Household helpers - Can't live with them, can't live without them.

By Petulia Clarke, Staff Reporter

THEY WASH your clothes, cook your food and take care of your children. Some are the typical always-smiling motherly figure in whom you place all your family's trust. Others will steal your money, food and personal items and will abuse your children.

Screened and unscreened, they are in your face, around your loved ones and become familiar with your belongings when you're at work.

And you may never know exactly whether they're truly genuine or some axe-bearing, child abusing jail bound monster.

Poverty is rampant in Jamaica. Some of us get the benefit of a good education, some don't. And many of those women who don't get the education necessary to get into the white collar world, resort to being domestic helpers to help care for their families.

SCREENING

The Jamaica Household Helpers' Association screens some helpers.

"We do background checks as far as it is possible," Evelyn Scott, president of the Jamaica Household Helpers Association said. The association trains and places helpers in homes in the Corporate area.

"We ask for references and we keep the forms with the recommendation for the employers."

Though she admits that many times they hold the helpers to their word, they still have to fill out a detailed application form and submit contact numbers for reference.

They also start from scratch with some, to ensure that they get the necessary skills to do the job properly.

"We have training sessions in various things. We teach them communication, conflict resolution and public speaking for several months," she said.

She explained that there are currently 25-30 women in the programme which wraps up soon.

Ms. Scott said that when helpers ask for a job, they try to place them as best as possible. The association matches persons with employers who are recommended the most efficient ones. Other associations like the Citizens Advice Bureau also screen helpers by asking them for references. When they call, asking for jobs, the Bureau takes their name and numbers and pass them on to employers who are responsible for doing background checks.

FEEDBACK

Some helpers do their job out of genuine love, others do it just to eke out a living. A few choice ones spend years with their respective families; growing older with the children, being second mothers and gleaning all the benefits they can. Some are so valued by their employers that they even accompany the family overseas on vacations. Others are less professional.

Ms. Scott mentioned cases where the association gets feedback that the employer may do something that the helper doesn't like and she'll retaliate.

"We do role playing here where we act out potential problem situations," Ms Scott said. "Several trainers come in and help them learn what to do in a these situation."

TRAINING

Nutritionist Dr. Heather Little-White, who runs a course for household helpers, office helpers, housewives and cooking enthusiasts six Saturdays for 35 hours of hands-on training, facilitates many helpers in learning cooking and home management skills through a certificate course.

The course began more than a year ago. Dr. Little-White said that some employers pay for their helpers to attend and others pay for it themselves. They learn food preparation and services, table setting, care of equipment and appliances including microwaves and toaster ovens; bedmaking, time management and efficiency.

They learn how to plan meals for parties, lunches and dinners, how to write menus and how to shop effectively. The course has an entrepreneurial spin where graduates can start their own businesses with the skills gained.

But it's not all about skills. They also learn how to deal with people on an emotional level.

"By the graduation ceremony, self esteem and self worth has improved," Dr. Little-White said. "Most had lacked the confidence to do stuff for themselves or make changes in things like menus and having been in the course, their attitudes change."

She said that the employers are encouraged to be there when they get their certificates.

"They have to make a dish that is on display. Having done that, they know they have gained and the self esteem goes up tremendously," Dr. Little-White said.

She said that it is this self esteem that allows them not to only deal effectively with their employers, but also with their own families who will also benefit.

COMPLAINTS

But there are still complaints from the employers, most having to do with stealing.

"Many of them can't get along still, but we encourage them to always have their best foot forward and to always be on show, as those who aim to get jobs overseas and will want references and have to consider their attitudes."

She gave an example of one helper who was "a good person otherwise" but continued to steal and was forgiven by the employer.

"If the employers are tolerant, they can sometimes make them straight," she said, "this relationship shows that there can be some sort of understanding and compromise."

Employers like this, she said, will most time help with continued schooling, medical expenses and even securing visas.

TIPS FOR HARMONIOUS HELPER/BOSS RELATIONSHIPS

Helpers should always try to be nice to employers.

Where this is not possible, and conflict occurs, get a mediator that both parties know to act and practice conflict resolution.

Don't be rude. Both parties should try to be as civil to each other as possible.

Helpers should try to be discreet in using some things like the telephone. Use your conscience.

In the event that something like theft happens once, the two parties should try to work it out before blazing up.

When on the job, helpers should behave themselves, if anything comes up, do not retaliate.

­ Evelyn Scott, president of the
Jamaica Household Helpers Association.

Horror stories

By Barbara Ellington, Flair Co-ordinator

HOUSEHOLD HELPERS come in for a lot of bashing from employers. Just about anyone who has to employ a helper is able to regale you with horror stories about their helper.

Helpers too, spin some pretty ghastly tales of revenge on their bosses - like spitting in the food.

Many employers claim they could not possibly live without their helpers; their children rely on them for everything - even help with homework in some cases!

In the US, some employees have set up secret cameras to record the goings-on of helpers/nannies following serious cases of abuse (often resulting in death), of the children left in their care. Such tales make us wonder how can women who are also mothers, abuse children left in their care.

Flair asked some residents of Kingston, St. Andrew and Mandeville to share their worst helper horror stories.

Beverly Dixon, Mandeville: "We had a helper who would empty the food cupboard every Friday evening before going home. It did not occur to her that we needed the food or even to ask before taking it. Then she would also curry everything and when we said cook the food another way, she did so for one day then reverted to curry the next. We got fed up and fired her."

Claudette McLeod, Mandeville: "My helper washed my brand new Liz Claiborne pant suit, then sprinkled it and placed it in a basin she had wiped with raw bleach. The suit was expensive and although I made her pay for it, I still feel upset to think about it."

