Many working parents who have to contend with hectic work schedules, mostly in major urban centres, have had to leave their children in the care of housemaids.
But that has come at a great price for some of them and cases of maids mistreating children have become quite common.
Lucy Nyachwo is a mother of three who recently left formal employment to concentrate on raising her children. When she was still employed, Nyachwo like many working mothers, needed someone to watch over her children while she was away at work.
In a space of ten years, Nyachwo has employed eight house helps with only one of them staying for longer than a year. Some of the experiences with maids still traumatise her to this day.
Nyachwo narrates the story of how one of her maids used to give sleeping pills to her infant son so as to keep him inactive all day thus allowing her more time to herself. Nyachwo only got to know about her son’s situation after a friend tipped her off about her maids negligent behaviour.
Nyachwo decided to quit her job. She started a business to have more time for her children.
Stories like Nyachwo’s are quite commonplace. In 2014, a video of a Ugandan maid torturing an 18 month old girl caused an uproar. Just last week, a couple in Kawanda in Wakiso district lost a baby at the hands of a maid who allegedly strangled the child before she fled the home.
However, on the flip-side, there are many untold stories of parents who abuse their maids. In some instances the maids choose to vent their frustrations on their bosses children.
While there may be many reasons why some maids mistreat children, some of their actions are a sign of frustration as Robinah Ssebugwawo, an early childhood development expert explains.
Ssebugwawo says many parents hire domestic helpers without an understanding of what their capabilities are and with no regard for their wellbeing once hired. For example the person hired to do domestic chores might not necessarily be good with children. Also many times the domestic helpers are overwhelmed with the amount of work they are expected to do for little remuneration.
Maria Tweheyo is the director of “Rent-A-Maid Uganda”, a training and recruitment firm for professional maids. She says although many parents feel they cannot do without maids, its very important for them to learn to say no in certain situations.
The majority of the people who recruit maids simply inquire through their networks for anybody who knows a girl that needs to work, and many times theynever pay attention to critical details.
Tweheyo advises that there should be a checklist before one hires a maid to take care of their home.
Parents ought to know that not all maids can be nannies. Many parents find themselves in a position where they have to dump the roles of babysitting to people who are not qualified to do so because of the shortage of professional nannies and the high cost of hiring them.
The maids pay is yet another issue that has frustrated labour rights activists. The call for a minimum wage has been kept on the back burner for years. There’s a minimum wage bill before a committee in parliament that awaits debate. Many people in the informal sector will continue getting low pay until the bill is enacted.
Currently, a housemaid gets an average of between Shs50,000 and Shs70,000. Maids who are recruited by professional firms go home with an average of Shs150,000.
It is important to note that not all maids are as bad as portrayed, some employers have recorded success stories.
Peninah Nsasirwe, a mother of three has been hiring maids for over ten years. Although she recounts some bad experiences with some maids, she largely considers herself lucky.
Nsasirwe has employed only three maids in over ten years and she thinks part of the reason for her the good experience with domestic maids is because she goes out of her way to make them feel like they are part of the home.