Steve White.net

Back in the Philippines for Christmas. Amy and I wish you and yours the very finest of holiday seasons!

In many ways the Philippines has more freedom than the United States, and even the plummeting dollar goes a long way there. You can accomplish many things with very little effort in the Philippines.

Here’s an example: Helpers. That’s the Filipino nickname for maids. Actually, I guess you could say “helper” is the generic term for maid, cook, nanny, chauffeur, and general laborer. It’s basically anyone you hire to help around the house. And it’s a neat system which has deep roots in the culture of the Philippines.

Young people feel strongly compelled to contribute to their family, especially when it comes time to take care of their parents. For example, if a you graduate from high school but don’t go to college, you might be expected to get a job to help out. An easy way to do this is to get a job as a live-in maid (or any of the jobs listed above). The job pays well by local standards since it includes free room and board. And typically it isn’t a very hard job to do; if you get a job as a maid you’ll be doing roughly the same thing you would have been doing at home. Only now you can take pride in the fact that you are sending money home so that your parents, younger brothers and sisters, etc., can eat and maybe even go to school.

A helper is roughly $30 per month. That’s 24 hours per day, seven days per week. For all intents and purposes, they become a member of your family, but they get the worst family chores. They cook, do the dishes, sweep, mop, scrub toilets, take care of the baby and fertilize the garden. They also do the laundry by hand, since clothes washing machines are almost unheard of in the Philippines.

You don’t need to fill out any government paperwork to hire a helper. No tax forms or social security red tape to deal with. Pretend for a moment that you lived in the Philippines… If helpers were $30 per month, how many would you hire?