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Live-in Maids Or Slaves?
By Sampa Kabwela
I SHOULD be writing and recounting priceless moments shared with a fierce, weird and beautiful soul if it were not for slavery happening among us.
I have written on this subject before, on this very space, just over a year ago following the discontent that surrounded the introduction of the minimum wage.
I had argued that the bitterness and resistance to the minimum wage, largely by the middle class and bourgeoisie, was not because they couldn’t afford to pay K520 per month, but that the law had suddenly placed a value on people they deemed valueless; domestic workers.
I am returning to this subject because most of what I wrote about is still happening; the appalling conditions and treatment of domestic workers.
Last week, I was snubbed by a friend because her maid of one week had not returned from the weekend.
Her previous maid of two months, whom she had replaced after the disappearance of her maid of one month had not returned from a visit to the village.
Confusing? Not exactly. This is the norm in many households. There seem to be no end to how many maids can be replaced in a given period. Confusing it must be for small children to continually meet and lose their minders.
My friend has an explanation on why her maids quit so frequently, sometimes not even long enough to earn their first salary.
Her maid-turnover-theory is simple; they are unreliable!
The treatment and working conditions of many maids, housekeepers and nannies is a violation of basic human rights and in some cases, bordering on slavery; of protracted hours of work, for little and sometimes no pay.
I specifically want to talk about live-in-maids, arguably the most enslaved and abused of workers in the domestic labour market.
The live-ins are also the most sought after of maids and have the highest turnover rate, sometimes as short as a day and it’s not difficult to see why.
Unlike day maids, live-in-maids work until bed time. Their day starts as early as 05:00 am and ends as late as 23:00 hours, six to seven days a week, doing all manner of jobs from the simple, hard, odd to the bizarre.
The situation can’t be worse for maids sourced from villages, who in many cases are severely underpaid and work non-stop, every day, including weekends, public holidays and on Christmas Day.
Ironically most live-in maids are paid less than day maids on the premise that they live and eat for free! What a hollow argument because it advantages the employer rather than the maid to live in.
Does a live-in maid get to choose what she wants to eat different from what the employer wants to eat or watch a movie of her choice?
If it were not for desperation, many maids would rather work from 08:00 to 05:00, return to their homes, eat vegetables for supper, sleep on the floor, watch ZNBC than to labour, eat chicken and catch glimpses of Idols in their employers’ homes.
If this were not true, I would not be writing articles on maids who disappear after a day, a week or a month.
I have written before on the terror that most maids operate under, including physical, emotional and verbal abuse; maids who do shocking jobs such as wash underwear, not children’s underwear, but that of their employers.
Some maids are the sexual prey of husbands and men living in the house, including and most notorious, ‘men of God’.
Other maids have been beaten and fired by wives on suspicion that they sleep with their husbands.
This is not to suggest that all maids are innocent of vices and employers bad people. Not at all, but these stories of struggle and ill-treatment are not isolated; they are common.
Our society places very little value, if at all, on domestic workers, yet most houses come to a standstill when a maid fails to show up for work.
There is no subject I feel to have the moral authority to write more about than this one. I have never had to miss work or an appointment because a maid didn’t show up. In 12 years, I have had only three maids and this is largely due to a change in location.
The maid who received my day-old son from the hospital 12 years ago is still the maid; and she is still the maid for my daughter, nine years later.
I have my own theory on maids: co-dependence. We both need each other. I need someone to take care of my children and domestic life, and she needs an income; neither of us is superior to the other, each one has a responsibility and a duty to fulfil towards the other.
My flaws are countless, but I try my best to be a better person and good employer. My housekeeper is not only well paid, she works Monday to Friday and occasionally on Saturdays until 11 am. She’s entitled to overtime, paid annual, maternity and study leave and is off on all public holidays. She neither cooks for us nor wears those appalling uniforms.
From my experience, a good salary will get you a committed maid, but it is the treatment, the respect, the appreciation and the empathy that will keep a maid. A combination of a good salary and humane conditions will earn you more than a housekeeper; loyalty, respect, a friend, a lifetime confidante and a second mother to your children, but hopefully not a second wife too.
If you wish to keep your maid for longer than a month, try the following: respect, appreciation, fair pay, arrive home on time and say sorry and thank you more often.
And by the way, it’s your duty, not that of the maid to wake up at 5 am to prepare your own kids for school.
If the above is too much, you probably don’t deserve a maid and even the current one will disappear if not this weekend, certainly the next or the other.
