Ethics of a Housekeeper

Before we came to Ghana I knew that we would be having a housekeeper here,and I felt rather strange about it all. I wasn't sure about having a "servant" to do all my household chores. It really felt wrong when you're so used to doing it yourself, and isn't part of our culture in Australia.

If you've been reading these blogs you've probably heard me mention Rita fairly regularly. She's our housekeeper here - she comes each day in the morning, and does the dishes, washes our clothes by hand (we don't have a washing machine), irons and sweeps or mops the floors. She sometimes cooks food for us too, but that's not part of her job description - she just likes to cook and teach us African food.

Sometimes in the afternoon Rita will go with me to the markets, and thank goodness because she knows all the good places to go for different things, and negotiates prices for me which can be a bit confusing at times as many people don't speak much english. She also teaches me little bits and pieces about the local culture and language - we have fun whilst I try to learn to speak Twi, or carry things on my head or learn to cook local food.

Rita left school at year 10, and doesn't have any further skills or training. She has a six year old son (but the father is not around), and lives with her mother, her sister and her two children (including baby Jacinta). Before she worked here, she was selling bread in the market and would earn about 1Cd per day (about 80 cents). Then she decided she would bring bread to the mine and sell it here, which is where she met the Project Manager, Roger, who gave her a job here as a housekeeper. She started working here when Warren arrived. She now gets paid about 200Cd per month, and also gets some other benefits - her family gets free accomodation in a house here at the mine village, her healthcare gets paid for and she gets two meals a day provided - so its a pretty good deal for her. She also gets spoiled by us - she loves chocolates and cakes, and we give her little presents or some extra cash every now and then. Its also prestigious for her to be seen with a "brunni" in town.

So I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't feel guilty about having a housekeeper - its a win-win situation for both of us. Rita gets a good job, and I get a clean house and a friend! How will I cope when I get back to Perth though?!!