BY JOY OFASIA
NESTER Misiana from Malaita province is currently the Mendana Hotel housekeeping supervisor. From a humble beginning, she has been working in the hotel industry for almost two decades until she was promoted to the supervisory level in 2008.
Mrs. Misiana who works full time has no plans to quit her job any time soon. She is one of the staff who has been providing a long service term in the Housekeeping Department of Mendana Hotel in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara.
“I have been working in Mendana hotel since 1995. In that year, my family decided to move to Honiara and to settle with our relatives.
“Life was hard back then, so I opted to find a job to help sustain my family. Later, I applied to the Mendana hotel and was luckily accepted,” she told Solomon Women.
Housekeeping is an operational department in a hotel, which is responsible for cleanliness, maintenance, and beautiful upkeep of rooms, public area, back area, and surroundings.
She works as a hotel housekeeper until 2008 when they appointed her to take the position of hotel housekeeping supervisor.
“When I started working I faced many challenges as a mother and also in the workplace. Sometimes things get bad that make me frustrated tempting me to give up. But I overcame those challenges and taught myself how to be patient, faithful, and humble in all encountered situations.
“I never give up on the challenges I face, but learn to face and overcome the challenges,” she recalled.
She said despite being a struggling mother, I have dedicated my life to loving my job.
“I am very happy that I have this job and to be able to support my family despite undergoing the numerous challenges as a working mother.
Taking pride in her work is a lesson she learned from her experience over the years and she has truly benefited from it.
“One of the biggest achievements was to be able to gain a lot of basic knowledge and understanding on the importance of housekeeping in the hotel industry.
“Housekeeping has tasks that can make the guest feel comfortable during their stay in Hotel and therefore, I must ensure that cleanliness and hygiene in all hotel areas are very important around the clock.
“All the skills and knowledge gained doing hotel housekeeping has also helped me to brighten up my own home, therefore I encourage housekeeping mothers to understand the skills that you carry out in the workplace so it will help you in your own homes,” she said.
She encouraged young and adult women to understand that they have the right to be employed so that they can also help to support their families.
“To all the women out there, we all have different interests and different responsibilities.
“It is a good form of employment. Most mothers have the fear in them, thinking and letting themselves down not to find jobs,” Mendana Hotel housekeeping supervisor said.
