Domestic helpers have been a great support for many Malaysian families. From taking care of children to house-keeping and cooking meals, domestic helpers had been single-handedly managing all these.
In recognition of their effort, a Malaysian family has recently taken to Facebook to recount the heartwarming experiences they had with their kakak (domestic helper), who has been with them for the past three years.
Facebook user Grace Kiar shared that her kakak had been an important part of their family and they have always treated her as part of their family, despite being an employee. She said that, in fact, her kakak sometimes understands the needs of her children more than she does, and knows where every thing was placed in their home.
Grace shared that her son would often bully their kakak when the family first hired her but she taught him that he should show respect to her as she is merely doing her job as a domestic helper to earn a living for her family.
“Kakak also has parents, a husband, and children too. You cannot bully her,” she said, adding that they later grew closer to each other and they now treated her as part of their family.
How maids were being mistreated?
Grace then recalls how she heard many instances of domestic helpers were not treated well by their employers.
One example she cited is when a maid joins a family for a meal at a restaurant, the employers tell them to sit outside and wait under a tree for the family to finish their meal.
Another example she gave was how they notice a man who brought his daughter and maid to a nasi lemak stall, where the man ordered a plate of nasi lemak for his maid and invited her to join them. However, the maid fearfully pushed the plate away. When his wife returned to the table, she scolded him for buying food for the maid and said she already brought her bread.
“I do not know what these kakak have done to their employer in the past to deserve such poor treatment,” Grace said.
“There are also those who are not suitable for our needs and would bad-mouth the family. However, we should continue to treat our kakak with sincerity.”
Meanwhile, Grace also highlighted that not all employers are bad, just as not all maids are bad. Some of them may have tried, but things just did not work out for them.
Grace then advised families not to treat their maids poorly just because of the bad examples that had been going on around them.
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