With all the orientation and reading we did before we came to Pakistani as Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-workers, we were simply not prepared for some aspects of life in Pakistan. One of the most difficult things for us has been the matter of employing household staff. I’ve been raised in the strong Dutch Calvinist tradition of hard work and self-reliance; my parents have always told me that my first sentence was ‘I do it myself!’ And while our flat with 12-15 ex-pat teachers in Cairo where I taught as a young adult mission volunteer was carefully tended by Abdel Zaher, he was employed by the school rather than us personally.
Here, there is an expectation that the ex-pats will provide much-needed jobs to Pakistanis as housekeepers, cooks, gardeners, or drivers. Within hours of our arrival in Lahore, we were presented with people who needed work. And they keep coming. There isn’t a week that goes by that someone is not at our gate with papers or appearing in my office seeking employment. There is lobbying by relatives for jobs for their family members, heart-felt pleas from people recently returned from working in one of the Gulf states, inquiries from people working elsewhere and looking for a better job.
Some are clearly looking to play on our sympathies; others are obviously honestly desperate. We cannot possibly employ them all nor are there enough jobs available among our expatriate colleagues or on the Forman Christian College campus.
Most of those coming are Christians, for several reasons. Christians are among the poorest people here and often make a living as household workers. They want to work with Christians or Westerners, who are assumed to be Christians. There is more job security on the Forman campus than many other places.
Middle class families here almost always employ one servant. And that’s what they call them. The houses on campus have ‘servants’ quarters’ attached to them. We have to admit that terminology has made us squirm.
Another reality is the time it takes to do household tasks. And labor-saving appliances are in short supply. There are lots of unemployed people needing work and housework is so time-consuming and demanding that in pure economic terms, there is plenty of supply and demand to go around.
And so it is that we have come to employ a cook and a housekeeper. There are those reading this who will probably think, isn’t that elitist? How can you feel good about that? Honestly, we don’t know some times how we feel about it. In the end, however, we believe on the whole it is part of what we need to do here. We are providing a living for two families who are appreciative of the wages we pay. We treat them with respect and value their work; from what we hear, that in itself is a blessing to them. It’s required us see things with a different set of eyes and humbled us in ways we could never have imagined. Here is one story as an example:
I came home for lunch one day and was sitting in a chair in the living room, reading the newspaper after my bowl of soup. Saddiq and Sam, our household staff, came to see me to express concerns about something. They stood, I sat. Offering them a seat is always met with polite refusal; today was no different. And then Saddiq said:
‘You know, Madame, you Western people do not understand. It is a matter of honor for us to serve you and to show you respect. We show you respect by always standing in your presence. We honor you by respecting your things and treating them as if they belong to us. We take care of our own things so we will take care of your things. It is our duty to cook for you and to clean for you. You pay us a salary and treat us well. We are happy working for you. We do not need to sit on your furniture; our place is to stay in the kitchen or outside. We will come to your living room to cool off in the heat and to rest, but we will bring our stools from the kitchen or stand quietly. We have learned to honor you by showing you respect in this way. This is the way we Pakistanis do this.’
I was humbled … they really do see things from a very different perspective and in their very honest and humble way, they were showing me what ‘servant leadership’ is all about. I was reminded of this passage from Ephesians, chapter 6, beginning with verse 5:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; 6not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, 8knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free. 9 And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.
This has always seemed an anachronistic passage to me, one that had only allegorical relevance in my modern American life. Here, it is real and alive. While Sam and Saddiq are not ‘slaves’ in any sense of the word, substitute ‘servant’ or ‘housekeeper’ in the passage and you will perhaps read it as I do now. They render service with enthusiasm; they seek to honor God and us in all they do and they live simple lives in service as a testament to their faith. They are walking sermon illustrations every day.
And so we ask you to pray for them: Saddiq’s wife is not in good health and he has injured his shoulder in a fall. Sam worries about how he will pay for his daughter’s wedding and his son’s education. We value their dedicated service and daily support of our lives here. We only hope we are treating them as we are admonished to in Ephesians. And our hope is that we can continue to learn from them as we serve here in Pakistan.
—
Marianne Vermeer
Lahore, Pakistan
