For the past five years, I had tried engaging foreign domestic helpers to help with the household chores (tasks which I usually term as unproductive) and cooking. My first two maids were Indonesians and the third one was a Filipino.
When Caleb was slightly more than a year old, I felt that I was economically more productive, and so, I decided to teach under the CDAC Tuition Programme for three hours every Saturday. Thus, I engaged my very first maid, Reni, who was an Indonesian. Her main duties were to keep the house spic and span and cook. Because she was a Christian, she had no problem at all handling pork and its derivatives. However, I did not keep her for long as I felt that there was great communication barrier and I was not prepared to invest time to learn another language. Nowadays, I observe that most Indonesian maids are able to speak better English and some can even speak Mandarin and a little dialect!
When I was expecting Naomi in 2005, I engaged my second Indonesian maid, who was also a Christian. I cannot remember her name now as her stay with us was very short-lived, about two weeks, and we had to send her back to the agency almost immediately when she contracted German measles. Initially, she had a fever, then followed by an outbreak of rashes all over her arms and neck the next day. I quickly brought her to a general practitioner and was advised by him to stay away from her as he suspected that she might be having German measles. I freaked out when I heard that and quickly grabbed hold of Caleb and stood far, far away from her while Daniel settled the medical bill at the counter. For the next two days, I stayed at my mother's home while Daniel handled the administrative matter at the maid agency. He also heeded the doctor's advice to sanitise the entire house with Lysol.!
On hindsight, I realised that I should not have reacted so fearfully and uncompassionately towards the maid's plight as all Singaporeans are immunised against German measles (small pox, chicken pox, tuberculosis, etc.) when they are born. When I visited my gynaecologist the following day, she also told me that if an expectant mother was already immunised against these diseases, then the foetus would, very positively, not contract any one of them.
Anyway, I was relieved that the second maid did not stay as the communication between us was worse than the first! Something like what the Chinese says, "A chick talking to a duck!" (Ji Tong Ya Jiang) In addition to that, she could not cook, not even making a decent 'sunny-side-up' (my favourite).!
In my third trimester in 2005, I was getting very busy with my home tuition and classes at the tuition centre. So, both Daniel and I decided to engage a Filipino maid to take over the chores and cooking. We chose a Filipino as we wanted the maid to be able to communicate well with Caleb, and vice versa. Moreover, the government levy for domestic helpers had decreased from $345 to $200 per month. So, with about the same amount of money that we could previously only engage an Indonesian maid, we could then engage a Filipino maid who could communicate better with every one in the family. Our Abba Father blessed us with a very faithful and competent maid, Joan.
I think it is every employer's (especially the madams) desire to have a maid who excels in chores and cooking (these are the very basics), have a loving heart towards every one (young and old) in the household and has good character. For those of you who are thinking of hiring a maid, you should always commit your future maid to our Abba Father and trust that He will grant you a maid who has all the good qualities that you ask of Him. I used to pray over a list of qualities/traits that I wanted my future husband to possess. And my Abba Father was faithful to grant me a husband, who has most of those traits on the list! : )
God's Beloved
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