I grew up in a little village in Jamaica and when I was growing up, I was the oldest of the children, so that means at a tender age of 5, as far back as I can remember, I’ve been cleaning the house. It’s not like nowadays when you have the electric polisher, I would be getting down on my knees with the red floor polish and a coconut brush and shining the floors. And as a girl you are expected to do the work.
If I’m completely honest, I hate house work. I hate it, but of course I have to do it.
As a care-worker I do some housework, but not a lot of housework.
I keep the patient’s immediate living area clean, and of course do the laundry and cook. When you’re caring for someone in their home it means that you are in charge of the client’s wellbeing in terms of assisting them in their daily activities, of course doing some housework.
Once again, you are taking care of clients that are unable to care for themselves, and that means not being able to care for their environment, hence you end up being the housekeeper.
I’ve worked as a carer, as a nanny, as a full-time maid some time ago.
So, at 55 years old I’m over it, but I do it now because it’s a profession and its paid work so that means I have to do it.
There’s a part in the bible that says "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. As long as there is life on earth there is going to be housework and things will remain the same. We might have technology that makes it easier, we can develop a robot that can do the dusting and do the laundry, that’s the only thing that can make it easier, is a robot. It may sound silly. If we’re talking about domestic work, as a carer, it would be nice if they would have house cleaners separate that comes in and cleans the whole house and that would give you more time to concentrate on your client. There are times when clients want you to clean the whole house, which is not fair because you have to concentrate on giving care. So that needs to change where they expect us to do the whole house.
Now in my house, my sister does the housework, I don’t do it because I have to do it at work.And now at age 55, my relationship with household work is done.