Cheap Labor

I'd like you to meet Rubiela, otherwise known as ¨Rubi¨ :

Rubi is FABULOUS. We LOVE her. She is able to do things most people only dream of. She comes to our apartment every two weeks and works wonders. In a climate where cockroaches and ants will appear at the drop of a crumb, and in an apartment that fills with dust every time the door opens, her mad cleaning skills are much appreciated. She comes every other Tuesday at 8:00am and stays until 5:00pm, skillfully cleaning windows, washing sheets and couch cushions, scrubbing cabinets, mopping the floor, and beautifying pretty much anything else one could possibly clean in our small living quarters. We contracted her for 30,000 pesos (about $15.00USD) for each day she comes, plus food. I had a little bit of a complex of ¨hiring¨ someone, especially at such a low price, but Rubi was so excited about having this extra little source of income to support herself, her kids, and her grand kids that I realized it would be good for her. I also later discussed this little payment concern with some of my classmates, many of whom have their own non-live-in ¨empleadas,¨ and most of them felt I was paying her too much. Minimum wage in Colombia works out to be about $5.83USD per day (and, of course, there is no hour limit, and under-the-table work need not pay above minimum wage), and one classmate was very adamant that she was a ¨really good employer¨ for the woman (who does not live with them) who makes her meals, cleans her home, and takes care of her daughter daily from 6:00am until 9:00pm for only about $7.00USD/day.

Rubi's tale reminds me of many of the other women working in domestic service jobs that I've met here in Colombia. I am not sure why, but I've always had strong connections with the cleaning staff of the various places I've lived and been (beginning with Earl, my elementary school janitor), and I've carried this tinge of sympathy with me because I feel that they are hardly ever recognized for the work that they do. Furthermore, in wealthy households throughout the world, they often have limited freedoms and lack opportunities to embark down the road of "personal fulfillment." Here are some of the ones who've entered my life during my time here:

This is Gloria, who worked for my host family in Medellín. I found her to be very dignified. She was the only one in the household who actually talked to me, and it was her daughter who kindly showed me around the city. She often confided in me that she was going to leave the home because they paid her less than minimum wage, and I remember one particularly impacting experience when she cried because one of the boys of the family yelled at her extensively for "ruining" a pair of his flip flops by scrubbing it with an old tooth brush. As I prepared to leave Medellín and head onto Cali, we exchanged little gifts and contact information. While I never heard from her again (and I felt awkward about contacting her in the home where she lived/worked), I hope that she has moved on to a more respectful working environment.

This is Marta with her son, Marlon, who were the live-in staff of Liliana and Fernando's home when I arrived to Cali. I loved little Marlon and was constantly holding him and playing with him at any possible opportunity. I also attempted to buy him toys and things a baby should have. However, one day, without any previous warning, I came home from my classes to discover that Marta had been let-go because her "cooking wasn't up to standard." I was shocked and definitely missed my little buddy. Soon, though, Marta was back (although she had been replaced)-- asking for help with getting medicine and milk for Marlon. I noticed a gold necklace around her neck and, without thinking, commented: "Oh, I have a necklace like this that was my grandmother's." Liliana overhead this comment and quietly told me to look for my necklace within my things. Sure enough, it was gone.

I suppose it did seem odd for a housekeeper in Colombia to have the same gold necklace I had inherited after my American grandmother passed away in 1997, but this discretion never crossed my mind until I discovered it was missing. The whole situation left me feeling awful, and I felt guilty for ever having noticed that gold chain with an ivy Black Hills gold pendent around Marta's neck-- or having brought it to Colombia in the first place. Liliana did buy her milk for Marlon on that day, but I never saw either of them again.

Here's another employee who worked in Liliana and Fernando's household during my stay. She lasted a very short amount of time, so I unfortunately didn't get to know her very well.

The current "empleada" of Liliana and Fernando's home is named Carolina; however, since one of their daughters is also named Carolina, they immediately decided to call her "Anita." I have never heard her complain about anything, and she once told me that she hadn't done anything to celebrate her birthday for many years (I learned that she had recently turned 22). She has a five-year-old daughter who stays with extended family in a pueblo a few hours away from Cali-- whom she gets to see very rarely. I have only known her to take one extra day off (in addition to the Sunday she gets off weekly) in all of the months she's worked in the household, and that was only because her cousin had been shot and killed while in a discoteca. My favorite thing about Carolina, though, is that she calls me "Hilarees."

Finally, please meet Maribel-- part of the cleaning staff of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana campus where I studied. I think I originally met her because I helped her straighten-up desks in a classroom, and I became one of her favorite people after I bought some little knick-knacks from her. From that point on, we had daily conversations, and she looked for me everyday on campus. I found out that she had eight children, and her husband had left them all after she became pregnant with the eighth one (who recently turned two). Always the sucker, I ended up buying many of the Christmas crafts her daughters had made to earn a little extra income-- and they actually came in very handy because I used them as Christmas gifts for the Rotarians of my host club. I never got to say good-bye to Maribel after my classes ended, which makes me very sad. =(

I think the life of a housekeeper/"empleada" seems very desirable to many Colombian women because it's safe and stable work-- even if may not be very rewarding or dignified. With such a gap between the rich and the poor and such a high rate of unemployment, Colombia seems to offer just about any sort of job, and there are many people who are eager to do it. My best example of this was when I was instructed to pay someone to wait in line for me for an official government document I needed after first arriving (why didn't I think of that?!). I gladly gave him a little over a dollar to wait those three painstaking hours for me!

So, the conclusion of this blog entry is as follows: I've seen many good people doing seemingly thankless work, and I hope that they're all able to have a good quality of life and earn the respect that they deserve... And I'm thankful to all of them who've made my surroundings in Colombia much cleaner!! ;-)