Leela, Our cleaning service Aunt

On the day when there are no lectures in the morning, we wake up at around 8 am. At that time, our aunt Leela is very busy.

We are staying in a government hostel in the university. Aunt Leela is the person who cleans our hostel. She is more than 50 years old. When she comes from home, she wears a nice skirt and a top. After came to the hostel, she wears an old skirt and a big red collared shirt because she has to clean the hostel until 4 pm.

Every day she sweeps the hostel building, around the yard, cuts the branches of the flower trees, clean the weeds, and then cleans the toilets and our bathing areas. The most unpleasant task is to wash the smelly garbage bins after the garbage is collected by trucks. In the early days, when they came to take the garbage, we didn't even go nearby. But she can't do that. That's a part of her job. Her family lives because of this job.

No matter how hard she works for her age, she never forgets to call us daughter and smile all over her face when she sees us. She worth even a small piece of cake, a piece of chocolate we give to her, than any other, as she has to work all day after eating a little rice with about two vegetables brought from home. No matter how much work is she done, when the hostel warden comes to check the hostel, she will definitely get scolded for any reason. But she is happy to laugh with us and spend the day with us.

I study in a state university. Cleaners are employed through various private agencies. They work hard all day to get a salary of around 800 rupees a day. An average sized bread in Sri Lanka costs around 150 rupees. After excelling in various other things, they get a meager salary.

Aunt Leela has said that her husband is suffering from paralysis and has a difficulty in walking. She does not often talk about children. I don't want to dig and ask about it. But I realized that she is a strong woman who carries the weight of the house. She takes anything that we put out of use, but is still in usable condition. She is not ashamed of it. She values ​​those things very much.

This is just one person. A lot of such brave women are working in my university, my city and in my country. But very few people know their story. Their story is not important to many. But the service they are doing for the country is immense.

According to aunty Leela, most of the people who work with her are women. And they are not very young women. But they have to sacrifice their lives for their families. By 4 pm, when everyone lines up in front of the office and is ready to leave, I would love to hear how they come together, gossip, and laugh like young friends. Even for that little time, they forget their sorrow, fatigue and smile. That is their life.

Sri Lanka is a lower middle income country. And a country that measures people by their jobs. Everyone wants standard jobs like doctors and engineers. Cleaners get a very low status in the society. Their salary is very low. It all end for food and transport. Very few people think that because of these women, their company, village, city, country have become a beautiful place without garbage. For many people, their job is unpleasant. But they forget that they have to do those unpleasant things to build a pleasant country for all of us.

All the time when I see the cleaning women in university premises, I doubt whether men or women are really strong. Yes, men are physically stronger than us. But women's hearts are stronger than all that. Seeing the dedication of some women to support their families, I feel how strong they are. With their wrinkled hands, they prepare food for the family, then come to work, go back home, cook food for their husband and children, and then again go to sleep with the dreams for tomorrow. Driving the vehicle of life is not easy for a woman.

As women, we should respect all other women without considering their occupations and status in the society. Everyone does their best for their families. Everyone has their own stories. Everyone serves the country. Most of South Asian countries measure a value of a person with their social status. But as women, we can restart the thinking pattern.

You may be reading this and think that cleaning is a normal, common job. I wrote this based on the social and economic background of my country. I would like to post a photo of Aunt Leela. But I don't do so, as I don’t know about her permission.