Every day dawn and dusk sees throngs of domestic workers make their way to and from work. I’m not going to talk about how early they wake up or how far they travel we’ve heard that before. I want to bring something to our attention and maybe get some answers too.

When I see a domestic in her mid-50s I get a little saddened. I can only imagine how long she’s been doing this and try I understand why she’s done it so long. Admittedly being a domestic doesn’t have much growth potential and domestic workers know this too. Is being a domestic for decades because that’s all they know or is it being lazy?

I’m fully aware of our history and what is means so far as bantu education is concerned; it’s easy to blame apartheid because it’s true but at some point one must personally make changes. One can’t blame the world if they’ve never tried to change their circumstance.

Imagine we raised domestics’ minimum salaries to R10k p/m, would this make it easier for her to leave or would this make her never leave? I don’t believe anyone likes cleaning up after others. I’d also like to think a domestic gets that type of job because there’s no choice; even if you are a nice boss any cleaning job sucks.

If she had ambition she’d educate herself, bettering herself and prepping herself for greener pastures. I would be happier to see her leave the maid industry than cuss her out for not appreciating her fat pay. Remember too that there’ll be those who’ll hold onto that job for dear life. I’d assume holding on like that means they’re happy with their life.

While 10k isn’t feasible some employers try upskill their employees. It could be driving or cooking lessons, teaching her how to use a computer or whatever. While cleaning isn’t a skilled job not all maids cook either so their options are really limited.

I went to twitter with this and someone replied that sometimes when you offer opportunities some people refuse. I couldn’t believe this and I wondered who refuses opportunities.

I tried to wrap my mind around it and could only imagine two reasons. Pride refusing charity or fear of the new. I imagined fear of failure or a reluctance to seem ignorant in front of others, maybe even scared of change. I started thinking what this job could do to one’s self esteem and image. I wondered if at some point the job breaks people’s spirits and they start believing this is all they’ll ever be good for. Hearing of these refusals shocked me; I refused to believe that one could be content with being the help their entire life.

A balding 43-year-old waiter tugs at my heart strings the same way old mama domestics do. I don’t have solutions but perhaps finding out someone’s interests could help you give the right help if you’re so inclined. Addressing helpers like adults not kids is a good start and removing that “black” accent some use when talking to blacks is another great idea. The slice of society whose self-belief has died needs our help; they need to believe in themselves but also need to be believed in again. They don’t need our judgement and confidence sapping comments.

Refusing advantageous opportunities is abnormal; no well-adjusted human should do that. If this is wide-spread among domestics then we must not be aware how spirit crushing this job is. I’m curious who else can relate to this thing of people refusing life changing chances or do we generally see more people grab at the chances with both hands?

Get Published!

UPLOAD

Click here
to upload
your article Click here
to upload
your photo Click here
to upload
your video