Here is one of the strange aspects of life that I have to
get adjusted to here in Honduras- I have house staff. Specifically, a gardener
and two cleaning ladies. They sort of came with the house. When I arrived, one
of the first things people wanted to bring up with me was if I was planning on
having “ayudantes” (helpers) and if so, who they were to be. Each neighbor had
their recommendations, usually their own helpers who wanted more work.
Life here is not as difficult as many would imagine, though
the electricity is off right now (I’m posting this later once power was
restored) and was out for several days last week with a big storm. I have a
washing machine, stove, oven, and refrigerator. I don’t have a dishwasher, vaccum,
or dryer at the moment. I don’t have children to watch or entertain, and my
life here is thus far not nearly as busy as it was in the States. I
theoretically have the time to do all the household chores (including mop the
tile floor…not my favorite) without giving up time that I’d rather devote to
something else.
There are the economics to consider. It’s funny- in the
States I sometimes fell into the trap of thinking of my time as money,
especially with my new-found earning power as a fully-fledged physician. “Is it
worth it to me to get someone else to do this?” (Quick mental calculation of my
hourly wage vs. how long the task would take.) Here time is not money. Even if
it were, there is the ever present reality of how much time is worth. In the
case of the house staff here, a good wage is $1.25 an hour, with twice yearly
bonuses of the equivalent of a month’s wages. The more compelling reason that I
have house staff, since not wanting to mop the floor or hand cut the grass myself
somehow seems a lazy excuse, is that I have the opportunity to provide
employment, in this case for 3 different people (each is only working for me 4
hours a week, but all of them also work for other families as well). As I get
to know them, especially the ladies who clean, I’m learning more Spanish
vocabulary (my vocab has been heavily weighted to the hospital/medical
setting), getting to know members of the community, but most importantly I’m
hearing about their families and get to see directly what a difference gainful
employment and the additional $5/week can make for their circumstances.
The cleaning ladies not only clean but they can also cook. The
cooking is mostly Honduran (tortillas, little sweet pastries, beans, rice,
etc.) with a Caribbean influence (coconut milk- based soups). I’m getting to
learn some recipes from them, and it’s nice to have fresh breakfast pastries
too!
.JPG) |
| Reyna in the kitchen |
I’m still getting used to letting other people do tasks for
me which I’m perfectly capable of doing myself, and I find myself tidying up
and even cleaning a bit before they arrive. One of the ladies cleaned on a morning
I wasn’t here, and it was wonderful to walk back into the house and see
sparkling floors, dishes washed, dried, and put away (though finding things
again in the cupboards can be a bit of a scavenger hunt), and laundry hung up
to dry. It was as good as the feeling you get when you return from a vacation to
a clean house (even if you were the one who left it clean).
I do wonder what the cleaners think when they work in our
houses, tidying up around things that are more expensive than they will ever
own (as one of them made bread today, we talked about how she makes bread at
her house too. She cooks over a fire at home, and in my house all the cooking
is over gas flames), separated from our homes by 2 or 3 miles geographically
yet a huge gulf economically. They
probably feel much less uncomfortable than I do. The divide between rich and
poor in Honduras is much more accepted and public and it seems like for the
most part, they accept their position in life and are glad for work. That’s also been a nice change! People who
are motivated to come to work and work hard, even if you know that most of the
motivation is the wages. Really, it’s
what motivates all of us, isn’t it?
