Wonderful people of the ville, how are you all doing? Trust
the week is rounding off nicely. For our Nigerian readers (yes o we are been
read all over the world even in Syria, hehehe), hope the exchange rate is not
giving you too much hypertension? May our currency not become like tissue paper
o or am I saying this prayer too late? Anyway e go better only that this time
no be only poor man prayer.
Last week we kicked off a series here on nannies, maids,
house governors or whatever name you call your child handlers. We continue this
week with another story of another nanny of mine who for the purpose of this
post I will call Joy. Joy came into our lives at a point when I had just started
my entrepreneurial journey. She was truly a prayer answered as I was just reeling
from a nasty nanny experience. The first time I met her I didn’t think I’d
employ her because she didn’t look friendly so I thought she might be mean to
my girls but the person who introduced her to me spoke highly of her.
She was at the time a single mother of one who could not
complete her OND degree due to the unplanned pregnancy. Joy was such a blessing
to our household. I’m reminded of her when I read about Joseph in the Bible
where it was said that Pharaoh knew nothing about what was in his house as
everything was in Joseph’s care except his wife. But thankfully, Joy unlike
Joseph did not end up in jail from my house.
She first worked as a non-resident nanny with me for almost
a year then left and came back to stay as a live in nanny. Every morning, she
will wake up before everyone else in the house, say her prayers (saw her a
couple of times), wake the girls and dress them up for school, by the time I’m
out of bed by 7 or sometimes 8 a.m (perks of being your own boss), the whole
house is sparkling. She was a devout Christian and not just in words but even
in her conduct. My girls learnt quite a number of Bible stories and Christian
songs from Joy. In short, she made parenting seem like a walk in the park. Only
thing was she was not so firm with them and that was just fine with me as dear
hubs and I handled that.
On her weekends off rather than go home straight, Joy would first preach to the guards on my street before heading home. She remains one of the few people
outside of my immediate family that I can trust with my children. In the weeks leading to the preparation for my
dad’s burial, Joy made it so easy for me to cope with my grief. She made sure
that we were all well taken care of and some days will come to me assuring me
that my dad was in a better place. In the almost two years that she was with
me, she proved that not all nannies need be nasty or monsters.
Today Joy is happily married to a man who accepted her and
her son and together they now have a daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment