The Staff

Novi and Esty

The day after we arrived in Sumba we hired 2 girls to work for us. We had been told that we would also need to hire a guard, but that does not seem to be the case. The two girls we hired take care of absolutely everything (laundry, cleaning, cooking, and watching over Colby). These girls start their day at 6am and finish after dinner. They work 6 days a week and come back on Sunday evenings in time for dinner. They requested a salary of 500,000 rupiah per month (that’s $55). They live with us and we pay for all of the food. It costs about $45 per week to feed 5 people and the dog. I have never come across cheaper childcare let alone housekeeping services. The spendthrift in me is elated, but the humanitarian is shocked by how little money is expected for a full days work and how hard it is for locals to get that money.

Novi:

Novi is 17 years old and she just finished the Indonesian equivalent of highschool. She is still very much a teenager, but works harder than most highschoolers I know. She speaks a fair amount of English and is a great help when we are trying to communicate with the neighbors. She has breakfast on the table by 7am and has already swept and mopped the floors. Novi does all of the shopping and buys the most interesting vegetables many of which I have never seen or heard of before. She tries very hard to make interesting dishes and likes to learn new recipes. 

Novi desperately wants to be a nurse, but does not yet have the money to attend university. The tuition is about $300 per year. With the help of her mother (who is a nurse at Karitas Hospital), she has opened a savings account and is saving all of the money she is making this year. She wants to save at least enough for 1 year and hopes to improve her English. She also has dreams of traveling. She has never left Sumba and has hardly been anywhere outside of Waitabula.

Novi is otherwise a typical teenage girl. She has a boyfriend (Jami) who just started university on another island. She is struggling with how to handle a long distance relationship. Oops! Like any typical teenager, her relationship status changes as frequently as the weather in New England. Apparently, in the words of Novi, “Jami is broken. Forever.” She is infatuated with Daniel Craig (the latest James Bond)! She finds everything that we do incredibly entertaining. She finds the way Chris tries to mime things he can’t communicate in Bahasa Indonesia gut-wrenchingly funny and usually doubles over with laughter. I love it that she feels so comfortable with us.

Esty:

We hired Esty to primarily care for Colby. She is older than Novi with 24 years under her belt and very good with children. She worked for a family in Bali for 2 years. Esty wakes up early with Novi and takes out the trash and starts on the laundry which is all done by hand in a wash basin with a scrub brush. Then she shifts her focus to Colby helping Novi with household chores when Colby is playing contentedly. Most of the time she chases him around the yard or they go for walks around our neighborhood to look at the horses, chase grasshoppers, and play soccer with the other children. Both girls love Colby very much. They call him Prince Colby!

Esty wants to be a teacher and has also been putting away money from her jobs to pay for university. She hopes to have enough to start school in a year or so. She knows a few words in English, but is trying to learn more by talking to us. We try every morning to learn one new phrase. Esty and Novi say it in English and we say it in Bahasa Indonesia. Esty was very quiet at first – partly because of the language barrier, but seems to be opening up. She is extremely good with Colby. She is not over bearing and lets him explore, but still manages to keep him safe. She is a true force working hard all day long.

Esty is a wealth of knowledge about local traditions.  She has a boyfriend name Petrus who is already in school to be a teacher.  We talk quite often about what has to happen if she and Petrus want to marry.  They are catholic, but local tradition still reigns supreme here.  The process is quite long and very interesting.  I will post about it as soon as I have compiled enough information!

Both Chris and I are seriously impressed with these young ladies. They have goals and ambition. They are working their tails off to make their dreams a reality and better their station in life. I hope we can help them along the way. They truly deserve it.