Agonies Of A House Girl – Episode 1
Episode 1
:
ADAEZE NARRATES…
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Life has been unfair to me right from the start.
Born into a family of ten: 3boys and 5girls plus mum and dad,
survival had been a struggle.
My father was a palm wine tapper and my mum was a petty
trader who dealt in foodstuffs.
We lived in a remote village somewhere in the South-eastern p@rt
of Nigeria.
My father’s palm wine tapping didn’t earn him much and even
after combining with the proceeds of my mum’s petty trading,
my parents still couldn’t afford 3square meals to sustain the
family.
I was the first child; followed by a male then females before the
two last males.
I never went to school even for a day. None of us did.
Then disaster struck.
My father went for his usual palm wine tapping business and
never c@m£ back.
On dispersal of a search p@rty, it turned out that he fell from the
palm tree and died on the sp©t.
This sudden death of my dad launched my family into more
terrible ha-rd sh!pand my mum couldn’t cope.
Things grew worse after my dad’s burial and it bec@m£ necessar
for my mum to s£nd us out to live with different people in the
city.
At that time I was 15years old and my immediate younger
brother was 13.
It was my late father’s sister that brou-ght up the suggestion to my
mother and my mother quic-kly bought the idea and soon had me
introduced to my madam.
In a matter of days, the whole arrangement was concluded and I
followed my madam back to the city of Enugu.
The first few days, I was treated well maybe because it was my
first day of arrival.
I was shown around the house, taught how to use some of the
appliances, I was also shown the little room that was to be my
room and also the small mattress that was to be my mattress.
Then I settled in my new home with hope that things would
move fine and my madam won’t have any reason to s£nd me
home prematurely…
Agonies Of A House Girl – Episode 2
:
Episode 2
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A severe lash of cane s£nt me hurrying to my feet the next
morning.
“So you’re still slee-ping?” My Madam asked looking ferociously at
me. “So you’re still slee-ping by 7am?” She repeated lashing out
two more stro-kes of the cane. “Who are you waiting for to clean
up the mess in the kitchen and sweep the house?” She asked.
“I’m sorry ma,” I sobbe-d.
“Come on, go and do your morning function!” She barked as I ran
out of the room and into the kitchen.
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It wasn’t my fault that I woke up late that morning.
I had overworked myself the previous night clearing up the dishes
that was used in preparing and serving the meal for the night.
By the time I finished and went to be-d, the night was far gone.
I sobbe-d as I washed the remaining dishes in the sink and swept
the entire house.
“Make sure you fetch water after sweeping that thing,” my
madam’s harsh voice reminded me from the be-droom.
“Yes ma,” I replied hurrying up.
The buckets I used in fetching water were those big saclux
buckets that were so heavy that I never attem-pted to fill them to
the brim.
I was to fill one very big drum in the front verandah with another
at the back.
For more than 3hours I ferried the buckets from well to drum and
back.
By the time I finished, I was very hungry and exhausted.
My madam gave me two slices of bre-ad and a cu-p of mixed
water in the name of tea.
The mixed water was tasteless, h0t and almost burned my
ton-gue in the first sip.
My madam was married to a well to-do husband and they
alre-ady had 3kids the last of which was very tender.
It was obvious that she was the one I c@m£ to babysit.
The other two – a boy and a girl – were much older but still
nee-ded certain degree of babysitting like bathing them and
washing their clothes and even feeding them as at when due.
But then the tender baby gave the biggest trouble. She cried a lot
and more often than not always put me into trouble.
With only two slices of bre-ad and mixed water in my tummy, I
carried the baby about trying as ha-rd as I could to quell her cry.
“Why is that baby crying?” My madam asked walking into the
sitting room.
“I don’t know ma,” I replied with terror.
“Gbawam!” A very h0t sl@p landed on my right cheek and I nearly
dropped the baby out of pain.
“What did you just try to do now?” My madam asked advancing
ferociously towards me.
“plea-se I’m sorry ma,” I pleaded sobbing.
The raised voice of my madam coupled with the sound of the
sl@p further increa-sed the baby’s crying and my madam took her
from me.
“Come on, go and put h0t water on the fire for her pap!” She
thun-dered and I ran into the kitchen in obe-dience…
Agonies Of A House Girl – Episode 3
:
:
Episode 3
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I lighted the stove immediately and put some water into the kettle
and placed it on the stove.
“Hope you’ve put the water?” My madam shouted from the sitting
room.
“Yes ma,” I replied twisting my f!ngersin fear.
“Come and wash off these napkins immediately,” she ordered
s£nding me running into the sitting room.
She handed me the soiled napkins and I zoomed off with it into
the bathroom to wash it.
I had ba-rely soa-ked the napkin into the water when I heard
madam’s voice dishing out another instruction.
“I will skin you alive if you continue wasting my keros£ne in this
house!” She bawled. “Or do you want to tell me that you don’t
know that this h0t water is boiling?”
“Sorry ma,” I replied.
“Sorry for your stupid self!” she fired back.
I instantly rinsed my hands and rushed to the kitchen to bring
down the h0t water.
I didn’t know where the pap I was to prepare was, so I went to
the sitting room to ask madam.
“Ma plea-se where is the pap?” I asked trembling with fear.
“Idiot the pap is there!” She fumed pointing at the fridge.
I went to the fridge, brou-ght out the pap, prepared it and took it to
her in the sitting room.
Then I went to the bathroom to continue with the napkin.
The baby’s cry filled the entire house and I soon heard my
madam’s voice calling me.
“Adaeze!” She called.
“Yes ma,” I replied rinsing my hands once again and running into
the sitting room.
“Sing for her, sing for her,” she urged.
“Fine baby don’t cry, fine baby don’t cry,” I broke into an
unrehearsed song.
Fortunately for me, the baby st©pped crying and listened to my
song as she gulped down the warm pap.
When she was done, I carried the plate into the kitchen and
washed it off and then went to the bathroom to finish up with the
soa-ked napkin.
Soon, baby went to sleep and madam went to sleep too and I had
little time to myself…
Agonies Of A House Girl – Episode 4
:
:
Episode 4
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The other two children, Nnenna and Chimaobi soon c@m£ back
from school and scattered their school uniforms, sandals and
school bags in the sitting room creating more work for me.
“Where is my food,” Chimaobi asked with an authority that was
much stronger than his 3years of age would suggest.
“And mine too!” Nnenna added.
“Its inside the warmer,” I replied.
“Go and get it for us!” Chimaobi ordered.
I wondered how little Chimaobi and Nnenna would be ordering
me around.
Little children whom I was older than with nothing less than
10years.
I brou-ght their food from the warmer and gave to them.
If not for the pres£nce of my madam, those children would have
had it h0t with me but madam’s pres£nce was hell-fire on its
own.
Not to talk of when she gets report from any of her children.
I hadn’t taken anything except the two slices of bre-ad and mixed
water that I took since morning yet I endured.
I cleared the sitting room and re-moved the school uniforms, bag
and sandals that the children scattered there and went to the
bathroom to wash the uniforms.
I had ba-rely started washing the uniforms when madam woke up
from sleep.
“Hope the children have eaten,” she asked with bulging sleepy
eyes.
“Yes ma, they have,” I replied.
Then she went into the toilet to ease herself.
“Adaeze!” She called.
“Yes ma,” I replied.
“Have you washed this toilet today?” She asked.
“No ma,” I replied.
“If I meet you in that bathroom, I will tear you into pieces!” she
threatened.
I rushed off to the balcony to get the mop and bucket to wash th
toilet.
“Why didn’t you wash it since morning?” She asked.
“I forgot ma,” I replied.
She gave me a very ha-rd push and I fell backwards and nearly hit
my head on the wall.
“Silly a-s!” She cursed and went back to her be-droom.
With tiredness, hunger and exhaustion I washed the toilet.
When I was done, I went back to the bathroom to complete the
washing of the children’s school uniforms.
By the time I finished washing the school uniforms, my stomach
was tearing ap@rt with hunger.
But I couldn’t muster the courage to tell my madam that I was
hungry.
So all I did was to go to one corner of the kitchen and cry silently
Madam’s husband c@m£ back later in the evening and observed
that my eyes were red.
“Why are your eyes red?” He asked peering into my face.
“Nothing sir,” I lied in a bid to avoid trouble.
“Have you been crying?” He asked still peering into my eyes.
“No sir,” I lied again.
“Ok have this,” he said handing a can of fruit jui-ce to me.
My face brightened up as he handed the jui-ce to me.
“Thank you sir,” I greeted and went into the kitchen with the can
of jui-ce.
I gulped down the entire jui-ce in no time and my stomach calmed
a bit.
The family had dinner around 8pm but I wasn’t given anything till
I finished washing all the plates and pots used for the dinner.
Then madam put one very small leftover of the food for me, the
size of which wasn’t even going to be enough for a toddler and
went to be-d.
I ate the food fast and retired to my small room to catch some
sleep as I was very tired and exhausted…
Tbc