..from domestic slavery! Oh okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit. But then I'm thrilled, because after trying hard to juggle my responsibilities these past 9 months (without much success, may I add), the new maid has finally arrived.
Her name is Nuaini, and we call her Kak Ani (it’s kind of strange looking at the Indonesian passport, because only one single name is there. Surname not included). She’s from Medan, Sumatera and aged 38. Her birthdate is on 13 July, which is 1 day after mine. She worked in Selayang for two years sometime in 2003 – 2004 at a restaurant but had to go back to Medan because she didn’t have a working visa. I’m a bit worried about that, in case she has many friends here who might lure her to leave us. But I’ll leave it to Allah; all I can do is treat her well, the rest is up to her.
Kak Ani is divorced and has two children who are 14 and 12 years of age. The children are staying with her parents. It’s quite common to hear this kind of story from the Indonesian maids; many of them are divorced and have to come to Malaysia to earn some money so that they can feed their children.
Kak Ani seems friendly and it’s easy to communicate with her. I had problems to understand my previous maid and she couldn’t understand me much either. Come to think of it, I didn’t enjoy watching Apa Ada Dengan Cinta because I couldn’t understand the conversations most of the time. I have to admit, language is not my forte.
Kak Ani arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday 11 May 2005. I saw the tag on her bag which is similar to those taped to our luggages when we check them in at the airport, and it says ‘Boeing’. I asked her how she came to Malaysia and she said that she took the ferry. I was confused because of the word Boeing and the fact that my previous maid came by flight. Apparently Boeing is the name of the ferry company. Huh?
She spent the first night at my in-laws’ place and I picked her up on Thursday. It was kind of embarrassing to take her to my place, really, because it was in such a terrible mess. It would be more obvious to her if she tries to compare it to my in-laws’ place, which always looks spanking clean. My SIL jokingly asked whether the maid might run away after seeing my house, to which DH replied that he almost ran away. I promptly asked why didn’t he just do that. Hmm, I hope he didn’t mean it…
Today I will give Kak Ani a list of her major responsibilities and some house rules. Learning from experience, I feel that it is essential for her to understand right from the beginning what is expected of her. I hope she will not forget her purpose of coming here. And I hope that she will last the duration of her contract.
3 comments:
yasmin's mon, welcome back io the scene and congratulations...free from the shackles! i can only dream...even if i have one, the maid will not know where to start...perhaps pengsan at the door! there's too many books and mags. and because we work from home too - no one can touch or move our things.
mak su, dah dapat maid ek..dgr2 hari tu nak cari org siam, aini pun ingat nak cari org sana tapi tak tahu macam mana. do`akan kami dipermudahkan urusan mcm mak su
yasmin's mom, having a maid can be a real godsent. rumah terjaga, budak 'termandi' dan semua teratur! as long as she's honest, it will be a smoothsailing process for u and her. oh btw, i am kak teh's new blog follower, my blog http://elysplace.blogspot.com
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