Vanishing house helps
If there is one thing all women can agree on is the unreliability of house helps. They will abandon their post the first chance they have, and sometimes with them the children under their care.
The fear of letting a stranger take care of your children usually underlies hiring decisions on whether you choose to hire from a city bureau, through referrals or a carefully assessed pick from your folks in the village.
You want to know where they come from so that if anything happens, anything being disappearing with your child, you can trace them to their forefathers’ ancestral homes.
A workmate, narrated how he had gotten one through a referral. Their first year with her were smooth, no issues until this one time, after he had gone to work, he called to find out if his kids had arrived from school.
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When she picked up the call at about 4pm, she responded well and even said that the kids were deep in their afternoon nap. This wasn’t alarming at first but it soon became clear something was wrong when he called a second time at around 7 o’clock only to hear the same reply.
When prompted further, she said that she had gone to the hospital to get her wound cared for as she had cut her finger when preparing supper. A valid excuse indeed.
However, when my colleague arrived home, the househelp was nowhere to be seen and neither were the todlers. The kitchen was exactly the same way he had left it early morning!
Another surprise was, however, waiting for him in the room where she slept. Her room was in disarray: hair strands scattered on the floor, clothes carelessly strewn everywhere, akin to one who is leaving a house in a huff. As anyone’s first reaction would be, he immediately dialed her number which she answered nonchalantly. She was not bothered by his frustration either.
Here was a father who was in extreme distress over the whereabouts of his two daughters. In that moment, his thoughts were racing with the worst possible outcomes.
However, he decided to check for them around the neighbourhood. To his relief, both of his children, still dressed in school uniform, had been in the caring hands of their neighbour. As for the househelp, she had apparently been out on a date. And that is how she lost her job, in the dead of the night.
Inasmuch as this was just a close shave, there have been recent reports of children being taken away by these same women we trust in our homes.
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