Jayne Whyte's Portfolio

I have been missing in action for some time now and I feel lost and empty without me blogging. Anyway, it feels good to be back and I love every bit of it. I recently hired a domestic worker….well, I needed help juggling my job, house work, my business and family issues and I was advised to get a domestic worker. It wasn’t an easy task getting one when we hear lots of terrible stories these days but I prayed over it and got myself one.

She is a young married woman with three kids, who needs a job to pay her bills and take care of herself and her family. I have had to do some back ground checks and series of interviews just to make sure I had a good natured person working for me. Anyway, It has been good so far, I do my cooking, take care of my kids and of course my husband and she does her cleaning, washing and looks after my business while I am away at work and she gets paid……….it does sound good to me and to her too!.

Some of us call them “House helps”, “my girl”, “House girl”, “slave”……..whatever name you call them (and of course they answer-in this context I’d love to call them domestic workers), it is good to always remember that these girls face many health risks. Domestic work often takes the form of unregulated employment and exploitation and sometimes servitude or slavery.

Girls in this “behind- closed- doors” occupation are vulnerable to abuse by both women and men of the household. Have you heard of domestic workers that get raped by their masters, or madam’s son or male relatives, or get beaten with a belt at 1 am for just breaking a glass cup, or she’s not given food because she couldn’t wash the plates well as her madam wanted them. They often receive little or no pay….how much should they be paid?….how much would I want to be paid if I decide to be a stay home mom and do all the chores myself?…..does that make sense?, They do not have access to education and skill training to compete for better jobs and are isolated from friends and family…….sometimes, we should put ourselves in their shoes (those shoes are not made by designers that we love,  they don’t have the heels that we desire, or the colour that we would die for or would match our clothes) just for a minute!.

I have really thought about putting my feet in their shoes and it really hurts….I can’t even think of wearing those shoes for a second, they are not cute and lovely like my shoes, not start studded like that of Beyonce or Cameron Diaz, those shoes are wretched, torn from sides to sides, weak and do not even have soles……. It hurts …..It really hurts.

To be continued.