What does it mean to be an African “house-girl”?
by Joel
Comment on DUNIA Article: The African Maid, A story about the Working Poor
On a trip back to Cameroon in 2007 I caught up with an old acquaintance. On visiting him and his family I realised that they had a “house girl” (a maid). Though I had encountered many during my growing up years, it had never crossed my mind that I would employ one so I quizzed the family about what the maid did and how much she was paid.
It turns out that they pay “very well” compared to other families. She got housing, food and water and then $20 a month. Basically, the accommodation is deducted from pay and she ends up with $20. I spoke to the maid about how she managed. She sends $12 back to the village to her parents and she has about $8 left to buy new underwear or basic stuff to survive. And it turns out she was well paid compared to others. In summary – she works and cannot save a dime so at the start of each month she is back to zero – no new skills, no investment in the future, just surviving.
I started quizzing every family that I came across with maids. The story was the same. In some cases it was horrible. Friends talked about kicking out Maids because they got pregnant or because they got a boyfriend or because they didn’t wash clothes properly – even though according to the maid, they didn’t have enough detergent and the employers would not buy more. These maids find themselves hundreds of miles from their villages. They barely leave the house, they have no life.
At 26 when they start thinking about having a family – like all of us would – they meet another house boy from another family and try to stitch a life together they get thrown out for it and have nowhere to go. Fortunately, I didn’t meet any that had been physically abused but maids told me horrible stories of these things happening.
The tragedy of all of this is that these families are my peers – mostly western educated. Who will change it if we don’t in this generation? I heard all kinds of excuses – we both work, there is no kindergarten, their life is better here than in the village. There is no law protecting these vulnerable people. Some are even related to their masters. Yes, Masters, because it slavery.
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