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Jakartans get creative to solve housemaid crisis during Idul Fitri
Handle with care: A woman is trained to bathe a baby at a housemaid training and replacement center in Cipete, South Jakarta, on Monday
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span class="inline inline-center">Handle with care: A woman is trained to bathe a baby at a housemaid training and replacement center in Cipete, South Jakarta, on Monday. Many people are seeking temporary maids ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
Each year, thousands of people in Jakarta will take part in the annual homebound exodus, locally known as mudik, to spend time with their families during Idul Fitri.
But while those who leave the capital enjoy time bonding with their relatives, Jakartans who remain often find lives a little more complicated with household chores left unattended in the absence of house maids who join the mudik. They also find it hard to leave their homes unattended for long periods of time due to security concerns.
Some households prefer to allocate chores among family members who have days off from work or school.
"At least one person has to take care of the house while the maids are gone. If my family wants to go out somewhere, we ask my aunt and uncle, or maybe my sister's friends to take care of the house," said Aditya Pradipta, 20, a university student who lives in Cipete, South Jakarta.
Meta Andrini, 20, also a university student, added: "When the maids are away, my family splits [household] tasks every day. I live in a clustered housing area in Lebak Bulus, which employs security guards who make sure that my home will be fine if my family decided to leave the house.”
Other families decide to hire temporary maids, as Ira Simanjuntak, 53, a working mother who lives in Cilandak, South Jakarta, explained: “My family rarely stays at home during [the Idul Fitri] holiday, but my mother usually does. I have quite a spacious house, so the best option […] is to hire a daily-paid maid from acquaintances to help clean the house and wash our clothes, and also take care of my mother.”
She added that the maids must be recommended by her friends as she considered it risky to have people she does not know cleaning her room. She also finds it hard to trust just anyone to take care of her mother, who is 85 years old.
Olivia Devi, 39, a teacher who lives in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta, said she turns to Go-Clean, an app-based house-cleaning service run by Go-Jek, to help her.
“Go-Clean is a good option for me, because I only need [help] once in a while," she said
Agustarini Wahyuningrum, 42, from Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, also likes to use the mobile service, saying: "I use Go-Clean periodically when my maids aren't home. I have to take care of my baby, so I use Go-Clean to clean my bathrooms and kitchen — basically to clean the house.”
Agustarini said she might use the app’s services again after Idul Fitri but before her maids return, as temporary maids are difficult to find nowadays. She usually places an order for a maid the day before, requesting for three to four hours of cleaning in the morning.
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The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.
