I really don't support the house help thingy but the thing is that many families in Nigeria are impoverished and allowing their kids to go live with one relative or just anybody helps relieve their responsibilities(so they believe).

God bear me witness, I grew up to start taking orders from Aunty Celina, even when I felt the task she gave was too much and ran to mum for help, mum would always say "Go and talk to your aunty na, its in her hands" almost every battle with aunty Celina and mum as the judge was lost by us her children, at a point we were like, our mum loved her more sef, if you saw the both of them together, you'd think they were sisters. The day mummy died, Aunty Celina sef nearly died despite that she's now married with 3 kids.

The day I can say my dad really beat me was the day I slapped my cousin who came on holiday to our house(she really find my trouble and I was 15 then)omo you needed to see me, I swell up cos mumsi sef finish wetin popsy start for my body when she came back, I was crying and he told her what happened.

I try to treat others the way I saw my mum and still see my dad treat people, there is just no room for discrimination(especially with my mum).

@orikinla, thank you sir for responding to my post even though you say am dumb, and am sure u know different people here would have different experiences regarding this issue, so I urge you sir in the name of GOD not to be too emotional or overzealous on the issue. As a Christian dad and been married for over 25 years, my wife and I makes it a point of duty to educate or engage our ward so they don't get too idle, basically because except keep the house clean they really have nothing to do and sometimes by 9am, they have retired into their rooms 4 eating and watching dstv. This particular girl is well over 20 and we have tried just to make her live a decent life but all to no avail. The truth of the mater from experience is that no matter what you do to take care of this wards all of them will still repay evil for good except if they are born again and filled with the holy spirit.

I understnd som people maltreat their hsehelps but lets also know that som of these employers r forced to pay tru their noses just becuz they need som1 to help wth d house chores. Even when u plead wt d parents or agent to reduce d money so dat u can send d girl 2 sch, they wil refuse n say let her keep workin. Now tell me, who is to blame. They collect money frm u, expect u 2 feed, shelter, cloth n do everytin 4 them n d society is quick 2 judge u 4 d maid not been in sch wth dis kind economyy,

mfm04622:
The world isn't black & white. It is usually grey! It is great opportunity for a maid to get a good family. First question, when staying with her parents, does he/she have access to education? Answer is usually no. What of standard of living? Usually better when staying with employers. I have a maid. She attend a private school that cost me 25k per term. Of course my child attend a better school but i struggle to pay my child school fees. I can send him to that school because i have only a child. My maid eat what we eat, is attended to in the same hospital. Her main job is to take care of my child as i have an older woman come on weekends to wash and iron and other heavy stuff. I understand the law is required to protect house maids from being treated badly but to make it illegal? That is removing opportunity some of them get for social mobility.

Spot on mfm! Many people believe a maid has to be someone who constantly washes and cleans the house unfortunately what time would she come back from school, have her lessons and then wash clothes? Besides is it the suits i wear to work that a maid would be washing? those playing the holier than thou attitude on this thread claiming its wrong to pick up a maid from the suburbs and give him/her a better life are the same people who would subjects their maid to constant torture and maltreatment because of their servant-slave mentality.

You may wish to know that when my maid went to her village for christmas last year she came back with horrible stories of how girls in her peer group had mostly become pregnant for random village boys after she left. Not to mention how they were all exclaiming about the hardship they are now faced with and instantly she became the envy of most of them. After she returned i jokingly asked her she wants to do about her friends condition back in the village and she replied 'aunty lets buy beds from my money and send to them' and i asked her why and she said that is all they ever desired. Lolz very funny! You can imagine the kind of low life those girls have been subjected to plus the unwanted teenage pregnancy and all that.

So tell me which is better? A maid in the city who goes to school and is guaranteed a better future or a teenager in the village who gets molested by all the weed smoking village boys, gets pregnant and still goes to the stream to fetch water and find fire wood.

