She spoke at a panel discussion on the eradication of slavery and child labor, and learned lobbying techniques by interacting with government members from her region. “I am very glad to be here in this meeting because I am not talking on my behalf, but representing the children on our behalf.” If the ILO convention is passed, Angelina hopes it will improve child domestic workers’ access to education so that they may improve their lives and the wellbeing of their surrounding communities.
I worked alongside Angelina at the ILC (with Children Unite) and just want to add my huge thanks to her for working so hard in Geneva. Angelina’s humour and comraderie brought the whole team together, I was very impressed that she learned all her speeches off by heart as she is unable to read or write. And she taught us the Swahili for Article 4 and Paragraph 4 (the parts of the draft convention that relate to child domestic workers!).