Janitors for a day

Janitors: we see them all the time around campus, sporting their white, unsung uniforms and carrying buckets, mops, and brooms. Some strike up a conversation with them, some see them but don’t acknowledge their presence, and for others, they might as well just be another face in a sea of faces.

Meet Ate Amy and Kuya Marjun, two of the many hardworking janitors of DLSU. We had the opportunity to interview them about their daily work and spend the afternoon cleaning Bro. Connon Hall with them.

Behind the mops and the broomsticks

Every maintenance personnel has a building/hall designation. Only two janitors are assigned to a building, even for the tallest academic building in the country that is Andrew Building. Assigned to Bro. Connon Hall are Ate Amelita “Amy” Cutamora, a janitor in DLSU for the past 11 years, and Kuya Marjun Gadiane, a janitor in DLSU for the past 2 years. Starting at 2 pm until 11 pm, Ate Amy cleans the offices of every floor, mops the comfort rooms and staircases, collects the trash, scrubs the windows, and sweeps the hallways of Bro. Connon.

Although usually tired from the day’s work, Ate Amy says that her daily work is manageable and fulfilling once carried out. With a family of her own to take care of, P486 a day may seem quite meager when Ate Amy’s daily expenditure is taken into account, but she considers this as inspiration to work even harder each day. She shares to us that her inspiration in life is her 4-year-old child who is now in kindergarten.

Ate Amy also has sweet memories to keep for herself during her stay in DLSU. She recalls the time that she was invited by students to play games in class and also the sports fest that is held in campus every year for the employees. She also adds that Lasallian students are pleasant towards her and are friendly people in general.

Although she never dreamed for herself to work as a janitor, Ate Amy shares to us that being a janitor is still better than having no job at all. She finds satisfaction in her job, knowing that she plays a part in the cleanliness and beautification of our campus.      

The same goes for Kuya Marjun, 22 years of age. Despite the tedious nature of their job, he finds his work enjoyable because of the company and friendship he found with his co-workers.

At the early age of 17, he and his sister had to become the breadwinners of their family, which meant postponing his studies for the meantime.

“Pero hindi lang naman ito ang gusto ko, gusto ko rin mag-improve para makamit ko naman yung gusto kong makamit,” shares Kuya Marjun when asked about his career as a janitor. As much as he is proud to be working as a janitor, he too has dreams and aspirations that he wants to turn into reality.

He even reveals his plan of continuing his studies with a course in Marketing Management. “Pangarap ko kasi maging businessman,” he shares. His dream though will not remain a dream for long, as he will be taking a scholarship examination in De La Salle-CSB this January 2015. His motivation? “Ang family ko, syempre.”

Janitorial immersion

After peeking into the lives of Ate Amy and Kuya Marjun, we’re finally ready to have our firsthand experience in janitorial work.

Sweeping the floor is no bone-breaker, but try sweeping the floors of the offices where people from different orgs crowd up and walk around. The offices in the 3rd and 4th floor are littered with papers and other waste as a result of props-making. “Mahirap kasi mamaya may maitapon ka tapos gagagamitin pa pala nila so dapat nagtatanong palagi,” shares Kuya Marjun and Ate Amy.

We moved on to the offices on the 5th floor. As we were cleaning the rehearsal room of the La Salle Dance Company-Street and the Harlequin Theater Guild, Kuya Marjun tells us that he has become friends with some of the members. “Palagi kasi silang nakakaiwan ng gamit sa room. Parati ko din naman sina-sauli sa kanila kaya ayun nakilala na nila ako,” says Kuya Marjun.

Aside from sweeping the floors of different student offices, we also get to mop the stairs of SPS. The task might seem easy, but a great amount of patience and endurance is needed to perform the task, especially when students would go up and down.

Not wanting to steal the few minutes they have for break, we decide to conclude our mission by wiping the windows of the 3rd floor. Though it was the lightest among the other tasks, the attention we grabbed from the intrigued and gawking students made it a bit harder.

An honest job

After hours of being immersed in janitorial work, we finally surrender to our bodies’ protests. With sore arms and aching backs, we are astounded by the amount of work that our janitors put in every single day.

Janitorial work is never easy; much like how hard it is to review for our exams and submit pesky papers, their job also requires hard work, perseverance, patience, and tolerance. They, too, are doing this for the goals they are trying to achieve. By this, they become no different from us students.

Fifty-four hours of grueling cleaning every week is challenging, and seeing our janitors working arduous tasks everyday is nothing but admirable. Being a janitor is very hard work and no honest, hard work is ever degrading. We applaud our janitors for having the resilience and tenacity to go through their laborious work each day. To our janitors, we salute you!