“I am Emerensiana. I did not nish junior high. I also tap rubber trees.”
I squirmed. Those two participants lowered their voices when mentioning that they work as rubber tappers. So did the others who earned a living foraging the forest. On the other hand, Petronela Lia and another participants who worked at oil palm plantations seemed to be more con dent. I found out later that they were indeed proud to be called employees rather than mere farmers.
“Kade’ pegawai kan bagaji (employees have salaries),” said Lia. Like her colleagues, Lia quit school in senior high.
I squirmed once more. Wow, if they can no longer be proud to be farmers, only for those two words, this could spell a disaster. Right that week I immediately invited them to discuss the two terms: employee and salary.