Covid-19 has brought Tabitha back 'home'

On Jamhuri Day last year, I wrote here about Tabitha, a house help who left after serving my family for close to 10 years. We gave her a farewell befitting her long service. Neighbours joined us during the farewell party.

At the time of her departure, Tabitha had high hopes. She planned to buy a piece of land with the money she had saved over the years. On the land, she would grow crops and sell the produce at the local market.

She also planned to start a second-hand clothes business. Her retirement plans seemed perfect. As her employer of nearly 10 years, I was impressed by Tabitha’s plans. My children, of course, had heavy hearts. Tabitha had a way with children. They adored her and were fond of her. Tabitha was, by and large, a member of my family.

And so with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness, we saw Tabitha off.

We didn’t get in touch with her for a long time after her departure. I let go of her to discover the world for herself.

Then coronavirus, the pandemic that has unleashed havoc across the globe, happened in March. Needless to say, the pandemic has disrupted businesses and many people have lost their jobs. The shocks caused by this disease have spared no one.

The disease has razed to the ground some of the big corporate businesses and start-ups like Tabitha’s haven’t been spared either.

Her little investment- her life’s savings which included a three-month severance pay as a token of appreciation was wiped off. With no income of her own, life in the village turned into a daily nightmare. Tabitha sunk into a life of penury- the life she sought to escape from when she came to the big city almost 10 years ago.

Immediately after the government lifted travel restrictions, Tabitha called us. She narrated her ordeal. The business she had started, she told us, collapsed even before it took off.

She asked if she could come back and take her old job. Unfortunately, there was no job. The vacancy had long been filled.

But we were all fond of her. And so I immediately convened a family ‘kamukunji’. After long deliberations, it was unanimously agreed that she comes back. We agreed to keep both her and the existing house-help. We now had to learn how to manage extra hands in the house.

The children were overjoyed to see Tabitha. Don’t underestimate the bond that your children form with the house-help. They are called house managers for a reason. And so it was back to the past with Tabitha in our midst again.

As always, Tabitha does not fail to amuse and impress. Remember the coronavirus has not only disrupted life generally, but it also introduced new protocols within the household.

Wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and sanitising is the new normal. Tabitha enforces this strictly, but with care and love and of course the occasional wry humour.

Once when we arrived home with my surgeon’s face masks, in her wisdom and not wanting to be wasteful, she asked us to hand her our masks so she can “wash like the others”. I turned and looked at the clothing lines and there, waving gayly in the wind, were disposable masks. I didn’t know whether to laugh or just appreciate her gesture of modesty.

The enforcer

Then she decided to enforce the sanitisation protocols. Any visitor stepping into our house must apply alcohol-based sanitisers (we are Muslim) and alcohol is frowned upon.

I watched with embarrassment (of course with a sense of pride and satisfaction) as visitors cringed in frustration. How else would one explain this to visitors?

Perhaps in her zeal to enforce protocols to keep in check the spread of the deadly Covid-19, she has annoyed some, but I consider that it is all well-meant in light of the ravaging pandemic.

The story of Tabitha is a learning experience for me and probably for many other people. Beyond the lesson that people from different cultures and religions can form lasting bonds, there is even a deeper lesson that we ought to show compassion and offer second chances.

And most importantly that of seeing possibilities and exploring them. Tabitha’s sense of self-renewal is amazing.

I sympathise with the many who have tried and failed just like Tabitha but admire most those who try and fail and then pick up the pieces and start all over again as if nothing happened. That is the spirit.

-Mr Guleid is the CEO, Frontier Counties Development Council [email protected]