THE EASY TASK. From the sitting room, it was clearly visible that the dining table was set. A number of dishes, trays and plates were well arranged in the middle of the long table. Having been invited to this wealthy home for Sunday lunch, I had starved myself to create enough space for the food. Due to the sweet aroma that was originating from the dining room, saliva started building up in my mouth meaning that II couldn’t wait for the green light. Finally, a young lady who looked to be the house help stood in the middle of the dining room entrance and announced in a Kinyankole–English accent, “Lunch is ready.” I knew that that the next announcement I would listen to would be from the head of the family inviting everyone to the table but waaaaa. He instead said, “HATI KYAMPIRE, IROKO ONABE RERO ARAHUKE TURYE” (Kyampire, go clean up and hurry up for lunch). “KALE SSEBO” (Ok sir), the maid replied. This meant that we had to wait for more minutes for the lady to clean up. Luckily, she was a fast lady and never spent a century in the bathroom. Within twenty minutes, she was back to the lounge and we were ushered to the table. After taking our seats and saying a prayer, all dishes and trays were opened and the sight of the food was just mwaaa…. According to our Kikiga culture, it is always the elders that serve first and the rest can follow. Therefore, I knew that all of us had to wait for the boss to fill his plate but in this home, things were different because the big man said, “AUNTIE KYOGABURA. HONASHI IWE OMUNTU YATEKA RERO MURENDA NGU ASHEMBE KURYA. HAZA OYIHEMU EKYI KOKO EKYIRASINGAYO OBUHANGO.” (Auntie, be the first one to serve. The lady has cooked all the food and so shouldn’t be the last one to serve. And by the way, pick the biggest piece of chicken). Apparently the maid was the one being referred to as auntie and so she was the once being pampered like that. “What a great home”, I thought to myself. After she had built a mountain on her plate, the rest of us served ourselves and had a great eating time. After lunch, the man of the house invited me to join him under the shade located in his compound and we converse with privacy. After taking seats under a beautiful tree, I thanked him for the invite and told him that I had been inspired by the way he treated the maid. I added that it was rare to find a home where the maid sits with his bosses at the dining table and even serves before everyone else. The Mukiga man listened to me attentively and once I was done, he replied, “MANYA OMUKOZI ARABA AYINE AMAGARA GAWE MUNGARO ZEYE. YASHARAMU ARABAWEREKYEREZA MURUNAKU RUMWE. MBENU YATA AKANTU MUMERE TIMURAKARYA MUKANAMA? (A maid always moves with your life in her hands. If she decides to kill all of you, it can be done in only one day. If she puts poison in the food, can you ever know?) He then added, “HATI WAMUKWATAGYE ORABA ORIKUMUTUGYIRA. OTAGYIRA NGU KUMUGYIRA NGU ABANZE KWIHURA NOKUMUKUNDA. INGAHA! NOKUGIRA NGU YOKUBA HINE AKUYATAMU, ABANZE KUKARYA. NAHABWEKYO OBU ARAMANYA NGU NIWE ABANZAGA KURYA, TIYO BASA. MBWENU IWE WOYEYITA ORAREBA?” (If you treat a maid well, it is bribing her. Don’t be lied into thinking that asking her to serve first is loving her. Never. It is to make sure that incase she mixed any poison in the food, she will be first one to eat it. Therefore, since she knows that she is always the first one to serve, she can’t do any mess. Can you kill yourself when you are seeing?) “What a bright man”, I replied. It is unfortunate that in many homes, house helps are treated as door mats. They do all the work but never enjoy the works of their hands. The young ladies cook the meat but can`t even taste soup. They boil milk but take porridge. In some homes, they are not even allowed to sit in sitting rooms and definitely the dining table. They belong to the kitchen! They wash nice clothes but dress up in rugs. They clean nice toilets but use the dirty pit latrine located behind the house. Home owners think that by paying them, they don’t have a right to be treated as human beings. Nonetheless, the mighty bosses forget that the poor ladies have a right to their lives. They forget that they survive on the mercies of the maids because in this generation, OKUROGA (poisoning) is as easy as eating Matooke (bananas). Be rest assured that by mistreating your maid, you are doing it to your own self because if she decides to revenge, you may not like it. They may be poor, illiterate but they are also human beings like you and me. Whereas we require respect from them, we equally have to respect them. MUBIGUFU: Treat others the way you would want them to treat you! ~Shukrani~
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 08:20:25 +0000