CheckMaid
I was in Singapore yesterday and cruising on the expressway. Right in front of me was a black Mercedes station wagon. The scene looked pretty ordinary. But I think the car was in front of me for far too long, which gave me too much time to notice something ugly…
Each passenger in that car, two adults and two little children, had a proper place to sit in. But the Indonesian domestic helper was put to sit in the trunk of the car! There she was, stashed up together with the luggage and the baby pram in the trunk. I wonder why our society doesn’t so much as see such treatment of foreign domestic helpers as tantamount to a modern version of slavery.
Is there no inherent value in a human person which renders him/her respectable and worthy to be dignified regardless of the nature of his/her work? What is it about domestic helpers that makes people think they’re several classes below other people and deserving of a less human treatment?
That domestic helper in the car trunk… wasn’t she someone’s daughter? In all possibility, she had to leave her family to come to Singapore (and suffer such treatment) to earn a living so she could send her family money each month for their subsistence. How might her employers have felt if their own daughters were to be treated like that by their employers in the future?
There’s nothing wrong with having domestic helpers. It’s a vocation which is extremely dignified and can be embarked upon with much dignity. It’s we who make it look like a job fit for lesser humans. It's we who trade them like commodities.
I’ve visited countless families who have domestic helpers. Until today, I’ve met only two families who invite their domestic helpers to eat with them at their meal tables. The fact that the domestic helpers declined the invitation is immaterial; they’ve been respected and treated as equals anyway. The other families I’ve seen just leave the scraps for their domestic helpers to finish up after the meal. And all this is done right in front of their growing children – through these young eyes, these parents will eventually reap the values they sow.
Comments (5)
Yeah, agree..I just wonder how can we raise awareness among those employers..I believed that Christians should become the role model in giving good example to non-Christians...But...You understand what I'm trying to say. May God have mercy on them...
Posted by Desmond | April 22, 2007 7:11 PM
I feel very strongly about this issue too. I've observed how maids are treated like slaves in many families. They're always given the smallest, most poorly ventilated room in the house, which often doubles as a store room. They're often dressed in ill-fitting or ugly clothing (probably cheap or cast-off clothing) and are the ones left to carry all the stuff whenever the family is out for a shopping trip at the mall.
I've been to houses where, having been served a drink, I bring my glass to the kitchen to wash it, and am told, "Oh, leave it for the maid to wash!" I mean, it's like since she's there, let's make use of her kinda thing. After all, we pay for her and this is her job. Once I was with relatives and, as it was about to rain, I went out to take in the clothes hanging on the clothesline. My relative said, "Why didn't you ask the maid to do it?!" I thought, why should I ask her to do it when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself??
Posted by Sunflower | April 23, 2007 1:05 AM
A thought-provoking argument that needs to be preached on the pulpit of every church.
Ever read the book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"?
Posted by jb | April 23, 2007 5:33 AM
thank you for posting this. i grew up in north america and am not used to the whole "servant" culture that is prevelant in Malaysia, Singapore, etc.. i am quite uncomfortable with all of it. i have challenged/ questioned some people i know who have maids. i asked them why the servants cannot be treated as equals with the family members. but i was told that it just doesn't work. if you treat the servants as equals, they will apparently begin to disrespect the family and take advantage of the privelege by stealing and slacking off, etc., because this is who they are. they expect to be treated as a lower class so we must treat them as lower class, otherwise they get confused.
i've been struggling to accept this explanation, trying to understand if there is any truth in it. can't there be a way to show love while still keeping the employer/employee relationship in tact? (i don't know if i'm articulating this quite right). anyhow, it's so encouraging to hear that there are families who invite their maids to eat with them. :-)
(to be fair, the family i spoke with treats their maids really well, in comparison to the examples mentioned above. their maids wear really nice clothes and eat good food, etc.. but i still see the obvious class distinction. and it's still hard for me to deal with how hard they have to work and how little money the get for it.)
Posted by thirsting4more | April 26, 2007 7:29 AM
"through these young eyes, these parents will eventually reap the values they sow."
very true, very chilling words, Sherman.
Posted by Passionista | April 30, 2007 1:41 AM