Family news

the cook's daughter in law just lost her baby: it delivered early,  but was okay so they sent him home and he died a few hours later.
She delivered in a "birthing" center, not a hospital, but they are understaffed so might have missed something. I suspect congenital heart disease which runs in her husband's family.

Sigh.

The cook has lost two sons in recent years, and she just was diagnosed with diabetes. But she still works for us,  and sleeps as a security guard at one of our relative's medical clinic. She is here for three meals a day, which comes to 12 hours, but the average time she spends buying food an cooking is about half that time... the rest of the time she is outside gossiping, or selling lotto tickets for extra money.

When I shop, I always go with her or her daughter for safety reaons. It is safer nowadays, but still we hear of robberies now and then.

Why should theives be afraid of a 70 year old woman who is only 5 foot tall and weighs less than 100 pounds?

Because she has a lot of sons who would kill anyone who hurts her. And because she knows most of the tricycle drivers in town. And she probably knows a lot of (ex) NPA types too.

Her family traditionally works for our extended family and some of them still live in a hut in our cousin's back yard: most of the sons live nearby, and drive "tricycles" i.e. motorcycles with side cars for short trips, and one son and two daughters work for the family as cook/cleaner/security guard. Alas, the youngest son who the family did manage to put thru college and became a school teacher, died of a congenital heart problem two years ago.

the big problem for her? no social security. If she gets sick, it is the extended family who does the caretaking.

I am paying social security for her daughter who works as a part time maid/laundress, but the cook is too old to start an account.

but for right now, she is the one keeping the family together: her salary is low, but being a traditional Filipina, she probably keeps the leftover money from the food budget. And I give her money to cover the school expenses of three grandkids. And when there is a medical emergency, I give her extra money.

It would actually be a lot cheaper to give her a regular wage, but we are still traditional in our area, where help is considered part of the family.

But our stepson and wife do pay help modern style with a higher wage but only extras for emergencies and holidays. Which is probably why they go thru maids/gardeners about once a year.