SSIS Newsletter – “阿姨，你好”

Being an AYI is a hard job. You have to wake up early, at around 5:30, and there are no buses to bring you to work, so you have to own either a bike or a scooter. You get to school at around 7:30 and you need to start working at 7:45. You have until the end of the day, 5:00, to finish cleaning all of your area. If you don’t get the entire job done, then you have to stay later or get to work earlier on the following day. The only break you have is the lunch break, which is at 11:15. The guards open the rest room, and you can go get your lunch box, sent from the company. Your lunch is consisted of fried eggs, rice, drumsticks (chicken) cabbage, and vegetables. You eat this everyday, except for the vegetables and the meat that changes, sometimes. And you follow this schedule 7 days a week. Even during holidays, because the school needs to be clean.

Okay. Now, imagine.

Imagine yourself cleaning toilets everyday; imagine yourself kneeling on the floor cleaning hundreds of flights of stairs. Imagine being a ayi yourself. Every ayi at the school is in charge of a specific area to clean everyday. Most of the time, it means the whole corridor. This includes: 6 classrooms, 2 bathrooms, countless stairs and windows… All of the cleaning process has to be done within 8 hours of work. Think that’s too much work? Sorry. You’re in charge. But. You’re middle aged. You have rough hands, a pair of worn out legs, and a curved back. The built up rubbish and dust doesn’t wait, they have to be get rid off everyday. Sometimes you might come across a streak of wet mud on the white pillar floor. Other times, a rolled up, chewed, sticky gum stuck on the wall; or countless, used contaminated tissues lying on every desk; in every single corner. How would you feel?

Looking at the lonely shadow of the ayis, we feel that we should do something to thank them. A nice little ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ lights up their day. Or a little nod and encouraging smiles, tell them that we appreciate their hard work. They are the most respectful workers that keep our environment clean and safe…  For,  The ayis have so much work to do; they have to clean so many different things. And we, as students, don’t always help them out when we get dirty the things they had just done cleaning.  The least we could do is say Hello, say Goodbye, or just smile. They need the encouragement and if they weren’t here, we would have dirty toilets and awful lucking classrooms. Slow down your pace, and look at the ones that work silently, but greatly. Show them your respect, be grateful; for we are lucky to have them.

Interviewed and written by:

Cinthy, Maya and Marie

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