My Househelp Abandoned My Baby
WHEN my first child was 2 years old, I employed a house girl who would come in the morning and leave in the evening. This was because she was married. I liked her a lot because she was good with the baby. I never experienced any problem with her, and she took care of my baby until I delivered my second baby, Emmy, on 18 April 2007. My househelp worked for me until Emmy was five months old. She began neglecting her duties and on some days she would fail to turn up for work. I was a very understanding employer. On such days I would simply summon her and ask for an explanation. I tried to be very patient with her but she did not change.
One Monday morning she did not turn up and her cell phone was switched off. I tried calling her husband’s phone but he was not picking his. When he finally responded, he told me that his wife could not make it to work because she had other errands to run. I decided to fire her and look for another househelp.
I went to a house help bureau in our neighbourhood and interviewed a few girls. One of the girls impressed me and I decided to hire her although her Identification Card (ID) looked fake-it had only two names. I found that to be unusual because IDs usually have three names. She explained to me that she had only two names because her parents were divorced.
The following day, I left my baby in her custody hoping that all would be well. I work in the outskirts of Nairobi so I left the house at 7.00 a.m. At 10.00 a.m. I decided to call her just to find out how she was coping with the baby, but her phone was off. A colleague advised me to go straight home and check- what could be wrong. My instincts too were telling me that something was not right. I asked for permission and went home. I arrived at noon.
Immediately I got into the compound I knew all was not well. The gate was open and my living room door was also wide open. Both my baby’s clothes and mine were mixed in the same bucket. I got more worried about my baby’s safety. I rushed to the bedroom, to check on the baby-but she was not there! I went back to the sitting room and found her lying on the basket, voiceless-she had cried herself hoarse.
On picking her up, I tried calling out for the househelp but she was nowhere to be found. The baby was in the same diaper she had spent the night in. Apparently she had not been fed and was exhausted.
I called my husband and relayed the news to him. He was so shocked and could not understand how someone could be that cruel. However, he could not do much except calm me down over the phone because he works far in Mwingi. I also called my boss who quickly appreciated my predicament and gave me a week off-duty to sort myself out.
In my neighbourhood, people mainly stay indoors; there is hardly any interaction among us. Fortunately, I managed to talk to one of my neighbours who told me that she had heard the baby cry from morning till noon and she had thought probably the baby was sick.
However, no one seemed to have seen my house help leave. I went to the bureau I had got the girl from and reported the case. The bureau owner sympathized with me and refunded my money. That was a very scary experience.
END:PG 11/ 62