Janet Green, St. Andrew: "My helper went through my house 11 years ago when my daughter was a baby, stole all my jewellery, makeup, the bullets from husband's gun, a ring which was a gift from my mother and her own pay. The hurtful part was that we had to take our infant daughter overseas for medical treatment and when I got there I realised that she had also removed US$800.00 from where I had hidden it. We let her go but we did not discover some of the missing items till long afterwards."

Kingstonian Errol Price saw red when he came home one day to find that the helper had caused the iron to burn his baby daughter. "My daughter is 20 and still has the mark but it was devastating to see. Another one stole US dollars from us all the time so we planted some around the house and she took the bait. We called the police and she denied it but the female officer searched her and found it in her bra. We were so good to her even took her to our family doctor and paid for it when she was ill but we had to fire her. After she left, almost every week we discovered something else missing."

Shawince Roberts, Portmore: "When my baby was one year old, I surprised the helper by coming home early one day only to find her chasing the baby to beat her and shouting, 'you too rude' at her." I fired her on the spot because I thought of all that went on when I was not around.

Sezvin Hamilton, Kingston: "One helper dropped my three month old son on his forehead and tried to cover it up even though he developed a big swelling. My baby is okay but if I did not overhear her on the phone with a friend, I wouldn't know the truth. She asked her friend, 'de man gone yet? de baby want a kick.' She then launched into the details and I intervened and fired her on the spot."

Helpers have feelings too

By Merrick Andrews, Staff Reporter

WORKING AS a domestic helper was a nightmarish experience for Sonia.

The experience was so bad that she recalls dreaming that the four-year-old boy she took care of as a live-in helper in Linstead transformed into a monster and chased her.

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on a typical morning, Sonia, then 27, limps out of her warm bed. Despite feeling groggy and sore in the limbs, she pushes herself as fast as she can to the bathroom to wash her face.

Her employers, a husband and wife, are still snoring loudly in bed. Their son, who just began to attend basic school, is also asleep.

Her 6-year-old son, Murphy, staggers to the doorway of their diminutive bedroom and peers at his mother. She says he curiously asked the same question every morning: "Mommy is not waking time yet, why you wake up so early?"

And she usually replies: "Bwoy, gwaan back a yu bed! Where yu going? Mine mi slap you. When yu go a school yu sleep pan teacher."

With gently narrowed eyes, she says Murphy usually shakes his head and jumps in the bed vexed.

At that time, she remembers the job she was doing since high school was overwhelming her. The last time she checked her pressure it was sky-high. She asked her employers, two business professionals, for two days off to rest. They gave her the green light, but without pay.

TODAY

"It's hard," confesses Sonia, now 40. "I cannot do anymore domestic work because mi nerves mash up," adds the mother of five.

Sonia recalls when she had to get up in the morning and light the coal stove to roast breadfruit very early in the morning because her employers were "lovers of breadfruit. They didn't want the gas to finish quick and the house fi smoke up when they are there".

Small black scars on her fingers are evidence of the ordeal she went through roasting breadfruits 13 years ago, while she was "half a sleep at 3:00 every morning".

"The breadfruit bun up mi hand. Di people dem wicked bad," she laments.

Sonia says their son was mannerable to her, but he still gave a lot of headaches.

"Him have manners, but is me teach him. Him parents don't know how fi grow pickney, but the little boy was very nasty she said," she says.

She recalls when the little boy defecated behind the settee. She lashed him from "left to right".

"His parents didn't say anything. That was what I liked about them: they acknowledge the reason for my work," she says.

BETTER PAY

Sonia says domestic helpers need better wages and more respect because what they do is strenuous.

"I wouldn't go back into domestic work because it doesn't pay," she says.

However, that's the opposite forJennifer Allen, a 32-year-old domestic helper from Manchester.

"I use to do farming. I lef it to do domestic work," she tells Flair.

Jennifer earns between $2,500 to $3,000 per week as a live-out helper. Live-out helpers earn between $500-$800 per day.

Jennifer has four children -- ages 15-years, eight-years, seven-years and nine months, so she can only afford to work live-out. She says her baby is not a hindrance to her earning enough money because the father is supportive.

"It gwaan good. I don't have to worry 'bout that I just go to work," she says.

Although earning "something good", the wages are still too low, she admits. "I think they should pay us like $4,000 a week," she says, "because is pure hard work."

ForMerlene, another 32-year-old domestic helper from Manchester, the salary is the main problem. Unlike Sonia, the treatment she received from her employees is good. She has been a domestic helper since graduating from Balaclava Secondary (now high school) because she didn't receive enough support from her parents having lived with 'outsiders'.

Her pastor gave her her first domestic job in Old Harbour. Merlene was doing sewing at the time which wasn't profitable. She has three children, ages years 10, six and four.

Merlene however confesses that the domestic job is hard.

"Sometimes yu go to bed 10:00 'o' clock (in the night) and they wake you up and tell you to do something. Then you have to get up early like 4:30 in the maawning," she says.

She recalls on one of her jobs where the two children, ages six years and nine years called her bad names.

"Dem call mi 'dirty', 'stink', 'dutty gal' an' throw water pan mi," she recalls.

She complained to the children's parents who only said, "They don't realise (what they are doing), they are small". She spent only six months there to take up a better offer.

"It's very hectic," Merlene describes her domestic work life.

Like Sonia and Jennifer, Merlene stresses on a better salary.

"When I use to work in St. Catherine I use to take care of two children, they wasn't going to school. When there was not much work there, the mother send me to work over by a next house and still pay me the same salary," Merlene says of her live-in job as an 18-year-old in Old Harbour, many miles from her original home in Manchester.

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