Riichgirl4life: I understnd som people maltreat their hsehelps but lets also know that som of these employers r forced to pay tru their noses just becuz they need som1 to help wth d house chores. Even when u plead wt d parents or agent to reduce d money so dat u can send d girl 2 sch, they wil refuse n say let her keep workin. Now tell me, who is to blame. They collect money frm u, expect u 2 feed, shelter, cloth n do everytin 4 them n d society is quick 2 judge u 4 d maid not been in sch wth dis kind economyy,

from your write-up I assume you are probably under 20yrs of age.
sorry but can't you just write decently without abbreviations? And oh don't tell me you use a phone because I just typed off one

specialguest:

Spot on mfm! Many people believe a maid has to be someone who constantly washes and cleans the house unfortunately what time would she come back from school, have her lessons and then wash clothes? Besides is it the suits i wear to work that a maid would be washing? those playing the holier than thou attitude on this thread claiming its wrong to pick up a maid from the suburbs and give him/her a better life are the same people who would subjects their maid to constant torture and maltreatment because of their servant-slave mentality.

You may wish to know that when my maid went to her village for christmas last year she came back with horrible stories of how girls in her peer group had mostly become pregnant for random village boys after she left. Not to mention how they were all exclaiming about the hardship they are now faced with and instantly she became the envy of most of them. After she returned i jokingly asked her she wants to do about her friends condition back in the village and she replied 'aunty lets buy beds from my money and send to them' and i asked her why and she said that is all they ever desired. Lolz very funny! You can imagine the kind of low life those girls have been subjected to plus the unwanted teenage pregnancy and all that.

So tell me which is better? A maid in the city who goes to school and is guaranteed a better future or a teenager in the village who gets molested by all the weed smoking village boys, gets pregnant and still goes to the stream to fetch water and find fire wood.

In the days of sugar plantation, there were black slaves that were treated so very well.
would you justify the fact that these blacks were taken away from their poor black settlements in Africa and transported to Europe for a better life as slaves?
think again bro, you are doing exact same thing

Lobeez:

In the days of sugar plantation, there were black slaves that were treated so very well.
would you justify the fact that these blacks were taken away from their poor black settlements in Africa and transported to Europe for a better life as slaves?
think again bro, you are doing exact same thing

Errrm . . . . not quite the same thing!

There is a difference huge between being 'taken away' and going voluntarily.

Most of these 'helps' are there voluntarily (with the consent of their parents) and can leave whenever they like.

Some leave after a day, some after a month, some after a year e.t.c. Nobody is forcing these parents to give up their children so comparing it to slavery is a poor analogy.

That alone changes the situation with these house helps. If a child is not being treated properly, h/her parents can take them away whenever they want.

@ Lobeez, Isn't it better to keep mute n not to type than to criticize. We r discussin something very important here and if u don't hav anythng reasonable to contribute, u can as well exit. Abbrevations r better than an Olodo write up lik urs dat doesnt know how to apply coma, fullstop etc. Zombie Africa.

Ujujoan:

Errrm . . . . not quite the same thing!

There is a difference huge between being 'taken away' and going voluntarily.

Most of these 'helps' are there voluntarily (with the consent of their parents) and can leave whenever they like.

Some leave after a day, some after a month, some after a year e.t.c. Nobody is forcing these parents to give up their children so comparing it to slavery is a poor analogy.

That alone changes the situation with these house helps. If a child is not being treated properly, h/her parents can take them away whenever they want.

My dear, parents consent does not count here, the individual has to be of the right age for us to begin talking of consent.
how does a 10yr old give consent to go live with a stranger?

Lobeez:

My dear, parents consent does not count here, the individual has to be of the right age for us to begin talking of consent.
how does a 10yr old give consent to go live with a stranger?

Am i the only only one trying so hard to understand what you wrote? Besides who is talking about a 10 year old? If i have a 10 year old maid that means i will be baby sitting her na.

The girl that lives with me is above way above 17 however i had to make an age declaration stating she was 15 years when i enrolled her in jss 1 and i am sure you know why. Infact the first day i took her to school the principal outrightly told me that my ward was way above 15 years probably because of her size but i just feigned ignorance of what she saying by claiming that is what the girls parents told me.

Lobeez:

My dear, parents consent does not count here, the individual has to be of the right age for us to begin talking of consent.
how does a 10yr old give consent to go live with a stranger?

But it matters if you are going to compare it to sugar plantation slavery . . . Also these children are not forced to remain there forever. They can come and go as they please.

However, These things are not always black and white. My dad became a Legal Practitioner because he lived as a 'house help' with my uncle who paid for the education his poor parents could not afford.

