Women Writing Zimbabwe

The Carer

The Carer Chiedza Musengezi MBUYA SKIPA, HANNAH’S mother-in-law, lived in a small cottage separate from the main house, a living arrangement that did not go down well with family. The cottage, though it had been painted and curtained, was where the gardener had once lived. Hanna’s husband, Crispen, had brought his mother from her rural home in Buhera. His father had long since died. Unemployed youths in the village had taken to breaking into the old woman’s hut to search for money. Sometimes they made off with food that Crispen had brought her: maize meal, sugar, salt and cooking oil. As Crispen’s two younger brothers lived in small two-roomed houses in the less salubrious suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara, with families of their own, they were unable to look after their mother. This hadn’t stopped them accusing their sister-in-law of deliberately keeping their mother at a distance as if she were another housemaid. They did not see that she might like her independence and wanted their mhama to live in the main house as befitting a family elder. Whether it was their way of asserting masculine authority, or jealousy that they did not have such good homes and jobs, or simply a way of getting at their sister-in-law, Hannah was the butt of their aggression. Hannah was wise enough to know that in-laws were never really accepted in Shona society, but she was relieved when finally Crispen, who tended to be very soft when it came to his family, had told his brothers firmly that if they didn’t like the arrangement, they could take the old woman themselves . And this had, at least, stopped their perpetual grumbles, though they never had the grace to thank Hannah for what was a difficult situation , for naturally she bore the brunt of the responsibility if not the work. Of course, things might have been easier if Hannah had listened to housemaid, Mary. Instead she’d dismissed her because she sulked and was reluctant to do any additional chores that came with mbuya. 65 ‘She left!’ Hannah explained to visiting friends and members of the family who asked after the maid. Having looked after Hannah’s two girls for fifteen years, Mary had been almost seen as family, ‘the eldest of the girls’. Listeners exchanged questioning glances compelling Hannah to explain further. ‘She complained that I behaved like a teacher always finding fault with whatever she did for the old woman. She grumbled that she was not a nurse aid and told me I needed to hire a trained person to look after her. Imagine, a maid instructing you in your own home.’ Actually Mary had not said as much to her face but Hannah had heard the complaints from neighbours and was irritated by the number of girls who arrived at the gate asking for care work, clutching worn khaki envelopes with their Red Cross certificates. ‘Could you trust someone who back-chatted about you with strangers?’ To which the reply was generally, ‘But, Hannah, she’d been with you for fifteen years.’ A response that left the woman feeling irritated as well as misunderstood. Having her mother-in-law living with them was a strain and she felt she could do with a little support. However it suited Hannah to explain the maid’s absence to whoever asked. Repetition seemed to lend her oration some truth, which she badly needed to assuage her guilt. She had not felt good about the dismissal from the moment Mary had walked out of the gate, a Monarch suitcase balancing on her head, and a bag bulging with clothes and some old books. A yellow plastic purse slung over her shoulder held a wad notes, two months’ wages hardly worth the cost of three loaves of bread. The day the maid left Hannah stood at the open gate, padlock and chain in hand, her eyes following the woman she knew so well and from whom she expected a backward glance, some gesture of regret at having lost her job. But Mary had not looked back. And Hannah had no clue where she had gone. The silence that followed the squeak of un-oiled hinges seemed forlorn as Hannah closed the gate. A horn sounded long and loud in the distance . Then a train rattled over the rail crossing on the edge of Windsor Park where it had once dragged three cars under...