Ajeemas: Lawn Care

You will recall my fear of the ajeemas (though the correct pronunciation is more like ah-jew-mah).  A google search shows a number of (hilarious) definitions, usually referring to a married woman with short permed hair, an oversized visor, crocs, and an aggressive attitude.  Technically, it just means a married woman, but it's used more to describe the particular mindset of a tired, middle-aged woman who doesn't have the time or patience for anyone.


We have identified at least 3 jobs associated with ajeemas: the open-air produce and fish vendors; the cleaning ladies; and the lawn maintenance women. Today we saw the lawn maintenance women en masse, with their (male) supervisor, working in a rough line to weed the campus lawn.  More on that in a minute.  First, the dress code.

Lawn Ajeemas, still roughly in line

It is fairly hot and sticky here today - 78 degrees, 77% humidity, mostly sunny.  But that makes to difference to the Lawn Ajeema dress code.  Long sleeve shirt, blue cotten jacket.  Long black pants, socks, tennis shoes or crocs.  Gloves.  Very large visor, scarf over face (either for presumed health reasons or to block the sun), and scarf over head.  Only their eyes are showing, and only if you're close enough to see under the visor. (Getting away with a crime would be super easy as an ajeema - no one could pick you out of a police line-up.)  Now get out your round orange cushion and strap it to your butt.  Then get your hand-hoe (which has an evil point on it instead of a flat blade), a white garbage bag (there are no other colors), and meet your 15 look-alike friends for work.  

Could you identify these women in a line-up?  And given the nasty hook/hoe they each have, would you want to?

Supervisor Guy keeps the ladies in line.

 

Sam estimates that this lawn (upon which no one may ever walk - it's hard to grow grass in the clay "soil" so grass is reserved for the eyes only) is about the size of a professional soccer field.  A man in a straw hat (he also has the basic uniform, but not the visor/scarves or cushion/hoe/bag) puts a small cardboard sign about 50 feet from the edge of the lawn to keep the women from wandering, and off they go in a rough line across the lawn, squatting to dig out any weeds in their path.  The women tend to group up, chattering constantly; women who stray from the man's mental line are scolded or even yanked back to their correct position.





Is it worth it?  What would take 1 person perhaps 60 minutes (to gas up a lawn mower, fill up a pull-behind sprayer with feed-and-weed, apply product across the lawn and put the stuff back away) takes 17 people all morning.  But the ladies seemed cheerful, no one got skin cancer or set anyone else up for cancer from the chemicals, and there was no noise pollution from a mower.   And 17 people have jobs instead of 1.  Hard to say whether it's worth it...