Domestic Helpers

Today, my topic may appear boring. But since I just acquired a new helper this morning, I have decided to write something about domestic helpers. This is a write-up more on sustaining my memories of people who became a good part of my daily domestic life in the past.
As far as I can remember, ever since childhood up to the time I left for college in Manila, my meals and meriendas were mostly prepared by a fair skinned family cook by the name of Nasing. She was a widow from Siquijor who claimed to see spirits in the form of human likeness. Many years later, Beatriz, her grown-up daughter applied to become our family helper too. She washed and ironed our clothes with impeccable skills. Beatriz soon got married to Sancho, a young apprentice who was the son of my father's old driver Ponyong. Before my mother died in 1971, Nasing was replaced by small and dark skinned Laria who could equally cook as well, aside from making good homemade fishballs, salted eggs, ginamous (high salty preserves), kinilaw na uyap and other delicacies. When I came home to Cotabato during college days, our drivers were Ibarle and Rafael (from my father's trucking business). Helen and I had our informal driving lessons taught by Rafael when the streets of Cotabato were not plied by chaotic tricycles yet.
When I got married to Lucas, I could barely remember any of his family housemaids who came and left as they willed. When I gave birth to Roy and Tomas, I employed the care of professional midwives but when Tom was about 8 months old, I got this skinny girl Naning to be Tom's yaya. Since then, thin but headstrong Naning stayed with me and later with my maiden family in Manila ( that transfered before the earthquake in 1976 ) for a long durable time. She stayed with me to take care of Emil and went to Manila with Roy when I needed a good helping hand to take care of my sickly boy. While with Roy in Manila, she also became the Ledesma family nanny to Joemar, Miguel and Martin. When I gave birth to my twins in Manila, she was then working under the employment of my eldest sister Imelda/ sister-in-law Jean as a cottage industry seamstress. Fortunately she helped me took care of my twins when I needed an extra help after childbirth while in Manila. When she left for Iceland, the Ledesma family put up a sum to help her leave the country which she paid us back all in due time.
Mary, the former cook of LCT Hardware was one of the househelps my mother-in-law liked. Mary was a widow who had two daughters left in Siquijor. She was unlike the other easy going mindless singles. She worked conscientiously until she married our store driver Nestor who was looking for a more matured woman to be his lifelong partner. One of my more enduring and dependable household helps was Imelda. She was nanny to my twins and went to Manila with me for a year in 1991 leaving her worthless boyfriend behind who married another woman while she was away. I couldn't imagine myself managing my temporary home in Manila then without her. When somebody tried to intrigue her to leave me by saying "You must be very tired working alone by yourself." She promptly answered. " No, infact I am quite embarrassed because Manang ( that's me ) does most of the work at home." She was very patient with my children and we loved her. Sometimes she could be hard of hearing. She had some hearing defect from childhood I think.  It was very hard for me to let her go when she left to marry a more worthwhile boyfriend. Last but not the least was Joyce whom I brought to Manila to cook for my children. Martha and Marion were in high school then. She stayed for more than 5 years and learned not only how to cook well but make little repairs at home as well. She was able to save a lot of money from her salaries and bonuses. Joyce decided to come back home to Cotabato for good this summer. She has remained single and I guess is in search for a more meaningful personal life.