Keith Blake, Ottery
I was deeply touched and moved when I read in the media that an alarming number of domestic workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the year.
This is an open letter to homeowners to realise that the woman you have employed as a domestic worker in your home is a person just like you, with hopes to provide for her family, to just like you put food on the table and just like you, dreads to be placed in the unemployment line.
Close your eyes just for a brief moment and place yourself in that domestic worker’s cheap shoes and imagine being fired just because you are saving a few rands, that few rands that is keeping the domestic worker and her family financially secure, even when the amount is below the breadline.
I am begging you, the employers of domestic workers, to sit down and engage with compassion your domestic worker still in your employment or who was in your employment to find a solution to keep finances coming into the domestic worker’s pocket. If you are facing financial stress then ask family, friends and neighbours to combine employment by sharing the domestic worker’s services.
Do everything in your power to find an alternative solution if you are under financial strain to find financial blessings for your domestic worker. This brings to mind that famous dictum: Treat others as you want to be treated (Matthew 7 verse 12).