Housemaids: To own or not to own a phone

Feb 28, 2012

What goes through your mind when a woman with dreadlocks walks into a room? You will most likely silently pity her mother and thank God your daughter is not like her.

By Susan Muyiyi

What goes through your mind when a woman with dreadlocks walks into a room? You will most likely silently pity her mother and thank God your daughter is not like her. You also assume that she must get high (read take recreational drugs) on something all the time. Speaking of misconceptions, a maid with a phone?

“I wouldn’t hire her,” says one mother. “Why give her the leeway to call thieves while you slave away?” she asks. Would you let your maid own a phone?

“That is a tough one,” says one mother. “For what,” asks another. When my maid asked for a phone, my friends worried for me.

“Start looking for a replacement,” they advised. When a maid gets a phone, her character and work ethic changes, I was assured.

However, my helper remains the same gracious girl who delights in the achievement of owning a phone. Think of the first pair of shoes you bought with the first money you earned, or the first car. How excited did you get?

With the phone, my helper can call home. Our strict television policy at home restricts the maid’s entertainment.

We found it necessary to censure the programmes watched because of our curiousm growing six-year-old. The maid is, however, entertained by programmes on the various radio stations from the comfort of her phone radio. Do I worry that she might leave?

No. She has the right should she choose to change her employer. Irene, another young working mother, says she has no problem with helpers who own phones.

It is a tool Irene uses to gauge whether a maid can work well and can be trusted with the responsibility of helping her run the home.

Irene confesses that she checks the helper’s text messages whenever the opportunity arises.

“It helps me know what she in planning and how to prepare in advance. I may also get to know of any ulterior motives up her sleeves.” Stella Kemigisa says her maid’s phone became an irritating factor in their relationship. On the maid’s first night home, Kemigisa was awoken by a loud phone ringing.

Time check: 2:00am. The maid had forgotten her charging phone in the living room at maximum volume. Getting a helper with a phone raises issues like how she should use the phone or when to receive calls from whom.

To avoid such scenarios, Milly recommends that the land line would do the trick. “Show her how to use it so that she can get to you when there is need and also make her private calls.”

Catherine Ruhweza of the Mama Tendo Foundation, which promotes family welfare, says usage of a phone by a maid should be restricted to avoid interfering with their work.

She urges employers to discuss with the maids the issue about phones right from the start to avoid conflict.
“It is not a violation of their rights. Even how bank tellers use their phones is restricted,” Ruhweza says.

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