Social Class and Acceptance

"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society."

Hillary Clinton

I started this week getting my first paycheck. Although I knew my amount (I did agree to what was in my contract), the realization that I could pay down my debt while also not living on noodles and tuna during my time here became a little heavy. So much so that I haven't had the courage to even touch my paycheck or do anything yet.

With the discussion of first pay comes the discussion of plans for the first pay. Several people are now making plans for their trips during the holiday in October and going home for Christmas. Others are doing the numbers game like I am figuring what needs to go home and what needs to stay, to take care of student loans, mortgages, and family responsibilities. But the other discussion that people have been having has been centered around getting maids.

I have thoughts about the whole maid thing. Having someone come into my apartment to clean up after me I think is a little lazy. It's just me, and although I tend to get a little junky, I keep a clean house. The fear of roaches and little bugs appearing because of my laziness is the biggest thing that prevents me from totally trashing a place and leaving food out regularly. The other issue I have is just this thought of employing someone to do cheap labor. I didn't even realize that feeling until I was talking with a friend this week.

So of course I called my mom, and of course she supplied some wisdom into the whole perspective. She reminded me about the research I conducted prior to coming here about how I told her that there were distinct differences in workers in this economy, and how I said people here get paid very little and that many take on these jobs to send money home to their families. Then she started to talk about the Jeffersons, and how Florence was a friend to the family, although she gave them lip, she just wanted to be respected for her work. At the end of the day, its my job to help someone and treat them with dignity and pay fairly to do work that helps their family.

There are definite class distinctions here. The Kuwaitis really do not work because of their investments in oil and in other areas. But the working class scale goes as such: Westerners are here to educate and help build industry, South Asians provide the retail customer service help, and Indian/Sri Lankan/Bangladesh workers do the labor (there is a different category in regards to taxi drivers, which I will have to write about later). It is the Indian/Sri Lankan workers that have it pretty bad, getting paid maybe 2KD (about $6.50) a week to do the hard labor. Many depend on the maid jobs just to send money home.

I thought about that all weekend as I looked at the country where I am living and working. I even shopped at a yard sale to help with a cause that supplies clothes, shoes, food, and tickets home to the workers who can't afford to. Every little bit that I do, really truly has an impact on someone else.

Although I have not hired a maid yet, I am going to do it. I need to get over myself and realize that I am doing my part to help society here. It's just odd to me that I have never been in a financial position to do just that.