What do you want to be if you are in a situation that you could only be a maid and nothing else! Maid in Manhattan? Or in Singapore? I felt bizarre after spotting the following article in The Sunday Times, with bold and highlighted tag, "Wanted : Myanmar Maids - for their gentle nature".
Deeply sad at first but soon after the sadness reduced to gladness for the girl and her family back home. Moment after I found myself wishing the girl in the photo that she could smile throughout her stay here in Singapore. We have been reading it in the news,maids fell to their deaths, being abused and ill-treated. I had some first hand experiences and witnessed how the maid are being treated while renting rooms and staying with some families here.
"Modern Slavery" if I should term it. A couple used to do household chores together and then when the maid arrived things were all changed and especially the attitude of the so-called madam. Since then she never touched any single thing in the house except picking up chop sticks and spoon which the maid prepared on dining tables.
She counted the number of fruits and slices of bread and if she doubted the number was not as tally she would kick up a big fuss. The maid cooked all the food but the family barely left any thing except the onion and tomatoes when they left dining table. So what did the maid eat?
She was the last to sleep (1 am earliest) and the first to get up (5am latest) to prepare for the Sir and Madam before they got off to work never mind if the month-old baby cried whole night long nor she did not get a single nap but breakfast gotta be ready. Do you think she could take a nap while the madam was at work? You might be wrong, the phone rang every half-hour and in between.
Within a month or two, the once not so thin maid became so skinny. She cried in silence. I offered her that she could take any of my food I left in the kitchen freely but she dare not. Do you think I have any motives by doing so? Haha you might have read too much of those hanky panky stories. Mind you! she was as old as my mum. Well... what I wanna say is "the attitude", "I pay you and name you a maid, attitude" It's a kind of a slavery" Of course there are many many kind soul sirs and madams out there that paid for their maids tuition fees and ferried her to her classes. The are employers who treat maids as their next of kins.
The girl in the story, Chaw Su Htwe, is a university graduate according to the report. I don't know who to blame. She should be here as a philosopher or as a university lecturer since she has a degree in Philosophy. Shouldn't she? The answer? well we Burmese know well but not printable here. How I wish I would see "Wanted: Myanmar talents-wanted for their know how,hardworking attitude and expertise instead.
And according to the report, one agency bring in 150 girls from Myanmar every 3 months. The fees, the money they invested in to become a maid is no less than S$ 3,000. And the problems are inevitable and may not be as much as the Indonesian, Indian and the Filipino maids are going through but not less either. But when they need helps to solve their problem, will a certain organization opens its arm I wonder?
My wish sisters..may your lives be as rosy as "Maid in Manhattan" and may your employers be kind...
Look at J-Lo's eyes, beaming and smiling. And how about Chaw Su? She is smiling but there is sadness in her eyes if you look carefully? Who would be happy to be a maid no matter how good the employer? I am not saying that being maid is bad..but things could be better if......
Well, in a year ot 2 she might be able to pay off the loan and have some saving to send to her family. Maybe at that time we could see she is truly smiling..
In "Maid in Manhattan" : J Lo played as a Marisa Ventura, a hard-working, intelligent and determined single mother who dreams of a better life for herself and her son, Ty.Her role as a maid is nothing near as a maid in Singapore but a housekeeper at Manhattan’s first-class Beresford Hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment