How often do you wash under the car?

When we moved here, part of the package was that we would be provided with a car and driver. This is Yudi, our driver. He's with us every day and has shared with me so much about life here. I thought it would be interesting to share a little about him here.

He's 28 years old and is married with a 6 yr old son. The car belongs to his brother-in-law (who has the contract with Richard's company) and Yudi's responsibility is to drive us anywhere and also to take care of the car.
Yudi started working full time when he was a teenager. He's been a newspaper boy, full time busker, cook, gangster (yes, gangster with tattoos), mechanic (cars and bikes are his passion), labourer and now a driver. I'm sure there were lots of other odd jobs in between but you get the picture. He is desperately poor and always has been. His brother-in-law is considered rich and by selecting Yudi to drive his car, has given him an opportunity at an easier life with reasonable pay. More than this, the responsibility makes Yudi feel trusted and respected. He takes his job incredibly seriously and really takes pride in it.

I chose this photo of him because it shows him washing the tyres and underneath of the car. He does this practically everyday! At the beginning, he washed the car twice a day until I convinced him that I didn't need it so clean. On rainy days, he wipes the car dry every time the rain stops. Unfortunately, the rain over here has a habit of stopping and starting the whole day long. The mats inside the car are also washed regularly and the seats wiped and polished. I think the paint on the outside is starting to fade from all his washing and polishing!

His philosophy is that it is much more comfortable to sit and drive in a spotless car. Its his job to keep us comfortable and the car well kept. Its as simple as that. My point is that while this job may seem a simple and mindless one, it is a rare person who values it so much and takes as much pride in a job as Yudi does. The world is full of 'educated' people who can't be bothered with what they do and just hope to get buy doing as little as possible. I often think of Yudi as the personification of the idiom "Whats worth doing, is worth doing well"