Antoinette shares her thoughts on the meaning at the heart of Just Helpers, and her hopes for the future.
I was recently asked at the Meaning Conference what I thought the meaning of life is. After some percolating, I realised that the thing that gives me meaning and purpose is love.
The Challenge
I’ve been immensely blessed to know love in many capacities, but I realised in that moment love permeates the rationale for my business too. It’s my love of people, or should I say humanity, that reminds me daily that far from being a commodity, my colleagues are people to be cherished, learned from, empowered, challenged by, listened to, celebrated with, grieve with, advocate for, be prepared to change for.
By the end of the conference, I was challenged so much further, and reminded that it’s not enough to just love the people around me, but that maintaining a passion for sustaining the earth that we inhabit, and the socio-political systems that try to govern it, would need more conscious action from me.
I’m imagining a world where people are not disparaged for ‘just’ being a cleaner.
The Vision
I am left imagining a world where the contribution of everyone in society is valued, and where people are not disparaged for ‘just’ being a cleaner.
I’m imagining a world where being a cleaner gives you enough financial means to thrive in the society that you are a part of, where being paid the Real Living Wage, plus holiday and sick pay is the norm and possible for companies like us.
I’m imagining a time where our company can be steward-owned, where those that profit from it are intrinsically part of it.
I’m imagining a time when your cleaner is seen as a valued and valuable part of your family, and cherished for the contribution they bring, forgiven for the occasional mistakes they make and celebrated on their high days and holidays.
There’s still so much more for us to do here at Just Helpers.
I’m imagining a time when we can create a union for cleaners to give them a voice and momentum for positive change.
I’m imagining a time when we can go back to nature with our cleaning products, avoiding chemicals and plastics. There’s still so much more for us to do here at Just Helpers.
A Year of Change
This year has been an immense year of growth. With the onboarding and settling in of our great management team, I have been able to take a step back and focus on where we are going, honing in on building our tech platform which will enable more clarity and communication for everyone in the Just Helpers’ community, and space to dream up our new branding with the wonderful team at Boostbery.
The Year to Come
Change does not stop there. From January onwards, for every hour of cleaning you have, we will contribute to one of the projects supported by B1G1. This genuinely thrills me.
As I read my Bible day by day, I’m reminded that this love concept is nothing new. And so, I continue to take my lead from those influences around me pushing for sustainable change for the good of us all, but most importantly from the life of Jesus that I see reflected back at me in the Bible.
Love is a verb, and as I go into this Christmas season and on into a new year, I am challenged about how I can put love into action, like Jesus and reflect the change, attitude, actions that I believe we humans, Christians, neighbours, employers, family, friends need to be in our corner of the world.
Merry Christmas, and may you know love in action this year.
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