Returning maids face big cleanup job

Returning maids face big cleanup job

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

The mounds of laundry accumulated over the holiday are
decreasing, day by day; dust is swept away and the sink is
relieved of dirty dishes: The housemaids are back in town.
Meanwhile, children buckle down to study, while parents work to
keep them in school supplies. Stay-at-home mothers and fathers
wonder how they got through the week without domestic help.

In Bandung, 53-year-old mother of five Nurhayati, admitted she
had been at a loss when her housemaid Ida, 30, returned to her
hometown of Ciwidey -- 30 kilometers south of Bandung -- to
celebrate Idul Fitri with her family.

"I was confused thinking of how to do the chores, like
cleaning the house, cooking, caring for my grandchildren and
ironing the clothes," said Nurhayati who comes from Pekanbaru,
Riau.

Two of her children work in Jakarta and two others in Bandung,
while the youngest one is still at school.

Nurhayati depends on Ida every day, particularly to look after
Chacha, her grandchild. She pays Ida a salary of Rp 250,000
(US$28.00) per month.

"I have to attend Koran recitals, and all my children leave in
the morning and come home at night. Chacha often stays at home
alone, so someone has to watch over her," said Nurhayati, whose
husband died several years ago.

She was just lucky that her two children from Jakarta arrived
home three days prior to Idul Fitri, when preparations for the
holiday were well underway.

Rani, 43, of Samoja subdistrict in Bandung had a different
experience. The single mother of two boys, who divorced her
husband two years ago, said looking after her house alone was too
much work.

The family usually visits Rani's parents in Jakarta a week
before Idul Fitri, to avoid being at home without a housemaid.

"The main thing is, if the maid returns to her hometown, I'll
follow suit, rather than be kept busy alone," she said.

Her housemaid gets paid Rp 250,000 per month -- the average
salary of housemaids in Bandung -- to look after her sons and do
the chores.

As most housemaids live in their employers' homes, they are
more or less available 24 hours a day. The Regional Minimum Wage,
often demanded by factory workers, who work eight hours a day,
might seem like a high salary to them.

"Not to mention when the employer is fussy. The pay is small
and we must be able to work hard," said Enah, 30, a maid working
in the Arcamanik area.

Most housemaids have no work insurance either .

"If we are hired by a nice employer, we're lucky, and if we're
not, and employed by a mean one, then we just have to be patient
because we need the money," said Enah who has worked for three
different employers.

She became a housemaid in order to provide for her two young
children and her husband, who has no permanent job.

Housemaids are, naturally, more valued in their absence when
it is obvious how much they really do around the house.

Also, many reports of the abuse of housemaids are not followed
up on.

Take for instance, the case of a housemaid who reported to the
Central Bandung Police some time ago that she had been shot by
the grandson of her employer, using an air rifle.

Until now, no news of the police's investigation of the case
has been reported.

While maids are often looked down on by their employers -- who
may feel superior due to their higher incomes and levels of
education -- at the end of the day, the question is, who really
needs who?