Working conditions

The following is a report of one specific person's working conditions here in Kenya. Not just any person, but a person whom we know very well. We will not use this person's name, though.

What do you say about this:

You have education, but the only job that you could manage to get was to work in an Internet cafe. You are in charge of the Internet cafe, but you have a manager who is your boss. You do not have any colleague. The Internet cafe covers about 10 square meters in a building with an outside area that is dangerous after daylight has disappeared.

You start work at 8am and you are supposed to be finished by 6.30pm. But quite often you may have to work until 7pm and even until 9pm. You are not paid overtime. You work 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday. You do not get any paid days off, even less vacation. Just a couple of days during holidays like Christmas. You better not get sick. You need to bring food for lunch and eat in between handling clients. If you need to go to the toilet, you should be extremely quick.

You work 63 hours a week and more than 3000 hours a year. Then the extra unpaid hours are not counted. Including those extra hours, you may work around 70 hours or more a week.

Your payment is 6000 Kenyan shillings a month. That is about 450 kroner  -  a month! And when buying food in the shop, you pay almost the same for each product as we do in Norway. Some products are even more expensive here.

It does not make it easier to have a kid. There is no child support.

Try to make one month in Norway if you only have 450 kroner to spend.....!