"Hanne you haven't swept the house today"
"Hanne I asked you to bring a glass of water to my
room"
"Hanne where is the food".
"Hanne come pick up this plate from here"
"Hanne, Hanne, Hanne"
You may be wondering who this Hanne is. I'm Hanne, and I've been working as a housemaid for this family for a while. I'm the most called person in their home. I was brought to the house to work as a maid, and my job was to clean the house.
However, over time, I became a carer, doing
almost everything in the house. My name can be called 50 times a day, all in the name of running errands. No one here is concerned with my well-being; they just want the tasks they assign to be carried out swiftly. In Alhaji Musa's household, errors are not tolerated, nor is a job well done valued.
Growing up we were made to believe that we have to leave the village at a tender age to go and look for money, the money that won't be useful to us. you will be there doing the work, and the money will be sent to your guardian, the only good thing that comes from working is the three square meals you get to eat.
With little to no Islamic knowledge, I and a few
other girls were sent out to earn money for our families, some were lucky to have found a family
that took them in as their own unlike me. The only
thing I know about my religion is the five daily prayers, I watched people moving their mouths while praying but I had no idea what was being said and the meaning, reciting the entire surat ul Fatiha is difficult for me.
I've been going from house to house serving them
since I was a child, I've been addressed as
Jahila (illiterate), but no one has ever thought of
teaching me or enrolling me in an Islamic school.
"Hanne, Hanne, Hanne." I snapped out of my
reverie when I heard someone calling. They have
returned with the calls. As I entered the room, I
replied, "Yes." "How many times did I call you, Ke?
Ayi ta kiran ki bazaki amsa ba?" the girl questioned. "I apologized, Ma," merely to keep her happy. However, I got a loud hiss, which is inappropriate in any situation even for an animal, but I have no right to dispute it. If this had happened in the village, we would have fought until the sun came up, regardless of the person's age.
"Hajiya said you should make tuwo miyar kubewa
for the house, but you know I'm not going to eat that, so cook noodles for me and fry chips for Fannah." "And, yes, you should do it right away, so you don't keep us waiting." She blabbed. The girl giving the instruction was barely up to the age of our last born, and I'm the first child out of 12 siblings, can you see the gap?
I immediately headed to my work, where I lit the
oil and water on fire, gathered all the ingredients
would need, and started working. While doing
this, my mind wandered to how I got to this
house, which is the 15th one I'm working at.
—————
..Baba Laraba, the woman who brings people from
the village to work in the city, took me from the village when I was nine years old. The first house I
was taken to was that of a woman with a child, the house wasn't bad in comparison to the other houses I've been to, every time the child ruined something, the blame was placed on me, but I didn't mind because the workload wasn't that heavy and I was just a child. After a year, Baba Laraba came and took me away for a home visit, promising to return me in two weeks. I got a lot from the woman, but Baba Laraba divided it into two on the way and took some for herself.
When it was time for us to return to the city two weeks later, Baba Laraba took me to a different house and told me that the other woman had hired a new housemaid all this because of the 2,000 she'd received from the new house she took me. That was how my life went on for the last 14 years working at different places until I got to Alhaji Musa's house, where I came with the sole purpose of earning money for my wedding.
—///—
I finished everything and poured it into a flask, which I kept on the dining table whilst I took Fannah and Fatima's orders to their rooms. I then decided to inform Hajiya. Knock, knock "Who is there?" "Hanne," I said. "Do you want to break the door can't just knock once at the door, do you have to do it repéatedly, " she asks. I just bowed my head, stood there for a few minutes, and left. I went back to the kitchen to get my food and go to my room to pray, but the family members had other plans for me.
"Ke Hanne," she said, and I responded, "Yes." "Clean the downstairs parlor right now I'm going to have visitors". She explained, I simply nodded at her without telling her I was about to eat because my
excuses were not acceptable in the house.
After wrapping up my work, I headed to my room
around midnight, after they had all gone to bed. It's a rule in the house that I can't go to bed when everyone in the house is awake, and I have to wake up early to begin working, while they are in bed.
Let's check in again tomorrow.
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