Domestic Workers

[Delia]

a couple of us have commented on the site about the small details that stick in our head from childhood.  one for me is my mom always saying, (if any of us went back for seconds at supper time), "leave enough for Reini/Mattheus" - it was like a mantra to her.  We had our main meal at supper and she always made sure they had a decent meal even though she knew they were going back to a meal at the hostel. 

it comforts me to know that in those dark days of political turbulence, our domestics were always treated well (to me they were part of the family) and without even knowing it 'cos it's just the way they were, my folks instilled in us the values to respect others as human beings no matter their outer differences, etc.  thank you Mom & Dad for that! 

sandy, yes i also remember my folks always bidding them farewell after their 6 month stint with gifts - blankets, clothes, etc. even furniture sometimes - i remember they had to get a letter from their employer stating that they had been given these things as gifts as proof they hadn't been stolen.  on the point of letters, i also remember how they had to have a letter if working late giving reasons for why they were on the streets after 8.00pm (think that was their curfew).  sickens me to remember how these decent, gentle people were treated because of a verkrampte government!

To Reini & Mattheus, wherever you are, thanks for all you did for us in keeping us safe (and more)! looking back, makes me believe you were my childhood guardian angels.

[SandyB]

a  picture  found ... Michael  ...

[Yvette Kroukamp (Biccard)]

Izak was our faithful.  Imagine working for a family with 4 girls? Izak was always patient with all of us.  Debby, didnt he teach you to iron???  Ja, ok so he used to lift me to school, ok! SUB A! Susan (Linekar) will remember the toasted sandwiches he used to pass to us over the fence at OPS when the bell rang for first break. I remember the laundry baskets and mini basket bags we would get from him when he had been home. He had a heart of gold, bless him.  I always had to make sure I was home when the 16h05 siren went off. My mother, worked at the dental surgery as a dental assistant and she would ride a bicycle to and from work.  The bus would go passed her and I would duck and pray I got home before her.  I'd get off the bus at the bus stop in 13th avenue and he would be waiting at the front gate. This was after cruising round and round town on the bus all afternoon. Yvette

[Susan Kintscher (Lineker)]

Our domestic was just as wonderful.  What working for 5 children, and three of them girls and boys who loved fishing,etc.  He's uniform was always white and beautifully ironed.  Here is a photo of one of our many domestics.

[Julie Vice (Willson)]

I rebember our domestic Erastmus who was with us for years (how he survived us lot of kids I don't know)
He was scared of snakes and even just pictures of them so yes we would give him pics and cut outs of snakes and watch him freak out..hahaha shame, poor thing.
When we got our fist TV and the news men came on he would not walk away while they were taking because he believed they were talking just to him, so he would greet them and wait untill they said good night before he got back to work.
Mt dad had a LP with bagpipes and our domestic would put it on while doing the house work, he loved that LP..hahaha
We would help him with his english homework and he would pay us with long stompies that he had collected from the ashtrays, yip, we smoked then already!

Paula
:D

[Delia]

paula, i remember how we used to get Erasmus to collect the stompies for us.  we'd argue over who got the longest ones.........we would come to your place every afternoon after school dying to see his collection for us and then get stuck into those floury rolls with ham on before sneaking off to enjoy our stompies.

i used to ask reini/mattheus to go buy smokes for me. i'm surprised they did it - i'm sure they must've worried what would happen if the folks found out. i remember one time when we'd moved to our 5th ave house, reini bought my smokes for me and i hid them & the matches in the garden - the dog found them and my mom came home to chewed up smokes all over the garden path - could've got stuck into them anywhere in the garden but had to choose the pathway of all places!!!!!!!!  of course, huge denials that they were mine - how doff did i think my mom was - she doesn't smoke, linda was away studying, lance was in the army...............work it out for yourself :D

[Michael Alexander]

My old domestic retired this month, here's his pic in todays newsletter...

[Patricia Lotte]

Titus ... he was with us till we left Oranjemund and we'll never forget him. I think he must have been the only Owambo to eat French food coz my mom always cooked the French way and we always gave Titus dinner. We were all in tears when we left town and he gave each one of us one of those traditional 'Ovambo bags' that I still have at home. My parents nicknamed their dishwasher 'Titus' so there's a bit of him in France now.

[SandyB]

 Good  one !!  I chuckle  silently thinking of " Titus" humming away gently doing the dishes for you Mom and Dad  ..

[Michael Alexander]

Just hope they don't pay Titus slave wages....

[Patricia Lotte]

Titus is treated with a lot of respect and appreciation ... and when the 'previous Titus' broke down, my folks didn't waste any time going out to replace him with a new Titus. He's been part of the familly for so long now that they couldn't live without him. I wonder what the real Titus would think if he knew this !!!

[Bev Coates (Now Walker)]

i got a dish washer for my birthday from my daughters.......thought it was the answer to my dream of a tidy kitchen.......lol....... :emot19:
how silly of me.......

can anyone tell me    plshow to get people to put their dirty dishes in there now instead of still piling them up in the sink......the reason .they tell me         ...the dish washer is still full of clean dishes.......

.......so my next problem......how do you get people to take the dishes out once they are done ..........

[Michael Alexander]

I'm not a big believer in dishwashers.... just my 2 cents..... 

[DUNJA WRBKA]

Me neither Michael.  By the time you have packed the dishwasher you could just have used the same amount of time to wash the dishes by hand.  I have also seen what a dishwasher does too glasses.  We still wash by hand...

[Michael Alexander]

DIshwashers are for lazy people and they do not always clean properly.....

Now a domestic on the other hand.... gets to do it again ..if it's not clean properly......