I have an interesting scenario that has kept my mind busy this week. It's a bit of a long story, but here goes -
Upon arrival at our apartment in Dhaka, a maid greeted us (me, Jimmy, Beckley) at the door. representatives from the school explained in more detail that there was some expectation for us to hire at least one person as household staff. There would be an option of cook/maid (called a "bearer" - a word from colonial times) and/or a driver. Rehana was our assigned "bearer", though there was a long list of applicants for the job and we could interview others if a relationship with Rehana didn't work.
There are important consequences of hiring a bearer for Westerners visiting Bangladesh. For example, most have been trained in how to prepare local produce so that it is safe to eat. Likewise they wash the dishes and sanitize the kitchen. They keep the apartment clean so that mold doesn't grow in the crevices. Moreover having a bearer provides an opportunity for us to support someone in a poor economy for a job well-done. Rehana, in particular, is a good cook of Bengali food.
At the same time, that constant presence can be uncomfortable for American kids used to doing things on their own. Our first morning here, for example, Rehana took the spatula from Beckley and firmly expressed that she should do the cooking - he was making a big omelet and didn't like this at all. Awkward things like this happen from time to time.
...Rehana is probably in her late 20s; she is single and living alone in Dhaka with her parents and brother in an outside village. She seems mostly very nice but has a hard edge or attitude that she shows us sometimes, when she is disappointed in something we do or ask of her (I promise we don't ask much). She speaks a tiny bit of English - about as much as we speak Bangla - such that there is lots of room for confusion in our conversations.
In any case, over the course of this week we - Sara, Jimmy, Beckley - realized that we have walked into a situation of significant responsibility: In hiring Rehana we are making decisions that affect her whole livelihood and standard of living, and that of her family to some degree. The questions posed to us are: What hours will she work? What days will she have off? Will we pay for her transportation? Will we buy her a uniform? Will we pay for her healthcare? Her family's healthcare? If she had children, would we pay for their schooling? And most of all, what will her monthly salary be?
The school spoke to us at-length and encouraged us that these decisions were ours to make. The school acknowledged that to be a bearer or a driver is considered a well-paying job for a Bangladeshi. Mr. Zaman, the AISD man facilitating all this, suggested that we consider our bearer's experience and skills to determine a starting salary; they announced that 6,000-9,000Tk was a general salary range for the position - about $90 to $150 / month.
So Jimmy, Beckley, and I had to come to some agreement on how much to pay Rehana. She is new at this job, and new to us, so that generally would put her on the lower end of the pay-scale. On the other hand, she does her job well and we like her. There was a real ethical pull as we reflected on this; we knew that we wanted to pay Rehana well. I began to feel strongly that we should offer 9,000Tk - the top of the range, in order to be generous and establish trust and also to support someone financially because we can afford to. The guys were on-board with this. We offered this to Rehana, thinking she would feel pleased.
Not so! Upon seeing the 9,000 figure Rehana became upset. She said many things, including mention of higher salary figures. We weren't sure exactly what she was communicating to us, much was lost in translation both ways. I think we all felt some disappointment, because we didn't want Rehana to think we were paying her less than she deserved. I thought there might have been a mis-understanding -
Not so! Wonderful Mr. Zaman said he would work this out for us. He went to speak with Rehana one day while we were away in in-service meetings. He returned, saying that Rehana had finally agreed to take the salary we offered. But when we got home that afternoon, she had a different story for us - she said Mr. Zaman agreed to 10,000Tk. No, we said, that's not right... She was quite insistent on that figure.
It wouldn't have been a big difference in money for us to pay 10,000 instead of 9,000 - but at the same time I think that we 3 roommates felt a need to set some boundaries. Many bearers were being hired by our colleagues for much less, and there was that long list of applicants for the job. Moreover Rehana had been spending more of our money on groceries than the school predicted. Suddenly we felt a little wary of being taken advantage of ourselves - strange as that scenario seems. We certainly know that we are the overwhelmingly privileged party in this case, so this is all somewhat relative... but that is really at the heart of this: how much does that matter - a big question.
And so my thoughts have been flying around, mulling on this topic: are we being fair? are we being generous? should we do more? do we trust this person? is this just a bargaining scenario in a bargaining culture? to what extent does she need the money?
For now, we have stuck to the original 9,000 figure and Rehana unhappily settled. A lot of the tension has passed since the decision was made, but we are still carefully tending this relationship with our bearer. If things go well in the next month or two then I think we will find ways to give her a bonus from time to time. But if they don't go well then we might have the school introduce us to some other applicants. The whole scenario has been interesting for me and the roommates, who are still mostly strangers to each other, to grapple with. I guess it is part of the overall cultural and learning experience of this year in Bangladesh. Do you guys have thoughts on all this?
