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Tafadzwa Zimoyo : Lifestyle Writer
Housemaids are commonly taken as women of poor backgrounds. They are lowly paid to take care of house chores and children, but the perception has changed following the rise of modern maids in upmarket households. The modern maids are trained by various sprouting local agencies and their operation, remuneration and qualifications differ from common housekeepers.These are “special” maids that are hired for daily, weekly or monthly services and the agencies handle their affairs in a professional way.
The demand for such maids is steadily growing because of changing lifestyle trends and needs.
In today’s world, when people are fully occupied with busy lifestyles and hectic schedules, there is hardly any time to do the various household activities.
Cooking, cleaning and taking care of the house and the kids become a challenging affair. A house becomes a big mess.
During such situations, hiring a maid can help you and your house from becoming a mess. One could remember that those teenage girls from rural area could come to the big city searching for work and they land the job as a maid
Checking on their salaries they were very low but they could do nothing because all they know and think of is the background, what they have left at home.
But just like artists managers, maids are left alone, not credited for their works and importance in life. With the evolution, maids are getting more exposure and power and world-wide there are lot of reputable agencies that provide quality and educated maids. It is true that many households can’t do without them.
Imagine coming back from a hectic day at the office and staring at a pile of unfinished chores.
Now this would not have happened if there was someone at home during your absence to do these chores for you. Maids can sometimes be described as pillars of a common household, where working adults depend on them to make sure that the household runs on a clockwork basis.
A common misconception with maid services is that it is sometimes misrepresented as slavery.
Like mentioned before, few decades ago, maids were generally referred to as slaves to serve their masters and to do all their biddings.
However this mindset has evolved to the point that maids are sometimes now being treated as an equal member of the household basing on qualifications.
Saturday Herald Lifestyle traced the lifestyle of local modern maids who are different from those — “vanasisi or musikana webasa” as they are called.
These modern maids who are sprouting in Harare where they do all the chores from picking the child at school to taking the child to the movies. They drive some of the small popular cars like Toyota Vitz and Raum among others, dressing up like they are going to an office.
By the way they are not fully employed but hired. Their uniform is different from the usual known as theirs is black and white and some observers have gone on to describe the uniforms as sexy, something that was foreign in description of maid’s dresses.
Some women said they are not supporting those modern maid agencies because they fear the calibre of their maids have potential to lure their husbands.
“I think a maid should be a maid. How can you have your maid wearing pantihose, long weave, mini skirt attire and high heels while driving a car. What good can come out of them. Obvious it is a prostitution business which now they are saying modern maid. With long nails can she clean the house yet alone spread the bed. I can’t have a maid like that unless she wants to be the mother of the house,” said MaMoyo of Highfields.
However modern maids agencies said it is strictly professional business.
In an interview one agent which provides hired modern maids in Harare, Rutendo Mangove (27) said she enjoys her job and has conditions which are to be taken seriously just like any profession.
“What we do is to provide clients with an extensive array of maids from neighbouring areas to fit the demands of different clients.
“We are trained and orientated, where we learn all the basic necessities to run a household. Once a client looks for a maid to help with their household chores, a systematic database will be presented to them. We are qualified maids and this database presents the different maids and all the basic information about them.
Once the client has decided on their maid of choice, that particular maid will be invited to the client’s household to help run their household chores,” she said.
Mangove said maids can do a wide range of services from cleaning services to janitorial services.
“Generally, maids are of three types the untrained maids, those who have never worked before as a maid, semi trained maids — those who have limited number of experience working as a maid and can do only certain tasks and trained or professional maids – those who are experienced and can perform a variety of household chores.
“Out of these, always professional maids are the best one to opt for. These maids can handle and perform numerous jobs properly. Due to their experience they do not require any extra training.
“They have the capability to keep your house neat and clean but also can take care of your family well in your absence. This gives you a great sense of satisfaction.
“Most of the maids are trained to get along with your family members,” she explained.
However, those professional modern maids they range from $25 a day depending on the situation.
“Hiring a maid service is an excellent solution for homeowners who want to maintain a clean home without the hassle of cleaning it themselves. Getting their child to and from school is another part and we generally use our cars,” said Micheal Lyn Mors, a lifestyle guru.
Some said there were instances when maids were treated as a form of luxury to show how rich a family is.
“It has become a necessity to hire maids to help with the household chores, considering the ever expanding work and business cycle. The most parents are required to work for longer hours to sustain their family’s needs. Therefore hiring a maid can be described as a necessary form of luxury to help households run efficiently,” said Tatenda Nkomo of Umwinsdale.
Again it is still debatable when it comes to choosing a good maid.
Many are of the opinion that it depends on your choice and requirement.
“Factors such as the number of maids you want, whether on a daily basis or weekly basis or long term basis should be considered before hiring a maid. If your house is small, then you probably require only one maid and if it is large, then you should choose to avail the services of many maids. Hiring a maid through maid service agency is always better than keeping individual house keepers.
“The risk associated with keeping individual housekeepers is high because you don’t know whether the person comes from a good background or not.
“But through a maid servicing centre, you can get the details of a person and you can select them as per your desire,” said one local maid agency.
The bottom line with maids you can make your life easier and smoother hence it is also important to respect them.
Online Reporter