In the town of Bobo-Dioulasso, there are cleaning girls from different localities who are going through difficult conditions in their host families. There are different categories of maids. Nannies who are generally aged 10 to 17 with a salary between 5000 FCFA and 7500 FCFA. Generally, children are more attached to nannies than to their mothers. It’s normal, they spend a lot more time together. With the mother, it is breast milk that concerns them. With these household helpers, it is clear that there is no shortage of difficulties, among which we can note the problem of hygiene. Some leave the children to their own devices, without supervision and a disaster happens so quickly. Others, however, attack the baby’s food, in this case the milk they consume, as if it was intended for them. Next to it, there are housekeepers or cleaning girls. They are the ones who help the family with household chores. Some housewives abuse their authority. They do not hesitate for a single moment to overwork the one who is only there to give a helping hand (laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, selling juice, etc.), often with a salary that does not exceed 10,000 FCFA. They often face attacks from the children of the host family and sometimes, from the head of the family himself. Very often, they are the last to go to bed and the first to wake up. All this in order to seek their daily sustenance. Faced with this situation, it is advisable to treat these domestic helpers more pleasantly, because no one would like to see their daughter experience a situation such as described above.
Anaïsse PAKOTOGO/Intern
