My beef with some stay-at-home mums

 I have a lot of respect for women who sacrifice their careers to take care of their kids. I think they deserve hats off. But there are some idle busy bodies tainting the name of this noble calling. I will give you a real example.

Mama Tosh, a mother of two toddlers is my neighbour and she is a stay-at-home mum.  I just came to learn recently that Mama Tosh is a good friend of most of the house girls in our apartment including my Mwende.

Instead of using her precious time to focus on what made her quit her job — taking care of her kids— this woman has made it her business to befriend every girl in that apartment so that they can run errands for her while the boss is away. I am poor with this nyumba kumi business so I did not know this woman until she knocked on my door last week. I was on a short leave so she did not expect me to open the door.

“Mwende fungua mlango. Kwani leo hutoki inje.” (Mwende open the door, how come today you are not leaving the house?)

She shouted not knowing that mama of the house was around

I was in the sitting room so before my house girl could duck to save the situation; I was already at the door. You can imagine her shock when I opened the door.

“Yes may I help you,” I said with a firm voice.

“Oh Mama Tasha, I… I… I … wanted to send Mwende somewhere. Not very far… just the shop,” she stammered on.

I did not even want her to go on. I could not believe that she had the audacity to send my house girl without my permission.

How long has this been going on? I wondered. I ushered her in and called my house girl so that we could solve this issue once and for all.

Apparently, this woman has formed a habit of sending my girl for some estate errands — buying for her milk, airtime; groceries — for a fee.

She takes advantage of the situation because she knows that my girl is idle since Tasha spends the better part of her day in school.

I gave her a piece of my mind and warned to stop meddling in other women’s houses. Now that is what I call ushenzi type.