Was it 'child slavery'? Yes. Is he glad it happened . . . hell yeah!

I get very emotional when ever I hear of something like this, cuz I've been there, maybe not as a house boy but I was no difference with an house boy.

though my aunty (who happened to be my mum immediate younger sister) put me in school but it was a totally different school from the one her kids attended, though she was nice to me but her husband hated me with passion, each time we go out together I always feel different because its very clear that they are not my parents from the way they treat me.......

If any of you have ever been to kano, you will know how cold It could be during cold season,
I use to wake up by 5am in that cold to wash two cars and to do other chores, and I will still end up going to school late.

And this people are suppose to be my family
Now imagine that they are not my family,
I know there are good people out there who treat their maids or house boys like family....
May God bless them......

I must say, I never allowed that maltreatment to hinder me from becoming who I'm suppose to be, and I thank God for that.

I can never allow my children stay with anyone apart from their grand parent

I wrote this with tears in my eyes

Lobeez:

In the days of sugar plantation, there were black slaves that were treated so very well.
would you justify the fact that these blacks were taken away from their poor black settlements in Africa and transported to Europe for a better life as slaves?
think again bro, you are doing exact same thing

The same black slaves that had holes drilled in their lips to enable their masters padlock their mouths while they worked on the sugarcane plantation?

Have been there before,but not as housemaid.If my aunty could maltreat me the way she did,I wonder what will happen if I was a housemaid?All thesame I thank ,but one thing that is certain ,is that NON OF MY CHILDREN WILL EVER STAY OUT MY ABODE.

I do not support using young children as homehelps! I employ only female adults preferably between the ages of 25-28, pay them very well and they normally stay for a minimum of 3 - 4 years. It has worked for me for years. I have never been scared of employing grown women because I am married to a principled decent man who would not embarrass himself by indulging with our workers.

wow....

wow

wowww

Truly no condition is permanent

greggng: I was in primary 4 when my dad died and because my mum couldn't carry the responsibility of training 5 boys at a go, she decided to plead with the younger sister to take me along to lagos. The younger sister married a rich man that was given the sole right to supply electricity to moroko .They turned me to a house boy .one day my mum younger brother came visiting and he used the opportunity to ask me if I am being treated well. I opened my body and this guy got angry and in the night he confronted the sister.:He was not happy with the explanation given and he decided to leave the next day. This incident marked a turning point in my life. He informed my mum and within one month I was brought back to the village .when I got home I discovered that my younger ones are now in same class with me. That was how we kept on neck to neck till tertiary level. I believe in the saying that no condition is permanent. One day news came that moroko has been demolished and gradually the husband became a poor man and they had no option than to relocate to the village. To God be the glory things turned around for me and I managed to build a house in lagos. Opposite my house was a bar were guys drink. One day I went there to take one bottle and guess what! The first son of those that maltreated me .he was so happy to meet me and eventually he showed me a one room apartment were he leaves with a girl he pregnanted. When the wife was about to give birth ,I gave them some good money and he and he was able to let the mum know about my kind gesture. The upper week, I got a phone call from the husband asking me to forgive them and finally he prayed for me. To conclude, chose your house maid carefully treat them right and God will bless you

This story reminds me of Devious Maids, a sitcom based in Bev Hills

The maids are confidants, everything to their mistresses

greggng: Each time I remenber what I went through in their hands I always cry cos many are going through the same unfortunately most of them endure it cos they believe the have no option. If only the govt will establish a welfare program like in the usa no one will be servant to anyone. My younger brother did industrial attachment under a swiss engineer. The man is ab out 65 years old. One day he called all the workers and shared all his properties to them cos he wants to relocate back to swizerland for retirement.After sharing the properties and all the staff were happy, the man starts crying. According to him , he cried cos he is gonna die of lonliness when he gets home.he said in swiss everybody is big man and no one is ready to do most of the jobs nigerians do for him. The point I am making is that if the less priveledged get social benefit every month, the rich will beg for people to help them and the will value what they ve

You did these and they poisoned your kid

Something dey smell...

