Moving Abroad and Hiring a Maid

To most Americans, the idea of having house help is a luxury. But in many developing countries, anyone who can afford to will keep at least one domestic helper. Many households have several paid servants. There can be a maid, a nanny, a cook, a driver, a gardener, an errand boy, and a guard all working full time in the same house. If you're an expatriate living overseas and most upper and middle class families in your host country employ house help, you'd probably be best to do the same.

When I first came to South Asia, the idea of having a maid was not something I liked. I thought, "I can do it all myself, just like I do when I'm in America." Well in America we have washing machines. We have dryers. We don't need to iron our clothes every day. We might even have a dishwasher. We certainly do not have as generous a helping of dust as Asian countries have. Living overseas our house needs to be dusted, swept and mopped every single day. I was spending hours a day washing clothes in buckets and attempting to iron them in the 120-degree heat. I finally gave in and hired someone to help.

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