It’s a Living: Work & Life in Vietnam Today

Chapter 11: Cleaning

CLEANING 228 CLEANING 230 domestic helper My name is Quý, and I’m from Xuân Vinh in Nam Định Province. Everyone calls me Auntie Xuân, after my husband. I moved to Hanoi from the countryside more than 10 years ago; exactly 15 years ago, now that I think about it. When I was still living in the countryside, I did farm work, but the most you could earn was the food on your table. Because we wanted a higher standard of living, my husband and I decided to move to the city. When we were first living here, I really missed my family and my home. Now, though, I’ve moved on and gotten used to focusing on my present life in the city. I still visit my home village every once in awhile, but nowadays while I’m there I miss the money I make in the city [laughs]. Actually, it was my husband who came to the city first, working driving a cyclo [a cycle-rickshaw with the passenger seated in front] while I stayed home and took care of the farm. Everybody said living in the city would provide him with a lot of opportunities, but you know what happened? People kept stealing CLEANING 231 his cyclo, his only means of making a living. It happened six times. Each time, he would buy a new cyclo and go back to work, and then it would get stolen again. After I heard how hard it was for my husband, I decided to move to the city to help him. After a year with both of us earning, we were able to buy a motorbike for him to start working as a xe ôm [motorbike taxi] driver. We really had to think long and hard before making the decision to move to Hanoi. We’ve got a big family, and we knew that if my husband and I went to the city for work, our three kids would be back in the village alone, taking care of each other and going to school all on their own. At the time, my oldest was only 12 years old; at that age he already had to be responsible for his younger siblings. We were so lucky that our neighbors, my parents, and our brothers and sisters all pitched in to help take care of our kids. It’s thanks to them that our children didn’t have to face too many hardships while their parents were away. These days, I work a lot to earn as much money as possible. I may be old, but I’m still healthy. Even though my kids now have stable jobs of their own, and they’d all prefer for me just to stay home and take it easy, I want to work while I still can. They have their own families to take care of. I really want to be self-sufficient as long as possible, and to put aside some money so that I don’t have to live off my kids when I’m older and can’t work any more. An ordinary work day starts at 6 a.m., when I catch the bus to Gia Lâm [part of the Hanoi metropolitan area on the east side of the Red River], where I clean the family home of a woman named Mrs. Hạnh. Her children own a large taxi company, so after I finish cleaning their home I clean the company offices. I’ve been cleaning for them for nearly ten years. In the office, I clean with a broom and a mop, but when I’m cleaning a house, I get down on my hands and knees and clean by hand to make sure the floor is as clean as possible. When I first started working as a cleaner, I used CLEANING 232 to get pain in my arms, but after awhile I got used to it. I have another job two days a week ironing clothes for a lady named Mrs. Trang, who was introduced to me by Mrs. Hạnh. Interestingly, Trang ended up marrying a Westerner, and now she’s got a very comfortable life. Sometimes I make a little extra money by buying old things and recyclable materials from people. Then I resell whatever I buy to recyclers...