[email protected]
Posted by
Zambia 4 Zambians
September 20, 2013 at 9:55 am
maids are treated like slaves by many Indians, lebanese…
I know a certain young lady who worked for a Lebanese family. She was not allowed to dress elegantly by her “madam” she was only allowed to wear chitenge, even then she was constantly sexually harassed by the man of the house a Lebanese man, the children of the house insulted her and had no respect for all Zambians . All this for 250 Kwacha per month.
nivela nsoni
September 20, 2013 at 10:00 am
gud advz for being a human being and nt human beast to thoz under ur autority
test@e
September 20, 2013 at 10:25 am
The biggest problem is that most of the Zambian work well when they are treated like slaves. If you give them alot of respect they will not appreciate.
I have my farm workers who pay very well, not until recently they were well paid than teachers. But what to they do? each time I leave my farm they stop working. They go looking for girls to have sax and bear
Yessyebo
September 20, 2013 at 5:00 pm
I agree with you. I have a maid who immediately I go for work, she jumps into my daughters’ bed and sleeps!!!
chikala
September 20, 2013 at 12:07 pm
There all steal! I’ve had maid coming to work drunk not once but many times, we have no choice but to fire them, lazy maids everywhere so hard to find a decent hardworkin maid, plus I pay them way over the min salary, provide food, money for transport and there stab u in the back
1 Diva!
September 20, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Vry good article!!! Am actually touched. Let’s treat each otha wit humane coz we indeed need each other in this business. The way u treat one is wat determines hw one responds…that’s feedback!!!
kalapansi
September 20, 2013 at 1:20 pm
You are very right my brother, we lived with a maid for 20 yrs until she retired and the one we have has clocked 8 yrs. If u respect someone in turn they will respect u!!!!!!!
BaYouth
September 20, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Thanks very much for this insight, i must say that i do conquer your valued opinion on maids and at-least since we also started having maids, we have managed to keep the same one for the past 3 years.
sound track
September 20, 2013 at 1:44 pm
ka summary plz…
cycle mata
September 20, 2013 at 2:13 pm
summary for what? tamwaishibo ukubelenga…?
Naomi
September 20, 2013 at 7:01 pm
I know right! I think it’s a great read.
Village Chicken
September 20, 2013 at 3:07 pm
If they are given study leave among others, why then should they continue to be maids for a decade plus? Encourage them to upgrade themselves and be seen to support it..
MundiaM
September 20, 2013 at 3:18 pm
very factual article. I have had the same maid for 3 years. Despite shifting from Lusaka to Kitwe, she decided to come with me and become a living in maid.
I operate on the same principle as the author, “ukusunga kusungana”. I kindly correct and counsel when she is in the wrong and I appreciate and commend her when she does something exceptional.
Since I travel to Lusaka monthly and her parents are their, I occasionally travel with her to Lusaka when I am on duty so that she visits them. This gives her some free time and allows her to keep contact with her family. Most people in our neighbour-hood have assumed that she is my sister.
Treat all people with dignity, that is my principle.
Soby
September 20, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Good aticle indeed but lets face some maids are just a problem themselves.
bringing boyfriends if they are left alon
beating children
admiring husbands.
So pleas next time try to focus on the side of the coin.
icinshikululwa
September 20, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Thanx.
Yessyebo
September 20, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Familiarity breeds contempt…so goes the adge….those that have had maids for 15++ years, you are very lucky, generally, when these girls get used u r in trouble…they become your rivals
angel
September 20, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Good advise indeed…we certainly need each other. Treat them with respect and in return they will respect you too…
Ukwanomics
September 20, 2013 at 5:50 pm
MundiaM, ukudya maid mambala. You even travel with her?
Mzungu wa Kajo
September 21, 2013 at 8:56 am
She a woman you.
knightrider
September 20, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Treat maids like descent humans and they will take care of your family. My maid eats what we eat coz she cooks. Watches the kids and many times takes care of the house wen no ones home. Gets her salary on time and over pay if necessary
Fatty boom boom
September 20, 2013 at 9:24 pm
Well written article indeed, factual and to the point, most of all, the english is just superb. I enjoyed reading it. Not ma rubbish yaba tumweko which they sometimes subject us to, that one has to struggle to get the meaning of what they write about. Thumbs up to the author!
Hate Foolishness
September 21, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Great piece of writing. You make many good points.
Shame on those who treat the vulnerable badly! Some should fire their husbands rather than their maids!