A Farewell Lunch at Home For Y

Had Y over for lunch and to spend the afternoon in the most mundane way with us. She's working as a domestic helper in Singapore, and after 20 years here, she is going home for good come month's end. I'm glad that she has had a decent and fair current employer for the past 6 years.

She was our family's domestic helper for a number of years, and is excellent in many ways. For many reasons that I shall not go into here, after two years with us, she had to move on to another (better) employer. I only wished I could hire her in my personal capacity, but I can't. This flat is too tiny. So I've kept in touch with her, meeting up for meals, tutoring her in the courses she had taken to navigate Microsoft Office, etc, generally making sure that she is being fairly treated, and is okay.  

Y is kind to Smol Girl. She doesn't quite know how to handle her yet, but she will get used to it with some training, for them both. At the very least, Smol Girl doesn't mind Y. I've been toying with the idea of hiring a helper to help me with the dog. But a full-time helper isn't quite ideal for me. I wouldn't mind a part-time helper for say a few months when I want to travel and do stuff, or a dependable house-sitter. Haizzzzz. I would seriously consider having full-time help if it's Y. But she's going home, so that throws this idea out of the window. 

Y has cleverly saved up and budgeted her salary. She bought a residential plot of land in her hometown of Indonesia, and built a home for her family. Not only that, she has also managed to scrimp and buy another sizeable parcel of land to build a separate building that is a motel of sorts, a simple homestay to welcome local/domestic travelers. That will be her income when she's home. At least that's her plan. Who wants to work in Singapore as a domestic helper at the mercy of your employers' moods in close proximity? If you could sort it out financially, wouldn't you want to be home and working on your own terms?

This doesn't come as a surprise since I've walked through these plans with her. She's extremely entrepreneurial, and her life experiences have come in handy where she lacks structured academic education. I'm optimistic that this venture will work out. The homestay has been in operation for 1.5 years. She has been remotely running the cosy homestay from Singapore for the past year, and from her words, "It's doing okay, making a bit of money." She's even thinking of having catered food for the guests, except that right now she can't find a cook or be there to supervise food hygiene standards. Wheeeeee. I'm sooooo proud of her.

Daisy's Dream Kitchen always caters good food.