AlexFraser

Ok so I’m a waitress too, a natural servant you might say, and I’m fairly used to being at the beck and call of customers and management.  Sometimes I even enjoy it, the social atmosphere, the chance to meet different people accompanied by the vibrant Latin American soundtrack playing loudly from the bar. It’s an intense job, with lots to keep on top of constantly and all for the pitiful minimum wage, but I wouldn’t be there were it not for the tips!  But I can’t just do my shift as normal and have it count towards the poverty challenge, so I’m donating my tips from tonight to the fund.  Conscience alleviated!

I read a blog about an Indian woman in Deli, a domestic servant in the houses of the wealthy middle classes. She served several different households, constantly changing as families move about to accommodation in other cities or overseas. The fluctuation in her income and that of her unemployed husband means that at one stage she was able to afford a refrigerator. A universal appliance in the UK and across the western world, something we don’t give a second thought to.  A place to store food, medicines, water (there’s no running water in her home), all of which give her the physical capacity to actually do her job rather than being left weakened from exhaustion and vulnerable to the dangers of spoilt food.  But that’s where she is now because she can’t afford the electricity to run it, instead it’s now used as a bookshelf.

On the absolute breadline what other typical ‘luxuries’ are absent?   Health care?

According to Channel Four News, in India medicines are readily available if you’re ill, and you’re actively encouraged to buy them too, but that’s the point, you have to pay.

This leads to people taking antibiotics – but not the full course because they can’t afford it – allowing viruses to build up resistance to anything we have previously managed to concoct to fight them. That is the current fear for a new superbug NDM1 expecting to be making a big appearance on hospital wards internationally, emanating from the Indian sub-continent. Maybe it’s more fear mongering, or maybe poverty is just as dangerous for the people who don’t suffer deprivation, who don’t care because they feel it doesn’t actually affect them. Well, it does.

Today was a revision day for the impending exams this week,  but sneakily also a day for a lie in.

Not so, of course I was aroused to find that for the whole day I was the designated driver, o joy!

The first on the route was my sister, in a frantic rush for college and insisting on driving her to the door of the classroom. – This means to save her legs a 30 second walk with me instead dropping her off round the corner, I drive into the car park with other less savvy people, prepared to queue for 15 minutes to get out of the car park onto the main road at rush hour. Thanks. I haven’t even had a coffee yet.

Of course I had fewer distractions a home while everyone was at work, and I felt guilty that no one was around to make my life a misery so I cleaned the oven of my own accord. There’s far too much solidarity with my fellow slaves I fear!

Though, the masters reins were picked up once again when I discovered that at a long anticipated gig tonight in Liverpool, from the amazing dan le sac and scroobius pip, I was the designated driver. That would be fine normally, but I was quite looking forward to a few JD and cokes to help the dancing evolve.

On a day off, I managed to hit rush hour traffic twice , that is injustice in itself I feel!

The gig was fantastic even without the alcohol, and a car fully of rowdy people on the drive home, but to quote the artists themselves:

“I feel sick tonight

Something in my stomach ain't sitting right

But I've gotta overcome it, keep spitting tight…”

Because there are estimated to be around 12 million people internationally in some form of slavery according to the US State department. A severe underestimate some might say. Regardless one person living a life of servitude is too many, and there are still some 60 members of the UN left to sign a resolution against it. And in the absence of that, we are all guilty of buying and using products created as a result of someone forced into a role they can’t escape. I feel sick tonight.

I am officially the chai wallah of the office, I’m managing to do this with infinitely less flair though, it is a skill of course. Making the tea and coffee is what many perceive an internship to be, I thought I was safe with Oxfam, until now!

However, in taking up this role I have managed to avoid requests to sing, or even to choreograph a dance, which I have seen others fall victim to. (I won’t mention your name here!)

My family have begun to enjoy this challenge too.

For the first time, I backed down in a debate with my brother which I know has earned him eternal gloating rights.

The moment was made all the more poignant because I was responsible for the clean up operation after dinner for six, while everyone else was free chill on the sofa rather than assist or at least keep me company.

Never mind, solitude gives me time to reflect, I thought of what a colleague said of servitude at work today. That people waging infinite power over others is an ugly thing. Why is it that we relish the opportunity to boss people about, take advantage and designate them the most menial tasks? Concluding that it is a common trait humanity, she immediately countered it with an order to check myself out in the mirror, and tell myself, “looking good”!

I’m hoping for more tasks like that, but I’m not betting on humanity getting over a deep evolutionary trait quite so quickly.

I began my first of seven days of meagre suffering today, adopting a life of servitude in my western way. I’ve kept the pleasure of work and study, broken only by those who remind me of my role this week, I couldn’t do this every day. To be harassed by demands of those above you is a common trait of humanity internationally, but to be made to believe that you are undeserving of little more than domestics is more than soul crushing. Not that my peers have delivered such damning challenges to me on my first day, and they cannot because they are not of that ilk. I’m not denied access to education and health care, nor do I live in constant fear of violent crime like so many across the globe. I regret that in my efforts today I was not able to carry out my chores with humility and a smile on my face, an ever present warmth and a devotion to serve. Tomorrow is all about building my dignity. On the day that saw Brazil elect their first female president in Dilma Rousseff, I see a battle being championed on two fronts against poverty and gender inequality. I’m glad to be part of a global movement, but it’s all about momentum.   

I am giving up freedom of choice for one week, I will only work and act as a servant to others. I will clean, tidy, run errands and attend to the needs of friends, family and colleagues; they alone can dictate if I can be dismissed.

I am doing this because I am a very independent person with a lot of freedom and few responsibilities; I know that if I had to live a life in which my actions were dictated by others I would be terribly angry and frustrated. Freedom to me is a human right, and the only way that humanity can continue to evolve, sadly the freedom enjoyed by so many in UK is only an exotic luxury to others.

I live in St Helens and will be asking my MP Shaun Woodward to respond to what I'm up to - will he respond?