As a part of moving to Bahrain, we decided it best to sell our home back stateside.  We had just renovated and upgraded our home, so we decided that selling would allow us to avoid the headaches that can sometimes come with being a long distance landlord.  With all the moving parts associated with an upcoming overseas tour, we were moving nonstop.  I was studying to take my real estate exam, working to get our passports and immunizations up to date, driving to the military hospital one town over to have blood work and physicals complete, cleaning the house, moving things from storage into the house, and getting the house ready for movers to pack and for it to be listed.  With all those things going on, we decided to pay someone else to do the final cleaning and we moved out.

After searching a few different places, we decided on a local cleaning company.  We got a great price and woman that came by did a wonderful job.  She spent a few hours at the house and cleaned the home from top to bottom.  We spent about $125 for her to clean our approx 1500 sf home, which was a good deal.

I provide this detail to give a little comparison.  Here in Bahrain, there is a serious maid culture.  Upon arriving, I realized that everyone has maids and nannies that can afford it (and by afford, I mean much less expensive than stateside).  If you’re in the mall, you’ll see parents and their children will be walking a few steps behind with a woman, often dressed in what appears to be scrubs.  In the neighborhoods, you’ll see similarly dressed women pushing strollers out around 9PM.  Maids, housekeepers, and nannies are a large part of the local economy.

Initially, I was against having a maid.  I wanted us to keep a sense of taking care of ourselves.  There are also what appear to be widespread instances of maids being treated almost like slaves, and I wanted no part in contributing to that.  Because the Gulf Coast Countries are wealthy, one dinar equates to much more in other countries.  Many of the maids come from countries where they cannot find jobs, and work here to send money back home.

For comparison, 1 BD = 267 Kenyan Shilling = 142 Philippine Piso = 10,027 Ugandan Shilling = 191.27 Indian Rupee.  While the economies of scale aren’t represented here, this goes to show that a little can often translate to a lot depending on your perspective.

As workers here, similarly to foreign workers in America, their Visas are tied to their employment (and thus their employer).  Some employers will hold a persons visa so they can’t leave, or not pay them, or physically harm them, because they know the workers need the money to send financial support to their families.  For instance, here’s an article from this week, in which Saudi Woman Forces Maid to Drink Bleach after making a mistake in preparing tea.  In addition, from what I’ve heard, not all Embassies have been helpful in the instances where these migrant workers have actually reached out for help.

When we moved into our villa, our landlord asked if we wanted maid service.  We told him that we’d have to think about it.  Over the first few days, we had issues with our cable and internet service, so our landlord stated that he would pay for weekly maid service for 1 month.  And that’s how it started.  With a conflicted heart, we decided to try out the service and see what it is like for ourselves.

In the beginning, there were some hiccups with the housekeepers showing up and/or speaking English.  However, one thing we noted was that each housekeeper that came appeared to be pleasant and in good spirits.  Happy even.  Olu (Patrick) asked one how she was treated.  Her response was that she was treated well, but even if she wasn’t she knew that she had a job to do because she needed to send the money home to Kenya.

That resonated with us.  What an impactful yet heartbreaking statement.  While my country has its problems, I can’t say I know anyone that has needed to leave the country to pursue an opportunity solely to be able to send money back to support a family;  willing to endure whatever may come in order to do so.

After the trial run, and seeing the same demeanor with 4 different women, we decided to continue housekeeping service.  We have a young lady that comes by once a week, for 4 hours, for 7 BD each day she comes.  We still cook our own food, wash and fold our clothes, and generally tidy up, but it helps having someone to clean the bathrooms, sweep and mop the floors, vacuum, and do an overall once over.  We’ve even recently decided to try to up the frequency to twice a week for 4 hours each visit.

All in, for 4 hours twice per week, which amounts to roughly 32 hours per month, the total cost would be 56 BD or roughly $150/month.  In the US, we paid nearly that amount for a one time cleaning.  While this seems like peanuts, the difference here is that you can make much less, and still have a living wage.  Housing is available at varying price points, and you can eat for dollars a day.

Thankfully, the agency we’ve been using seems to be reputable.  We’ll continue to do our part to stay vigilant and try to be aware of the state of our housekeepers, whether that means choosing a different agency at some point or going back to cleaning everything ourselves.  For now, it’s definitely been a help and we love it!