Take Care of Her or Keep Guard!!

Take Care of Her or Keep Guard

This rainy morning I woke up as usual and got off to work. As I approached the gate, I met 3 house helps consoling one of them, so I saluted them and after exchanging salutations I noticed that this particular lady was crying uncontrollably. Apparently, her mum was very sick back at home, and her boss couldn’t allow her to travel and assist her in seeking medication. Her boss had also not paid her for the last 4 months she had worked for her, so she could not send money back home for her mom’s medication.

Imagine for a moment, you are the bread winner of your family, your mom is sick back at home, you can’t travel to be with her, you can’t also send money for her medication, yet you have been employed for four months. Crazy and sad yeah? This is the same situation that lady was in. Think for a moment, the torture that lady went through; do we deserve to put fellow human beings through such pain and misery because they serve under our mercies?

Apparently, the rest of the house helps had each sacrificed a sum of ksh. 500 (5 dollars) and given it to her. I was so touched by the generous gesture of the ladies, knowing how poorly house helps are paid and for one to give that sum of money, it must have been a very big personal sacrifice and was a big generosity gesture. I was forced to deep down in my pocket and offset all bills her mom would incur in the hospital.

Modern slavery; Yes that is what we put our house helps through, do we even seat down and think of how much value that lady brings to us? Look at it from this point of view:-

That lady sleeps at 11:00 pm once she has cleaned all the supper utensils and dusted the kitchen. This solely depends with the time you get in the house, so she sometimes has to stay awake longer than that.

The same lady has to wake up by 4:00 am to prepare breakfast for the whole family, sometimes preparing close to four different meals, including lunch for the school going kids, the baby’s meals etc., she is to prepare the kids for school too. Remember she slept very many hours after the whole family had gone to bed.

She still has to wash the morning utensils, she your kids off to school, come back wash the pile of clothes for the whole family as she takes care of the young baby you woke up because you wanted to kiss the toddler before you left for work.

As if that is not enough, she is given some tough laws to strictly follow. Such as not touching drinks in the fridge, No watching TV, she can only eat when the rest of the family has eaten, she mustn’t dress very decent, she doesn’t associate with neighbors, she isn’t supposed to own a phone and her family should not pay her visit yet she is not allowed to travel back home and pay them visit etc.,  

She is also subjected to beatings, meal denials and salary cuts as punishment for minor accidents such as broken utensils. How many times do we break utensils while washing them? Do we subject ourselves to beatings?

Do we ever seat down to think how much the supposed dark angel means to the whole family? Do we? Probably No. but let’s have a look at this.

Imagine one day you get back home and find that the lady is gone. Will you be happy? Maybe! Maybe because you still need to seat down and think what impact her departure has to the family at large.

Positives (Can’t see any, but let’s see) the meals and drinks in your fridge won’t be eaten (Remember sometimes you get to throw them out because they have expired). Finally, no one will break your expensive glasses (Remember she’s only broken once and she was fined), No intruders who will plan to steal from you as her relatives won’t be visiting (Remember, none of her relatives has ever stepped foot in your expensive house). Electricity bill will go down, no one to charge their phone and watch TV 24/7 (Remember, she was told never to own a phone or even watch TV).

Negatives; finally you will have an opportunity to return home early and cook for your family as a married woman. You will sleep late in the night once every one else has eaten as you remain to wash utensils and dust your kitchen as a proud wife. You will wake up at 4:00 am to prepare your family’s meals, prepare the kids for school, see the kids off, come back call in for an emergency at your place of work and you are given an off.

You still have to wash all the cloths in the house, take care of your stubborn kid, clean the house, prepare your lunch, all this while you have no one to speak to because you don’t want to associate with your neighbors. In the evening get ready to bring back the kids from school, prepare their 4 O’clock tea, iron the washed clothing, and rush to the market/supermarket to get foodstuff for the family’s supper.

All these activities are fun eh? In fact you don’t need to get a house help after all. Kumbe, you can also do the house hold chores and some dirty village girl with no exposure wants to bring her village dirt in your house and break your expensive glasses as well as increase your electricity bill. In fact, just quit your job and come back home and become the good mom/wife to your beautiful kids and husband.

Your hubby is employed eh? You don’t need to worry about financial challenges; he is there to take care of the same. Your role will be to welcome him every evening, take off his coat, car keys and handbag, give him a hug and ask him what he feels like drinking as you give him a kiss and prepare a warm shower for him. Good wife, Tick! Tick! Tick! Tomorrow morning, carry his handbag to the car, give him a kiss and wish all the best at his place of work. Fantastic, you are one hell of a lady, the perfect wife, the perfect mom.

Madam perfect wife that is the way to go, Stay at home, keep on depending on your hubby for everything in the house. Stay at home with all your skills and competencies. Stay at home with your dreams and ambitions, keep guard of the meals in your fridge, we don’t want unwanted intruders come to eat them. Keep guard of your plasma TV, we don’t want village eyes to come and watch from it, it will get old. Keep guard of your expensive leather sofa seats and expensive carpet, we don’t want village legs with no class seating and stepping on them respectively.

Madam, keep guard! Keep guard as even your fellow women colleagues are now promoted to higher positions and can now freely mingle with who's who's in the corporate world and discuss about work and the recent projects each is undertaking and how challenging the projects are. Madam Keep guard. Just keep guard, even when fellow women have gone back to school for their degrees and masters, keep guard madam.

Just keep on keeping guard even when your husband a corporate leader, begins to admire the lifestyle of his married colleagues, keep guard even when during those family dinners, each wife of your husband’s friends introduces themselves as married and working/schooling or handling some projects.

Dear Madam, keep guard and begin keeping guard of your husband’s movements when he begins to be attracted to working and ambitious single ladies in the corporate world. Keep guard darling even that night he hands you a divorce letter, keep guard of that divorce letter till he moves out to a different home. Dear, keep guard even when the landlord shows up with auctioneers, keep guard. Keep guard even at the bus stop to your parents’ home with your kids, keep guard!

What I am saying is simple; that house help is an angel, a diamond. Treat her as your own sister, Pay her well, give her off days especially during holidays when you are at home, give her freedom, let her feel part of your family. Ever imagined the evils that girl can do to your family? Remember, she is the engine of the house and knows all the going-on in the house like a CCTV camera.

So just treat her well or KEEP GUARD!!