jacinta

We have been blessed to finally find a house helper (or "empregada" as they are called here) to work with us! The girl who worked for us previously (Ana) was able to get a good job working on the farm of some friends of ours while we were away in the States. But a few weeks after our return, Ana came to visit us and brought along her younger "sister" to introduce to us. Although Jacinta had never worked for a Western family before, we knew that if Ana was recommending her that it would be a good idea to give it a try. After a week "trial" period, we have been so thankful for not only her help, but the opportunity for this to be a person we get to know and in whose life we can invest!

In a Mozambican household, a typical "empregada's" duties would include everything from handwashing laundry, ironing, washing dishes, making meals, cleaning the house, buffing the floors, buying groceries, to caring for the children. It is not uncommon for them to arrive at their employer's house by 6:30 and leave after dark when the evening dishes are done--six or seven days a week. Technically their duties do not fall under the "labor laws" here in Mozambique and they are often paid far less than the minimum wage.

Anyone of "means" living in Mozambique--and particularly expatriates, would be expected to hire one or several house helpers]--not only for practical purposes and as an indication of status, but also as a way to help out the local economy by providing an income to someone who otherwise would not have a job. The few people who do not hire house helpers tend to be seen as "stingy" and secrative--possibly with something to hide.

As an expatriate, and as a Christian, obviously we have some ethical and Biblical issues with hiring, treating, and paying an empregada in what would be the widely-accepted Mozambican culturally appropriate way. However, there are some tricky implications to work through as we try to navigate a compromise between what we would consider "reasonable" as expatriates and what can quickly become an imbalance and problem as we live and work among other Mozambicans. Many expatriates tend to want to significantly overpay their workers, give them very reduced "Western" work hours, and "bless" them according to our Western ideas. Not only can this eventually become a problem between the employer and employee (think: all kinds of co-dependence), but it also has community-wide implications since that worker has to "fit" somewhere in his/her community without upsetting his position in the family or becoming a target for crime.

As we have tried to work through these issues the past four years of living here, we are acutely aware of the importance of finding someone who is not only going to be a help to our family but someone that we can invest in and bless in ways other than simply materialistically.

Every family, I'm sure has something slightly different that they are looking for in a house worker. But generally, there are some basic "qualifications" that can be actually pretty challenging to find.

1. Honest. It is not that an overwhelming majority of workers are dishonest, per se. It is just that the material wealth of an expatriate compared to the near poverty of most locals is so striking that it can be extremly tempting to steal.

2. Hard worker. We have four children. Self-explanitory.

3. Teachable. Many people look for someone who has had previous experience working in an expatriate home--the material and physical differences can be SO significant between a local Mozambican's life experience and the reality of a Western home (think: standards of cleanliness and hygeine, working with a gas-burning stove vs. cooking over an open fire, and mopping a floor verses sweeping a dirt floor, to name a few) that it can be a long process to work through. However, in the end, we have found through experience that we would much rather work with someone who has a teachable attitude than someone who may even have previous experience.

4. A female. Although it is more common for men to be house workers here in the north of the country, since I am a stay-at-home mother with four vulnerable little children, we have been praying for a female house worker.

5. The "fit" factor. It is a bit hard to describe, but this is a person who will be spending hours in our home with me and with our children every week. This is someone who will be working along side me in the kitchen and who, like me, will probably get kicked by a wayward ball while she is hanging up laundry. We look for someone who loves children and will engage with me throughout the day.

In the past week, we discovered that Jacinta definitely meets our basic qualifications and in some ways has exceeded our expectations. Only God knows how long she will be a part of our lives and us a part of hers. But we pray that with her help we will be able to "function" and thrive as a household here in Mozambique. And we pray that we will be able to invest in her life and live out God's love to her so that, despite all the inadiquacies I know she will witness in our family, that she will be drawn to the One who brought us here.