In employing house helps, be it nannies, cooks, cleaners people get them from people that secure them from other places and these agents may not necessarily know where they are from, therefore they basically know nothing about them and cannot vouch for their character. Even though they do so in trying to persuade you to employ them since they would get their fee.
In any case because people are desperate you bring somebody into your house without finding out anything about them, besides where would you even begin with somebody brought from a remote village very far away?
Though some try to take the house helps to the hospitals for HIV/AIDS test, hepatitis and so on, most people just take them in like that.
Therefore the story that a twenty- five-year-old house girl, Blessing allegedly stole money and jewelry worth N13.9m just after one week of work resumption in Victoria Island in Lagos may ring a bell with many that have similar experience.
Pearl Ogbulu, who employed Blessing , on Tuesday said the suspect allegedly committed the crime about a week after she started working with her.
She ran away, the agent gave Pearl Ogbulu Blessing’s brothers’ number and address. The number couldn’t be reached and the address couldn’t be found.
But the surprising thing was that the agent was not cooperating, he said he would not go, that it happened to him before and he was arrested. She reported the case to the DSS.
It is clear that some of those looking for domestic work have a sinister motive. The work they would do is an opportunity for them to steal. In these days of kidnapping they may be agents of criminal gangs and connive your kidnapping or your children’s.
Perhaps that is why some of them would want to go to wealthy people’s houses only. In one such case, the house girl refused to stay in the house she was taken, so the agent took her back, but she told some people that she left because the woman “doesn’t have money.”
The greatest fear however is not to steal money and run away, it is to run away with a baby. It is a nightmare one would not wish even on one’s worst enemy. And it happens from time to time.
Unless the authorities come in and give this business some guide lines these things would continue to happen. It may be difficult and may cost more but it will sanitise it and make people more comfortable and the house helps and their parents may have assurance of their welfare.
One woman told me that because of a bitter experience she had with a house girl she would not get any house girl again unlessshe saw the girl’s parents, because according to her, the agent may connive with the girl and harm her.
But if they want to deceive you they can, and introduce some people as their parents. From personal experience if they introduce a man as their brother ‘the same mother, the same father’, he is most likely their boy friend. How do you the truth, some may ask, well if pregnancy occurs and you find that the ‘brother’ is responsible and he is not really a brother.
When measures are introduced the agents would benefit as well, because as it is now, their contacts get the house helps and send to them from God- knows- where and if there is a problem of stealing and running away the agent would be called and even arrested.
He may have difficulty in finding the girl because he doesn’t know her home town and the contact that sent the girl to him may not cooperate or could not be traced.
In this regard, if there is a way for the agents together with the authorities to know the states, local government areas and towns or villages of these house helps it would help in tracing them, though some may run away to other places.
Still some don’t live in their home towns, so they should bringguarantors to stand for them. This applies not only to house girls, but to house boys and drivers too. But even the guarantors, who are they, unless it is somebody you know and of high standing. For example somebody may ask anybody to stand as his guarantor and some not knowing the implication agree only to realise their mistake when the person commits a crime and runs away.
There is need for professionalism with workshops and training in this uncomfortable but necessary business in order to ward off criminals.
