The Billionaire's Past

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

p.m. The

at home

to the apartment she

room together with her cousin

the countryside but their work place

every weekend Aliyah go home to her

grandmother Elsa

life in the countryside is not

belongs to a poor

way of life is catching fish and selling

Uncle Peter is a

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

vendor. But when Aliyah finished her study

or cannot access formal education in schools, ALS

need for alternative

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

Aliyah finished her studies and lend

her salary she is helping her family in providing their basic