THE HOUSE GIRL
Episode 1
ADAEZE NARRATES…
Life has been unfair to me right
from the start.
Born into a family of ten: 3boys
and 5girls plus mum and dad,
survival had been a struggle.
My father was a palm wine
tapper and my mum was a
petty trader who dealt in
foodstuffs.
We lived in a remote village
somewhere in the South-
eastern part of Nigeria.
My father’s palm wine tapping
didn’t earn him much and even
after combining with the
proceeds of my mum’s petty
trading, my parents still
couldn’t afford 3square meals
to sustain the family.
I was the first child; followed
by a male then females before
the two last males.
I never went to school even for
a day. None of us did.
Then disaster struck.
My father went for his usual
palm wine tapping business
and never came back.
On dispersal of a search party,
it turned out that he fell from
the palm tree and died on the
spot.
This sudden death of my dad
launched my family into more
terrible hardship and my mum
couldn’t cope.
Things grew worse after my
dad’s burial and it became
necessary for my mum to send
us out to live with different
people in the city.
At that time I was 15years old
and my immediate younger
brother was 13.
It was my late father’s sister
that brought up the suggestion
to my mother and my mother
quickly bought the idea and
soon had me introduced to my
madam.
In a matter of days, the whole
arrangement was concluded
and I followed my madam
back to the city of Enugu.
The first few days, I was
treated well maybe because it
was my first day of arrival.
I was shown around the house,
taught how to use some of the
appliances, I was also shown
the little room that was to be
my room and also the small
mattress that was to be my
mattress.
Then I settled in my new home
with hope that things would
move fine and my madam
won’t have any reason to send
me home prematurely…
To be continued
Pls
