Maid in Indonesia

I spent the first half of the day at work, helping Rekha prepare for the finals of the Plain English Speaking Awards, coming this Monday, and rehearsing with the cast of A Battle of Wits. Not too painful all told, given the talent and enthusiasm of those involved. There are aspects of teaching here that can be distinctly headache-generating but dealing directly with students on genuinely educational activities is not one of them.

On the home front Noi has been keeping herself up-dated on the fortunes of Sulis, the maid to the family in Melaka, who has now gone back for a break in Indonesia. As I understand it, she's there primarily to sort out family matters. I get the impression she wasn't keen to go, though she does have a daughter at home, looked after by her brother's family. There are problems, I think, with Sulis's husband who sounds like a bad lot. Noi mentioned the possibility of him being violent towards Sulis, which leaves one feeling frustrated over not being able to do anything to help. It seems also that most of the money Sulis has saved has already been handed over to pay for stuff connected with her daughter. Noi was concerned as to how she's going to get by for the few months she will be there.

The pressures and heartaches many maids face are painful to consider. That Sulis, like so many others, deals with it all cheerfully and uncomplainingly (she was worried about leaving Mak at a time when she felt she was needed in Melaka) is a lesson for the rest of us. And yet so often maids are talked about as if they were somehow not quite as deserving of ordinary respect and dignity as we consider ourselves.