The plight of Domestic Workers in Lusaka
Lusaka is a city nestled in the south of Zambia, a beautiful country embedded in the Southern region of Africa. Lusaka is a city of natural beauty, sunny days, mindful movement, friendly smiles, excellent coffee, trendy cafes, swanky malls, newly-introduced bubble teas, and of course, like any other fast-growing urban space, stark contrasts.
Living standard can be high in Lusaka for many as they can access a wide-range of material comforts. Thus, a demand for domestic workers is high and almost all middle-class to wealthy families have domestic workers, commonly known as ‘maids’. Some employers prefer to have domestic staff as ‘live-in maids’, providing accommodation and food for them. It is not uncommon to find three to four domestic workers in wealthy households, in addition to gardeners, security guards, and drivers.
Domestic workers tend to have similar duties in every household. Their work generally involves cleaning the house, childcare, cooking, ironing, school runs and any other tasks that may arise.
Life is expensive in Lusaka. With high rent, many Zambians build their own house. Having a meal in a nice restaurant can be the same price as a meal in London. Public transport, namely buses, and some shared taxis, are cheaper, 5 Kwacha ($0.50) for one way, but the low income of low-skilled workers still make them pricey for their daily commute. Given the high costs, the government raised the minimum wage for domestic workers from K522 ($36)to K993 ($69)in 2018. There was a mixed response from Zambians, some thought it is a progressive step to increase the standard of living for these workers, whilst others felt this would lead to a loss of jobs or create more part-time jobs.
Ng’ombe is a slum, consisting of informal settlement and home to numerous domestic workers that work in the adjacent affluent residential areas. Ng’ombe (cows) was officially named in 1966. The first time I drove through Ng’ombe, I felt the buzzing, lively atmosphere — people walking in different directions busying themselves with the daily chores, women selling tomatoes and corn to passers-by, children looking with curiosity and awe, the bare houses with a handful of utility objects, sometimes without a door but a curtain hanging loyally in its place. The dusty, earthy smell clung to my nose. It was the first time I experienced the richness of life in Lusaka, but also the dire circumstances of the people who support my social class to have a clean house and home-made food, but most importantly, to have more free time to tend to our whimsical desires.
These workers walk to their employer’s homes every morning and experience the immense luxury they have never had and never will. One cannot imagine the depth of frustration and dissatisfaction that can arise when faced with such a stark, polarised reality every day.
Moddy Munyangwa is 36 years old who lives Ng’ombe. She has worked in two households previously. The first family she worked for had come from Greece and her next employer was from India. When asked about challenges, she identified the main challenge to be her pregnancy and post-pregnancy complications.
“Because there I work for 2 years they pay me K8000 [for delivery]. I could not work for 6 months. We were 2 of us…they did not wait, they hired someone else.”
However, Milambo could not point to any issue she faced at work. “I really enjoy working in someone’s house.” “[When I worked previously] I was treated as part of the family. I could cook there for lunch, I could have a bath before going home…they were very nice”. A typical day for Milambo would be waking up at 5am, washing herself, having shims (maize) porridge for breakfast, washing some clothes, walking to work at 6am, completing all her chores at work, returning home at 5pm, cooking dinner for family, sitting around and enjoying time with family, and finally going to bed at 9pm.
Since domestic workers are always women, and they often have dependents, they have the total responsibility of household chores before and after they come back, which includes all the tasks they carry out in their employer’s house i.e. the ‘double burden’.
During the rainy season in Zambia, there are heavy showers — the earth comes alive. The trees are greener than ever, the birds chirp joyously, the grass is lush, the dark clouds float with breaks of sunshine, and the smell of the earth is nothing less than heavenly. This is the experience of the wealthy. But in a parallel world, the heavy rains flood the houses in the informal settlement, the stormy weather combined with the rainfall causes houses to collapse, and in such a situation, in one household, a brick falls on a 3-year old toddler who was sleeping peacefully. She has a deep cut on her head and her mother, a domestic worker herself, rushes to the hospital to get her stitches.
By Rumman Khan
