A Domestic, A Helper, A Maid.

Picked up our new Cambodian domestic helper / maid yesterday. A first for this family, who were brought up by my mother on a diet of “I-am-not-your-maid-we-all-live-here-can-wash-up-after-ourselves”. We have always have had part-time help who come in 2 – 3 times a week, but finally with grandma’s rapidly progressing Alziehmers and mom having to run the office full time after dad’s sudden passing ; here we are we our little domestic helper. From the get go, mom had been resistant to this entire idea, but I pushed and pushed- seeing it as the best solution in a bad situation, and secretly joyful at the idea of never having to wash another dish in this house ever again!!! The challenge – at so many levels; from intellectual, to everyday.

The newest addition to our house

Let’s start with the easy ones.

The Learning Curve @ Training the Maid
Our girl is very enthusiastic and sharp, however her English is patchy to say the least. Right now I am at the show and point stage, which we are doing at an ok level. Am attempting to teach basic words and using the Cambodian-English dictionary. Mom has just completely decamped from this. I think she feels like her role in the house is being usurped.

The Daily Grind
As silly crazy as this is, having a maid does make you stop and ask the questions you never would have though to ask. For example - What do we give her to eat? How does she wash her clothes ?
House- Assistant/ Domestic/ Maid
Just where do we draw the line ?? Do we justify that we are providing a dirt poor village girl from a 3rd world country a job or is this just the 21st century version of indentured labour??

A human being
For someone who so believes in emotional wellness, and being true to your spirit, I find it rather disconcerting to think that we have to treat this girl as an emotionless being. I think it makes it easier on the human psyche to disconnect from the fact that this young thing has most probably made the hardest journey of her life ever – from leaving her family, getting into an airplane, being shuttled off to new people into another house that she has to take care off. We can barely speak to her, let alone ask her if she is homesick or misses her family. Jeez I would want to curl up and cry, yet here we are asking her to do a whole bunch of domestic chores that I don’t want to dirty my hands with. I am not sure how to deal with this yet. I know of some people who insist that their maids wear a uniform. Doesn’t that fly gobsmack straight into the values that I preach about individuality and developing ones identity ?

Family Dynamics
We have brought a complete stranger into our home. I am wondering how this is going to affect the family dynamic. Will we find it intrusive ?? Or has this girl come for a purpose ???

For all the potential ease that a maid brings, I think we sometimes underestimate the impact it has on household.