Stranger Maids: Recent Episodes
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Helpers are a major part countless household, but their narratives remain invisible and insignificant… until something happens. Stranger Maids is a podcast that aims to go beyond this blind spot by delving deep into the world of domestic workers in Malaysia.
A podcast by University of Nottingham Malaysia students; Anis Athirah, Adelin Aisyah, Ainor Rashidah and Wong Park Torng
The Spanish Mi Casa, Su Casa means my home is your home. Many employers try to make their maids feel comfortable, telling their maids to feel at home, but how comfortable is too comfortable? We uncover the creative ways a domestic worker reclaim the meaning of 'home'.
From employers starving maids, to maids dipping toddler’s hand in boiling water, abuse can go both ways, far beyond the realms of compassion, but to what extent? In a power struggle between employers and maids, who becomes collateral damage?
In 2013, a two-year-old Freddie Joseph was snatched from his front porch by a machete-wielding Asian man in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. This sparked a huge nationwide investigation, but the suspect turned out to be someone the family knew very well – their own former domestic worker.
She knows the food your husband likes, his favourite shirt on a Monday, she knows how he likes his coffee, the kids even prefer her more than you. It also tends to get lonely. So, what happens when they're with lonelier husbands?
Despite the maid’s highly recognisable presence in public spaces, she remains largely unnoticed by Malaysians. In the house, she cleans, she cooks. She lives with us and she knows everything about us but who is she... really?