Abuse of Domestic House Help in Africa

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In sub Saharan Africa especially there isn’t any welfare system to cater for the well being of the destitute in the communities. What is left for them is the benevolence of their rich relative; they can decide to take them in, feed and cater for their needs for house chore services in return. They are called ‘house helps’ because of the multipurpose work they do in their homes; cleaning, washing, cooking and even babysitting. They are uneducated and have to be trained on how to carry out most activities and these trainings never end. They are subjected to harsh living conditions; they are first to rise and the last to sleep. They are yelled at uncontrollably, beaten, starved, sexually violated and sometimes given no wages. The form of treatment most of them go through is nothing short of modern day slavery.

Sometimes in retaliation to these bad treatments, some House helps indulge in certain uncouth activities of their own like; child molestation, maltreatment and even kidnapping of benefactor’s children, and planting discord in marriages.

Reports from africanewshub describe abuse of domestic house helps as a “daily occurrence” as they report an incident on May 12 happening in Bayelsa State- Nigeria. A mother was caught beating ‘the living daylight’ out of the house help, neighbors confirmed it is a daily occurrence with the mother in question as she always yells from the top of her voice before doing the beating. It is intriguing how the mainstream media carry very few stories on house help abuses. The dismissive nature of the society and how ordinary the society reacts towards situations of this nature tell a right thinking mind of how dire the situation is.

Most of these arrangements are contrary to anti slavery and anti trafficking laws most which the international community is signatory to. The driving force behind these arrangements is the chronic poverty levels in the continent. If poverty persist the practice will and cross borders. In a BBC report about house help dilemma; there are now agents going to poorer countries like Benin and Togo where they take a stipulated time period of 6 months to 2 years searching for people willing to come over to countries like Nigeria and become house helps, with the provision of wages from $25 to $100 per month. There have been other cases in major cities like Lagos involving minors working as house help and who have been severely beaten or sexually molested by the care takers-cum-employers.

The consequence of this fact is that some Africans who are settled abroad try to run away from hiring maids abroad and go for an ‘import’ of people or relatives from back home to come do their chores. A further consequence is they might meet the same consequence as Nigerian-American lawyer Bidemi Bello who in 2011 was convicted and sentenced to 11 years jail time for human trafficking. The evidence proved that Mrs. Bello had beaten and refused to pay wages of the two women working for her.

The practice is a way of life and it will be ideal if there was legislation tackling its mode of operation and wellbeing of the House Helps. Legislators should act appropriately because this is a human rights issue and any form of slavery, including abuse of house help, should be clearly outlawed and also prosecuted by law.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34180122

http://www.okayafrica.com/news/there-is-a-madness-in-this-house-helps-in-nigeria/

http://www.total-facts-about-nigeria.com/best-housemaidhousehelpnannydomestic-service-providers-in-nigeria.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/13/georgia.human.trafficking/

http://www.nairaland.com/10441/hired-helps-nigeria-modern-day

http://www.womensmeetingplace.com/2016/02/22/house-helps-for-better-or-for-worse/

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Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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