“I started maltreating my maid because I didn’t want her to look good for my husband… until the day she said something that shook me.”
How it started…
If you met me one year ago…You wouldn’t believe I could ever treat another human being badly.Especially not Blessing.The day she came into my house…She was just a small girl.
Seventeen.
Thin.
Quiet.
Looking lost like someone that had already seen too much of life.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
“Blessing, ma,” she replied softly, eyes on the floor.
I looked at her properly.Something about her…
Was pure.
“You’ll be fine here,” I told her.
And I meant it.The first few weeks?I treated her like my own.
“Blessing, come and eat with us.”
“No madam, I will eat later…”
“I said come,” I insisted.
She would smile shyly and sit at the edge of the chair like she didn’t belong.I bought her clothes.Not old ones.New ones.
“Madam, this is too much…” she said one day, holding the dress like it was gold.
I laughed.
“Too much for who? You’re a young girl, you should look good.”
She smiled.
That innocent smile.
Even my son loved her.
“Aunty Blessing, carry me!”
And she would laugh, lifting him like she had known him forever.The house felt… warm.
Peaceful.Until my friend came to visit.Ngozi.My best friend.The one I told everything.Even the things I was ashamed of.We were sitting in the sitting room that afternoon.Blessing had just served us juice.Ngozi watched her walk away.
Quietly.Carefully.Then she leaned closer to me.
“That girl is fine o.”
