Mtoto wa miaka mitatu aambukizwa H.I.V na dada wa kazi. Alikua akimchanganyia damu yake ya hedhi kwenye uji. Inauma sana jamani. Watoto wetu wanapata tabu sana na hawa wasaidizi wetu.
Mkasa wenyewe ni huu ufuatao:
Sudden appearance of general body malaise, a series of skin infections followed by other health complications in a three-year-old boy brought about panic and a puzzling reaction to parents of three in Dodoma, not aware that a more shocking surprise was around the corner.
On realising that their kid was an HIV-positive, they soon became suspicious of the doctors’ findings over possibility of the kid catching the mainly inheritable or sexually transmitted disease from the healthy parents, they certainly were.
But their shocking eyebrows raised higher when they discovered it was their housemaid Jane from Turiani in Morogoro Region who was the source of the kid’s fatal disease that they could not help, but brand her paedophile.
The mother fell in a short comma later on hearing Jane’s confession during police interrogations that she would routinely feed the child with porridge mixed with her menstrual blood for motives she never disclosed.
Mwamvita Haule, a Dar es Salaam-based businesswoman and former civil servant who lived next door to the child’s family in Dodoma could not hold back her tears while narrating the 10-year-old episode.
“I don’t want to guess of what might have happened to the kid who would be 13 now, as we parted with the family soon after the incident,” she said.
“Her cruelty is beyond human imagination; I wonder the extent of pain she caused the family who had treated her like their own daughter,” she said demonstrating an impact of the bitter experience left in her.
Ms Haule likened Jane’s cruelty with that of a 22-year-old Ugandan maid, Jolly Tumuhirwe who was jailed for four years in December for committing an “unjustifiable and inexcusable” crime by abusing a toddler under her care.
It was a case that shocked the world that the media described the video footage showing the nanny performing her devilish acts on the toddler as “spine-chilling” and “very disturbing” and the judge describing the crime as “ruthlessness exhibited” on an “innocent, helpless child.”
Seemingly frightened by the horrible experience in keeping nannies, Mama Caroline, an industrial worker living at Kimara Temboni and a mother of three has vowed to never hire any, but wish she could afford sending her last kid to a day-care centre.
“If I had enough money, I would have rather kept my three-year-old child at a day-care centre than running a risk of keeping the kid at the mercy of a house girl,” she said.
However, negative attitudes against house maids go far beyond their treatment to children under their care. Female spouses have been often crying foul over extra marital relations between maids and their husbands.
A customer care officer in a telecommunication company who preferred anonymity and a mother of one who is married for about two years now had to let her maid go after she discovered she was having relations with her husband.
Like Mama Caroline, she has also vowed to never hire a stranger for domestic jobs though it has been only two months ever since she fired her husband’s lover to save her marriage.
The mother of a baby boy, however, does not want to lay all the blames to the maid, saying it is her spouse who had conspired the cheat.
She said that the husband insinuated the incident in which a 20-year-old girl with whom he had relations was brought home by an agent, but she later discovered they had been having affairs long time prior to her becoming nanny.
Mobile phone love messages and extreme defensive stance of the girl the husband mustered during domestic rows were among the clues that led to her discovery.
“I had to fire her and I’m not sure if I need a stranger housemaid any more; I think a close relative of mine from the village will do the job better,” she said.
Wilhelimina John, pharmacist at Mabibo Mwisho also expressed housemaids as greedy sex chasers preying for loose guys, citing an incident when she found her house girl in bed with a stranger on the day when she returned home from work earlier than usual.
“She was on my bed and in my dress and with a bodaboda man; I fired her immediately,” she said.
There also have been incidents of robbery and theft connected to housemaids.
A senior reporter of Nipashe newspaper (name withheld) said that her maid had organized night robbery only a day after she was fired, but failed thanks to next door neighbour who yelled at the buglers.
“She was aware that husband was away and that women were the only persons at home that night,” she said.
In the related incident, a senior member of the Guardian staff (name withheld) was shocked on discovering that his maid had disappeared at dawn with large amount of money he had just received from a business trip in 2013.
Like Jane, the housemaid also hailed from Turiani to which she was bound when caught at the bus station.
During police search she was found with everything ranging from tooth brushes and paste, soaps, hangers, baby dolls, worn out shoes, underpants to a mobile phone, money and clothes.
It was only the second month since her arrival at the host family, courtesy of the family friend.
Some people, however, smell a rat in the housemaid business, saying it has turned into an organised criminal syndicate reminiscent of human trafficking.
Mariana Wilson, resident of Mwenge in Dar es Salaam said that she once paid Sh65,000 bus fare to a broker for a housemaid from Kigoma, only for the girl to stay two days before disappearing.
But when she complained before the broker of the deal, he extorted extra money from her only for him to disappear, implying conspiracy theory between the girl and the agent.
However, Mama Ethan’s maid preferred a twist from the maids-cum-thieves and the maids-cum-swindlers.
Her’s was always in a puzzling mood, keeping the mistress in a dilemma over what may come next out of her.
Mama Ethan said though she was hard working, tidy and a good caretaker, her mood exacerbated by her gossiping habit and stealing items such as sugar and soap at the behest of the neighbours, exhausted her tolerance.
But housemaids may also lose patience with their mistresses, as Sikitu Ally a former housemaid with 8 years experience puts it that they may be spoiled as a result of bad treatment by their bosses.
Ms Ally became maid when she was 13, but quit the job when she was 21 for a marriage with the next door neighbour. It was her bosses who prepared the wedding and helped her with building the future.
Ms Ally who is still in brotherly touches with the family, insists on the importance of giving maids human treatment, saying “if you mistreat a maid, she is most likely to do something to hurt your family.”
Associate Professor in Psychology and Education Kitila Mkumbo echoed Ms Ally’s assertion, saying maids are not naturally evil and that nobody is born one.
He said it was indeed true that if the boss mistreated a house maid she could lead her into becoming monster because “violence would apparently bear violence.”
“You should treat maids in the same way you would like your boss to treat you and make them feel as a part of the family and not as outsiders,” he said.
Despite hitches in the housemaid industry the civilization has made it indispensable to urban life where women are engaged in an endless war with men in a scramble for a common economic cake.
As a result women have been forced out of their homes in search for what would otherwise be toiled by men, leaving housemaids to take care of all domestic responsibilities including children.
A 2005 study published in the Journal of Childhood Research stated that 58 per cent of children under the age of three spend between 30 and 70 hours a week with housemaids.