Are u the wife
If not, did u grill your wife to know exactly what happens when u go to work

LBT: I have had several house boys and housemaids who me and my wife send to the best school around where ever we live, they are always given a room in our flat which is well equipped and
their own private toilet and bathroom; we eat and drink the same food and drinks , we even give them allowance apart from their salary and even buy them cloths,shoes,watches etc but alas! 99% of them are evil, people think that they are all related to use because we treat them right but they steal, lie; one even poisoned my 2nd son. Only God saved him; you have to pray well and Investigate before taken any house help.

Hmm,.,.. you raise some hard questions...

Orikinla:
Your excuse for her withdrawal from school is dumb, because if your own daughter was crying for going to school, would you have stopped her schooling?
And she got pregnant, because of your bad parenting.

Many children cry when we are taking them to school, and it is normal, because they are often scared of being taken out of the comfort zones of their family and home to another place to be left with strangers they have never seen before. But their childish fears later fade away as they become familiar with the school environment.

Lobeez: Some of the folks bragging about sending their house helps to school are doing so for their own selfish reasons.
I have colleagues who tell me "well you know you need to send your house helps to school so that they will not infest your kids with illiteracy"
at the end of the day, your intentions are not even genuine it is borne out of sheer selfishness.
just saying!

hahaha.. guy i dey feel u
That is enlightened self interest

@abbey


Im sorry for what youve gone through
You will experiemce a better day soon

Your story tells me the uselessness of tribalism...
wickedness knows no tribe or race

Some people even have been helped better by others

Ujujoan:

Errrm . . . . not quite the same thing!

There is a difference huge between being 'taken away' and going voluntarily.

Most of these 'helps' are there voluntarily (with the consent of their parents) and can leave whenever they like.

Some leave after a day, some after a month, some after a year e.t.c. Nobody is forcing these parents to give up their children so comparing it to slavery is a poor analogy.

That alone changes the situation with these house helps. If a child is not being treated properly, h/her parents can take them away whenever they want.

Voluntarily? You really think the 12 year old kid who does your washing, cooks for your family, picks up the kids from school, cleans up when your kids shyte, runs to the market barefooted and endures your screaming, beating and abuse - does so on a voluntary basis?

Is that what you tell yourself to make you sleep better at night ?

Absolutely no difference between this case and the sugar cane plantation scenario. The kids under your roof are denied most of their basic human freedoms - of expression, of speech, of self determination. They are treated as lowly peasants whom given their poor "miserable" backgrounds, are not good enough to dine and wine at the same table as their masters. Like every kid of their age, they probably prefer to go out and build mud houses or run about in the sun all day - but you their slave masters will have them baby sit your own kids or cook the family's dinner! --- and your best excuse of course is that "they have been paid for" and "no one forced their parents to give away their kids"! ¬


Anyone who willingly participate in such disgrace is a filthy scum! Scums of the society, all lots of them!

.

Orikinla: Many families in urban areas in Nigeria and other countries in the world have housemaids and houseboys and they are the popular domestic workers in many homes.
There are those who cannot do without them.

I am not really against families with housemaids and houseboys, but I am really concerned about how they treat them.
We have heard and read of many reports of horrible and terrible things done to housemaids and houseboys by their employers.
In many homes, they treat them without respect and so they maltreat them.
I have seen where dogs in the mansion are better treated than housemaids and houseboys in Nigeria.
I mean the dogs can sit on the rug with the family, but the housemaids and houseboys cannot do so.

The worst is to deprive your housemaid or houseboy of education.
It is evil and wicked not to send the housemaid or houseboy of school age to the nearest school.
Depriving your housemaid or houseboy of basic primary or secondary school education is dangerous to your own security and welfare.
Lest we forget, your innocent children are often left in the care of your housemaids and houseboys and imagine what kind of knowledge they would share with your children if they are not educated!
And when you maltreat them, you are going to end up misleading your own children with your bad example in parenting and guardianship.

Mr. Op Sir..

This is an issue that I have discussed extensively with many people.

Now I grew up in a house that had more househelps than kids in it. We all sent them to school and they were treated as best as we could (without necessarily giving them the same treatment as we the children of the house got). I mean theyslept in the same rooms with us, ate from the same pot with us (infact served themselves as the liked as food was never inshort supply), e.t.c.

Now heres where my probem begins;

1. Taking a minor in as a maid is one thing I do not suscribe to. I believe that every child should have the right to be a child. The right to go to school, return home to minor (moderate chores), rest, play, do homeworks, eat and sleep. Where a child is subjected to continous work with littel time for them to enjoy their childhood, that I object to.

