By Venter Mwongera
Walking down scores of hills and climbing up numberless valleys was the most challenging part of my journey. Sweat beads formed at my temple in triples and it quietly slithered down my cheeks in such hurry like a warrior on errand.
I could not bear the heat any longer. The sun’s ultra violet rays were at their peak. With very little options in my hands to provide remedy to the situation; I took refuge under a huge, shady and a well built Mugumo tree whose stature gave comfort and consolation to my won out body. Its tap and fibrous roots guaranteed maximum support hence array of a mixture of very cold and hot breeze swept the land and this gave my scrawny body relaxation that sent my inner being into slumber land for 2 hours.
It was at 3 pm and I had to catch up with my three interviewees that I would not fall short to talk to. I tested my equipment and to my amazement, my recorder was at its best and the camera was dying to close in anything that crossed its lens.
Meet mama Allan. She has a quiet demeanor. Getting a story out of her is equally demanding. Your communication skills need to be well polished least you end up a frustrated being. At every stage of my interview with her, I need to make her laugh and after fifteen extremely arduous minutes; she finally opens her granary of her experiences with house helps.
“It is fresh in my mind how last year was a misery to me. Every time my phone rung, a cold chill run down my spine. I would expect to hear a worst report than the previous one from my neighbor, in relation to my house help. The house helps had a tendency of leaving my house impromptu, leaving my children crying after them and without any mercy at all, they would leave in broad day light leaving my house doors wide open.
Some who would be a little bit considerate could not carry away my belongings but majority carried most of my valuables. And, it is amazing how they conceal the beast in them. You can never tell when they are likely to strike you take cover. They always get you off guard.
*Mercy is a girl I proudly introduced as my first born daughter. She was twenty-one at the time. She had a unique story about her past and this lured me into her well calculated charms.
She had scored 330 in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education out of 500 marks but her dream of attaining the highest canyons of education were cut short. According to her, poverty could have been her second name. She hailed from Matuu in Ukambani. She had 6 brothers and 5 sisters. Mercy was sandwiched in them.
Mercy was a much focused young woman who wanted to change her past and shape her destiny in whichever means. Any time she spoke about her past experiences; she would break down.
Her parents were peasants and rain was scanty in their region. Hence most of the time, they would afford a mug of white porridge after two days. Since that was how it was since they were born; somehow, they had learn how to survive.
Jiggers were a menace to them too. They were all jigger infected. I remember very well her first days in my house. She could not give you a hand shake. She was ashamed of her finger heads since they were bigger than her hands. They were not proportional because jiggers had eaten all her toes and finger nails, the scars left were swollen giving her fingers and toe a shape of a hummer. She was not at ease with how she looked.
Many people mocked her walking style as she walked as if dancing. This was as a result of walking in fear due to pain in her soles as a result of presence of jiggers all over her legs and arms.
I managed to win her confidence since she was a good girl. I made sure that I helped her live a life better than what she was used to. I had promised her that I would support her in any way to actualize her dream of a better future she longed for.
However, Mercy was a beneficiary of free primary school education. Her parents could not afford to take her to secondary school she was admitted after her brilliant performance in her primary education.
That is when Mercy chooses to carry out house help chores to earn a living and help her siblings.
Her story was so inspiring and I was determined to help her out in my little ways.
Mercy wanted to do a course in tailoring and I had discussed this with my husband. We were willing to help her in rising training fees for this course but out of her own effort, she would later buy a sewing machine for herself.
We had a deal with her that after three years of stay in my house, we would honour our part.
This was never to be! Mercy followed an old man in the pretest that she was too old to learn new tricks after two and half years of stay at my home.
In fact, her conduct had changed in the last two months of stay in my house. She would forget food cooking in the gas cooker and instead of frying food for instance cabbage stew; during this period, we ate roast cabbages or porridge!
Actually, with the wisdom that Mercy had, I could not imagine she would be mislead by a man seventeen years her senior that he would solve all her problems at once, camouflage the living standards of her other siblings.
Mercy packed all her belongings and left my house one bright afternoon without informing me. Her elderly ‘husband’ swept her off her feet with his sweet promises and won her confidence.
I can assure you that even if I had prior knowledge of her intentions; I could not manage to change her stand. She was blindly in love with her man.
The bitter part of the story is that Mercy sold herself of to the man without her parents’ blessings.
She didn’t even take time to study her fiancé’s past behavior. She eloped with him to an unknown place.
When I came in the evening after a hard day’s work; I was too tired. I had purposed to take a cold shower and sleep early after getting into the house.
At vanishing point, I could see darkness in my house. On reaching inside the compound, there was dead silence and my instincts were communicating something strange had happened.
I hurriedly, switched on the compound lights and to my utter surprise, all the windows were wide open and there was nobody at home.
I rushed to my immediate neighbor. This is where I met my children. Mercy had left them at a neighbour’s house in pretense that she had gone to a nearby grocer to buy vegetables.
In the house, she had not taken anything. But, she had performed all her day’s chores and left.
Well, Mercy was a good girl and I wanted to get to the bottom of this matter. I visited her parents 3days later to find out if she arrived home safely. Her parents were equally in darkness about her marriage.
I later learn that Mercy was abandoned by her husband in her 5th month of pregnancy and she returned to her parents poorer and with more problems of taking care of her child singlehandedly.”
Mama Allan is not the only one who had a good share of experiences with house helps. But, according to her, every house help teaches her a new lesson. She has now adapted to their behavior and any time anyone of the leaves without a warning; she is never worried like before.
Mama Justin is not new to this story. As a matter of fact, she has changed house help just like the way she changes clothes.
“I thought my house help worries were over when I met Julia 2 years ago. Little did I know that it was a new beginning of a goose chase.
Julia was a mother of two and she had separated from her husband three years ago. Julia is HIV positive and she used to take her antiretroviral drugs secretly. One day, she forgot where she had placed them and in the process of looking for them, that is when I bumped into them. I knew ARVs because my younger sister succumbed to HIV/Aids related complications and she used such drugs as Julia’s.
I persuaded her to tell me the truth. She opened up to me and her story was chilling. She was gang raped three years ago one evening as she was coming from the market. Her husband could not understand how she was raped but instead, he accused her of being immoral and unfaithful to him.
Her marriage could not work because she faced stigma from her husband whom she confided with hoping to get a shoulder to lean on. Her husband told his parent and they are the ones who threw Julia out of her matrimonial house.
After the rape ordeal, her life changed for the worse. She was thrown out with her children in broad day light by her husband together with her in-laws leaving behind everything that they had acquired for seven years of marriage.
Julia decided to do any job that comes her way since her children and she needed to feed. She became frail, falling sick every now and then and this is when she decided to do a HIV/Aids test which turned out positive. Her CD4 counts were 200 hence she was put on antiretroviral drugs.
I sympathized with Julia because according to her, she believed that she got the virus when she was raped.
I vowed to help Julia the much I could but one day, I found enough was enough. Julia used to dress in my daughter’s under wears.
I confronted her and she confessed having worn my child’s pants for the seven months she stayed in my house.
I went into depression because I thought my child could have contracted the virus in the process of sharing inner wears. I took my child for HIV/Aids test and she has turned out negative 8 times.
I found out that I was putting my children’s life in jeopardy while sympathizing with Julian who in return didn’t appreciate all the efforts I was putting in her to make her life a little bit comfortable. I used to pay her Ksh.5, 000. This would make her life okay. But, when I learnt that her intentions were not good, I threw her out of my house!
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