The Peng Wan-Ru Foundation yesterday said it hopes to help women return to the workforce and elderly people maintain a basic quality of living by offering domestic services on a part-time basis.
The foundation has about 1,000 domestic helpers who have served an average of four-and-a-half years, it told the annual Golden Hand Awards ceremony for senior and outstanding domestic helpers.
Although a majority of them are women who have returned to the workforce following a break, those who are new to the workforce had joined the foundation in the past few years, it said.
The foundation’s goal is to build a “non-long-term” form of elderly care, it said.
It wants to follow the examples of some northern European nations by providing domestic services on a part-time basis to help elderly people delay the onset of disabilities and reduce the need for long-term care, it said.
Lin Yi-chen (林宜蓁), who has worked with the foundation for 10 years, said she became a domestic helper in her 40s due to financial pressure and after failing to find another job.
Her biggest benefit from her work has been meeting different people, she said.
A couple — a 90-year-old man surnamed Yang (楊) and his 86-year-old wife — she has been helping for years always asks her to stay for a meal, Lin said.
She has developed a deep bond with them, Lin said, adding that going to their home now is “like returning to [her] maiden home.”
Another domestic helper who has worked with the foundation for 10 years, Lu Yu-huan (陸玉環), said that besides doing housework, she also chats with her elderly clients.
They talk about big and small things in life, as well as about the past, she said.
Once, she saw a young girl taking illegal drugs at the residence she was working at, Lu said, adding that she tried to persuade her to quit as if she were her “own daughter.”
However, she eventually reported the situation to the foundation, she said.
When she has time, she also volunteers as a traffic warden at an elementary school, Lu said.
“Previously, other people took care of my children. Now, I can also help others,” she said.
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