2. Sending a maid to school is not good enough, the quality of that education also matters. I am very well aware of how deep and far the thoughts of parents go when it comes to the choice of school for their kids. Many maids (especially child maids) almost, always end up in Public schools where the education they get is a valueable as the non-polymer 20Naira of 1995. I remember one of our maids (distant cousin) that I went to pick from school one day on my way back from school. When I got into her school, she was the person in-charge of selling the ice-cream (frozen flavoured water) that the teacher was selling. That was when I took the liberty of going through her school books and realized that she had nothing in them. What kind of education is that?!

2.1 Extra Lessons and home tutoring. Who does these for these child maids?! I know that the english I speak & write today was not taught to me in school but at home by my mother. Who gives these child maids the after school care and tutoring that EVERY child needs?! Do they have any form of home schooling from either their Masters or a hired tutor?! Do their masters monitor their school works?! Who proof reads/checks their homeworks?!

3. The teenage maids normally are given the option of learning a craft. Now this is something I can suscribe to as I am a strong believer in technical education. However, many of these masters almost, always send them to learn these skills, trade and crafts at centres that are nothing to write home about.

4. Emotional care. Beyond school, how about the emotional aspect of these child maids?! Who do they run to when they have a cut on their hands?! Who comforts them when they cry like kids do?? Who basically caters to their emotional needs?! NOBODY!!!! Those child maids grow up faster than their masters kids.

Thats why my take on maids are;

1. Never take in a minor or a teenager as a maid.
2. All maids must be paid a healthy wage and a bonus incentive added.
3. All maids must be over the age of 18. (Perferably 21 and above)
4. All maids must not be live-in maids.

olumidazz: @orikinla, thank you sir for responding to my post even though you say am dumb, and am sure u know different people here would have different experiences regarding this issue, so I urge you sir in the name of GOD not to be too emotional or overzealous on the issue. As a Christian dad and been married for over 25 years, my wife and I makes it a point of duty to educate or engage our ward so they don't get too idle, basically because except keep the house clean they really have nothing to do and sometimes by 9am, they have retired into their rooms 4 eating and watching dstv. This particular girl is well over 20 and we have tried just to make her live a decent life but all to no avail. The truth of the mater from experience is that no matter what you do to take care of this wards all of them will still repay evil for good except if they are born again and filled with the holy spirit.

.

I am sorry for saying your excuses are dumb.

At the end of the Nigerian civil war, many of our cousins joined us in Lagos to work as housemaids and houseboys. They were lucky to have kind masters and mistresses, including diplomats who treated them well. But most of them missed formal education and that affected their lives. In fact, one of them is a study in human psychology, because she has remained a housemaid since 1970 to date and she is not married and has no child. I think separating her from her family in the village affected her in a way that only a psychologist can explain. She was more attached to my mother who was her aunt and when my mother was killed in an auto-crash, she became depressed and has remained depressed till date.
Depriving any housemaid of education causes many damages to their personality in different ways like making them feel inferior to those who went to school, they have low esteem and become fatalistic. Some even concluded that it was their destiny.

Personally whenever I see any housemaid who is not going to school, I break down.
I have done the little I could to help several housemaids go to school, but I know there are millions out there who are still deprived of education and our churches and mosques should tell parents and guardians to make sure that they send their housemaids to school.

‘How did a state born with great promise like Akwa Ibom become the factory for houseboys and housegirls? You may ask. Akwa Ibom people are honest people, the most honest in our country. Consequently, our nation sought to have house keepers from our state – of all Nigerians, they could only trust our people with their children and their food. And as it is conventional in human nature, this noble trait was abused and we came to be seen as persons who were born to serve others. I was in Lagos, doing my best in law and Corporate Nigeria, before I responded to the call to serve in the motherland. I felt a pain in my heart whenever I visited my friends and they would tell me, let your sister, our housemaid, come and bring you a drink. I felt even more pained when some of them would ask me, “Please can you get a house girl or house boy for me from your state?” I made up my mind that this shame must be lifted from our shoulders. I believed and still believe that for so long as one Akwa Ibom person is in servitude because his or her parents could not send her or him to school, then all Akwa Ibom persons at home and in the Diaspora, educated and illiterate are in servitude. Today the story is different. The house girls and house boys are in schools courtesy of our free education programme.’

~ Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom State governor at a town hall meeting of Akwa Ibomites in Houston Texas, U.S.A, in August 2011.

The US Department of Labour in its 2010 report claims Nigeria is witnessing the worst forms of child labor, particularly in agriculture and domestic service. In rural areas, most children work in agriculture of products such as cassava, cocoa and tobacco. These children typically work long hours and for little pay, with their families. The report claims some children are exposed to pesticides and chemical fertilizers in cocoa and tobacco fields because of archaic farming practices or because they are deployed as forced labour without protective gear. Additionally, street children work as porters and scavengers, and a growing number of them engage in begging. The report claims commercial sexual exploitation of children, especially girls, is also occurring in some Nigerian cities, including Port Harcourt and Lagos.

~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_Nigeria

[size=18pt]
According to the International Labour Organization, the number of working children under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. The high level of diverse and tedious jobs that children execute in dangerous circumstances is particularly worrying. These jobs include being street vendors, beggars, car washers or watchers and shoe shiners. Others work as apprentice mechanics, hairdressers and bus conductors while a large number work as domestic servants and farm hands.

Research also shows that child workers display poor educational achievements. Girls start working at an earlier age than boys, particularly in the rural areas. They also suffer the triple burden of housework, school work and work out of home whether paid or unpaid. One of the most common practices is the use of children as child domestics –especially girls.

Major causes of child labour are widespread poverty, rapid urbanisation, breakdown in extended family afiliations, high school drop out rates, and lack of enforcement of legal instruments meant to protect children. Traditionally, children have worked with their families, but today children are forced to work for their own and their family’s survival. The money earned by child family members has become a significant part of poor families’ income.

These children who work suffer from fatigue, irregular attendance at school, lack of comprehension and motivation, improper socialisation, exposure to risk of sexual abuse, high likelihood of being involved in crime.

~ http://www.unicef.org/nigeria/children_1935.html[/size]

kulyie: I remember some time ago i went to greet my aunt and so we were jisting and the next thing she said was that i was about goig to my friends house in an hours time before you came,give some minutes,let me go and dress up so we will go together but meanwhile eat.i said ok,so i went to the pot to serve myself.so anyway,i was done with the food,left it in the kitchen and then we both left the house.when we got to her friends house,we exchanged pleaseantries and my aunty asked her friend that she has been looking at this house since,its only you and your husbands bedroom, kids bedroom and play room you guys have,where does your house help sleep.the friend said in the kitchen on the floor.my auntys eyes turned towards me and i looked at her too in shock.i said concrete floor? She said ehen.i said ok,where is she now? The woman said she has gone to pick her kids from school,i said what about her,isnt she in school? She looked at me strange and said why should she be in school,na me born am,abi na me go pay for her school fees when i get 2 pikin wey me and my husband still dey struggle to pay their school fees.my aunty interjected and said ok so how do you compensate her for all the chores shes doing,she said i have paid off the agent who brought her so it is as good as i bought her.she doesnt have any right to anything in this house except food and i must make sure she has washed my childrens school uniform,socks,dishes,everybody has eating before she eats.i had to cut in and said aunty thats not fair na.even though no one knows what youre doing to her and she is vulnerable,God is seeing you o,dont let him visit his judgement upon you through your kids.she said abegiiiiii,spare me.if i send her to school now,she will start getting conscious of herself and her looks and she will start competing with me.i said haba aunty,an 11 year old girl.she said,you you dont even know anything,wait till you get in my shoes.anyway to cut the long story short,when we left her place and my aunty was driving in the car,i said aunty mi, she said aburo,i said can i advise you,she said,i am listening.i noded and said this woman you call your friend,i dont like your relationship with her.this is not the kind of woman you should be hanging around with.God forbid eveil,if your enemy dies and for one reason or the other your child stays with her,just no that your childs life will be messed up.imagine how she is treating her house help as if she is not even a human being.such a little girl like that,an illiterate, worstill sleeping in the kitchen and eating the remenants of everyones plate packed together.that is what we do for our dog.that girl is too small for that na.my aunty said,well,thats true,i will talk to her but i had the intention of talking to her however not in your presence because she might feel embarassed that she is talking to her in the presence of her friends younger one,i said better.


