Kōrero: Rhythms of daily life

The daily routine of people with children and low-paying jobs can become an unending round of paid and unpaid tasks, with sleep and eating squeezed in where possible. This photograph of Masiega So’iso’i  in 1989 shows her doing the early morning cleaning job she had held down for 8 years. Starting at 3.00 and ending at 7.00 am, the job allowed her to be home to prepare breakfast and get her four children off to school, do the necessary household work, and be there for the children after 3.00. While she cleaned, her husband Henry was also at work, driving a taxi.