Life without maids and helpers<\/p>\n
As the annual exodus of people returning to their hometowns
\nduring the Idul Fitri begins, many middle and upper income
\nfamilies start having headaches. Their housemaids, cooks, baby
\nsitters, drivers are on leave, forcing the family to do the
\nhousehold chores. How could you survive without domestic helpers?
\nasks The Jakarta Post's contributor Tri Hafiningsih.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The long holidays have just started. Everybody
\nis getting ready to enjoy the coming celebrations: Christmas,
\nIdul Fitri and New Year.<\/p>\n
Imagine a week full of parties and family gatherings. What a
\njoy. But then imagine the dirty plates and glasses, and all the
\nmess. Oh no!<\/p>\n
We are unfamiliar with the endless household chores like doing
\nthe dishes, laundry, cooking, housecleaning, or taking out the
\ngarbage and taking care of the children. And why should we bother
\nwith all these chores? We have maids, cooks, baby sitters,
\ndrivers, gardeners and even satpam (security guards). But now
\nthey are all away for the long holiday.<\/p>\n
We know the risks and responsibilities of the annual ritual.
\nWe face the same problem every year. It would only last for two
\nor three weeks but since we had not been doing these chores, we
\ncannot cope without our domestic helpers longer than that.<\/p>\n
As for Nanies, for example, the helpers are \"part of the
\nhousehold system.\" She has had the luxury of having a family of
\nfour as her helpers, and a driver that has worked for them for
\nyears. Salamah, her husband Pak Nana, daughter Lis, and niece Lia
\nare the second and third generations of helpers in the family.<\/p>\n
Her husband Djamal Kamal, who owns a factory and designs
\nfurniture, prefers more privacy with \"not too many people
\naround.\" But for the family living in a spacious house on the
\n2,000 square-meter land in Condet, East Jakarta, life without
\nhelpers would probably be out of the question.<\/p>\n
Another couple with three young children consider maids and
\nbaby sitters as their substitutes when they are at work. \"Without
\nthem, I simply can't work,\" said Mulyati, who conducts math
\ncourses in her home in Cawang, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Tradition<\/p>\n
We still maintain the tradition of having the pembantu
\n(helper) though it is sometimes difficult to fit them in more
\n\"modern\" domiciles like apartments.<\/p>\n
For the Imaldi Agoestian family who lives in an apartment in
\nSouth Jakarta, two maids and a driver are the norm.<\/p>\n
Imaldi and his wife Ninik are both employed. They simply
\ncannot leave their five and nine-year-old daughters by themselves
\nduring office hours. So the two maids take care of the girls
\nalong with all the cooking and cleaning chores, while the driver
\ndrives the children to and from school in their family van.<\/p>\n
There should be a well-designed schedule to follow during the
\ntemporary absence of helpers. Some families make their hometown-
\nbound trips during their maids' annual absence.<\/p>\n
Salamah and her family would make the necessary preparations
\nfor the Kamal family before they go on their annual leave to
\nSukabumi, West Java. It would be more work than usual. The
\npreparations would include cooking several day's meals, as well
\nas for the Idul Fitri celebration, putting them in containers,
\nand storing them in the freezer. Pak Nana would have to do the
\noverall cleaning of the house and its yard.<\/p>\n
For the other helpers, the preparations would also mean
\nwashing the curtains, bedsheets, and cleaning the windows,
\nceilings, garage and storeroom.<\/p>\n
When their two house maids are on leave Dina and Benny take
\nturns in doing the washing, cleaning and caring for the children.<\/p>\n
Kusuma prefers to postpone the \"hard work\" such as the
\ncleaning and the laundry until the helpers are back. \"As for
\ndinner, the easier task, we dine out,\" she said.<\/p>\n
New jobs<\/p>\n
Most of us can afford domestic helpers because their salaries
\nare quite low. There is no standard salary for a domestic help.
\nIn fact there are no regulations on the rights of domestic
\nhelpers and obligations of the employers. There is also no
\nworking contract to sign. Even if there were one, not all will be
\nable to sign it because many of them are illiterate.<\/p>\n
While the minimum labor wage for Jakarta is Rp 344,257 a month
\n(it will be raised to Rp 426,250 effective Jan 1, 2000), a house
\nmaid generally receives between Rp 150,000 and Rp 300,000 a
\nmonth. Some employers treat the domestic helpers as part of the
\nfamily and provide them with their daily necessities - from
\ntoothpaste and soaps to clothes and sanitary napkins and also a
\ndecent room and proper food. But many housemaids have to buy the
\nbasic needs themselves, sleep on the floor and eat the employers'
\nleftovers.<\/p>\n
House maids have no fixed working hours. It all depends on the
\nemployer's goodwill. But generally they work long hours, from
\ndawn, before the employer wakes up, till late at night, after the
\nchildren have gone to bed. They also have to work seven days a
\nweek.<\/p>\n
Many of the helpers who are satisfied and accept the working
\nconditions would return to their jobs after the annual leave. But
\nmany more would look for better \"opportunities\" like working for
\nfamilies who promise higher salaries, or become factory workers,
\nshop attendants, seamstresses or tailors as these are more
\npromising jobs (though not necessarily higher paying).<\/p>\n
Murni said she decided to find another job because as a
\nhousemaid, she did not have time for herself.<\/p>\n
\"I want to work in a factory, so that I can have time to hang
\naround,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Replacement<\/p>\n
What would happen if our maids did not return to work? We
\nwould look for others to replace them. \"Otherwise we would be in
\ntrouble,\" many of us would say.<\/p>\n
In a panic, we would try every possible way to find suitable
\nreplacements. We would try to call family and friends to know if
\nthey have \"spare\" maids to work for us, or we would call labor
\nagents to know if they have someone available.<\/p>\n
If we are really lucky (it seldom happens, unfortunately), the
\nnew maid(s) would be available.<\/p>\n
Then we have to cope with problems concerning the new maids.
\nSome of us are familiar with newcomers who stay only for a few
\nweeks or even a few days. They will say that they can't stay, and
\nleave.<\/p>\n
And there is the \"freshman\" type. This is the first time that
\nthey are away from their villages, so as they are really new on
\nthe job and they cannot seem to do anything right. Though they
\nwould accept a low salary and stay on longer, we would probably
\nlose our patience of having them around.<\/p>\n
It takes a mountain of patience to teach someone who does not
\nunderstand that mopping also means cleaning the floor. \"They just
\nmop the floor, or wash the clothes. They don't clean them,\"
\ncommented Mortiara, who had to face this ordeal several times
\nbefore getting an experienced maid.<\/p>\n
But what could you expect from a maid who lives in the village
\nand in a bamboo house without cement flooring? Perhaps, they had
\nnever seen ceramic tiles before, let alone, gas stoves,
\nrefrigerators or microwaves.<\/p>\n
With all these problems, would you prefer to live without
\nmaids?<\/p>\n
Benny admitted he could not imagine a family life without
\nhelpers. \"For two or three months? Maybe. We've gone through
\nthat. But permanently? I don't know,\" he said.<\/p>\n
It will be a long time before we will be ready to face
\nhousehold chores without a feeling of desperation that the maids
\nhave not returned or that there are no replacements too.<\/p>\n
Maids and helpers are certainly an important part of our
\nhousehold. Family life without maids or helpers? Of course it is
\npossible, but not in the near future.<\/p>",
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