Infact ehen.smh

And the subject of this story goes to church/mosque. The wickedness in this country is too much.

I have an aunt that is a queen-first wife of a traditional ruler. I stopped visiting her, the wickedness to her maids is just too much. Who gives a kid N10 for breakfast and lunch in 2013? I can't even start to mention her atrocities before I get really angry over nothing. My dad has helped all interested in schooling while working for him. I even grew up thinking 2 of them were my half sisters, I was almost 20 before I discovered they were not family or even remotely related.

A human being is a human being no matter their financial status or background.

Why should anyone bring i̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ another person's child and subject them to house chores dat they would not allow their very own children to do? And worse still, deny them the right to education? SMH



Funny enough, some of these maids become better people than the children of their employers.

Once my sis had a maid, she treated nicly n had access to every thg in d house though my sis husband reside abread. D guy wear dress that cost from 6'k n above wt a monthly salary inshort she is more like a sister than a maid but I coutioned my sis abt d way she is exposing d girl to so much luxury bt at end wen my inlaw came home n still gave d girl some dollars for shopping, she stole more n d children in d school n ran away..which is better ? Treat them nicely or bad.

Ujujoan:

But it matters if you are going to compare it to sugar plantation slavery . . . Also these children are not forced to remain there forever. They can come and go as they please.

However, These things are not always black and white. My dad became a Legal Practitioner because he lived as a 'house help' with my uncle who paid for the education his poor parents could not afford.

Was it 'child slavery'? Yes. Is he glad it happened . . . hell yeah!

So your point is that since the child would definitely not get educated in the village we should just fold our hands and let children all over Nigeria go through hell because your dad had a good outcome? Wow

Some of the posts here are alarming. If you cannot afford a full grown adult as a domestic staff then you simply cannot afford help. Run your home yourself. Cut your coat according to your cloth. If it means living in a neighborhood were housing is not so much then that's what you do. If it means that you cannot work for a few years because you do not want to put your child in daycare then that is what you do. You cannot bring someone's child into your home to work for you. There is no justification for that. NONE. If you want to help someone raise their child that's fine but not to bring them into your home to run your home so you can have free time to fool around. What is wrong with hiring an adult just twice a week in the evenings to help around the home so you can get some free time. We have a long way to go with human rights in Nigeria. We treat human beings like trash and people are somehow not aware that that is exactly what they are doing

LBT: I have had several house boys and housemaids who me and my wife send to the best school around where ever we live, they are always given a room in our flat which is well equipped and
their own private toilet and bathroom; we eat and drink the same food and drinks , we even give them allowance apart from their salary and even buy them cloths,shoes,watches etc but alas! 99% of them are evil, people think that they are all related to use because we treat them right but they steal, lie; one even poisoned my 2nd son. Only God saved him; you have to pray well and Investigate before taken any house help.

Typical Naija superiority complex! because they are poor house helps, they are genetically engineered to be evil! What are the odds of a subset of people from varying backgrounds being evil?

blink182: And the subject of this story goes to church/mosque. The wickedness in this country is too much.

I have an aunt that is a queen-first wife of a traditional ruler. I stopped visiting her, the wickedness to her maids is just too much. Who gives a kid N10 for breakfast and lunch in 2013? I can't even start to mention her atrocities before I get really angry over nothing. My dad has helped all interested in schooling while working for him. I even grew up thinking 2 of them were my half sisters, I was almost 20 before I discovered they were not family or even remotely related.

A human being is a human being no matter their financial status or background.

My P.A was driving me home after work and spotted a Range ROver Sport in fornt of us and said; This woman asked me to get her a house girl that she would be paying 8,000 naira a month.. I almost choked. He went on to say that she worked in Mobil and her husband also had a good job.

Now I immediately did the maths in thy head. thats approximately 250 Naira a day for her upkeep. No school, no phones, no nothing. Thats slavery my guy.

The only solution to this is for the FG to set up a 'snitch' programme where people can call in annoymously and report such abuse to the government.

Many of these people wey get house help dey form ignorant. The employment laws of this country if fully enforced, many of these people will languish in jail for many years. They dont provide healthcare, compensation or anything for these maids and yet pay them way less than minimum wage.


I blame it all on poverty & illiteracy..