Hauwa Hauwa stood before her new mistress, Madam Lydia, whose eyes were staring in scrutiny all over her. She asked Hauwa to open her mouth to see her teeth, then to put her hands forward to inspect her fingers; she checked to see beneath her hair to be sure she has no lice. In fact, Hauwa was taken aback when she finally asked her to take off the gown she was wearing to inspect her body. She looked hard at her when Hauwa hesitated, and told her she didn’t want any form of rashes brought into her house. At this request, Hauwa noticed her young son, almost about her own age who was working on his laptop, but having heard his mother asked her to take off her clothing, he turned to her direction. Madam was so engrossed in inspecting every part of her that she failed to notice the intense gaze of her teenage son staring at her or maybe she cared less to have her expose her whole body in public. Hauwa used her tiny hands to cover up her chest since she wasn’t wearing any bra to cover that up. Growing up in a very poor family didn’t provide her with daily necessities. Her only possessions were five long dresses passed down from her elder sisters and three briefs which were also passed down. At the age of fifteen, her parents had pulled her out of their local secondary school in a remote village in Nassarawa, a northern state in Nigeria to start work as a maid in Lagos. In fact, her parents were so thrilled when Mallam Abu, the local trade man returned from Lagos, and announced he found a job for their daughter. They were all excited at this offer, knowing it would bring more income for them every month. Hauwa is the last of eight children, two boys and six girls; three of her elder sisters have been given in marriage after having to work as a maid for several years. Her elder brothers were also away from home, working in one of the states in Nigeria. Hauwa had no idea where they are as they move from one place to another to make ends meet. Hauwa had hoped to finish secondary school and proceed to university with or without her parent’s help or approval but the future looks unseemly now. “I know girls like you are always very dirty.” She heard Madams voice but the shame of having to take off her clothing held her from speaking. Hauwa fought the tears about to drop from her eyes. Her face was fixed on the boy staring at her as she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her in tears. After their faces met, he immediately took his face away, aware of the intense gaze of Hauwa on him. “Why are you staring at my son?” Madam slapped her back which made her jolt. “That is your master too; you don’t look him in the eye, OK!” She snapped. “Yes Madam.” Hauwa replied with her eyes moist. At last, she had given him the satisfaction of seeing how weak she was. Please click here to continue: circlesoflove.co.uk/blog/hauwa-
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:16:41 +0000