Dear Jelita,
Its been quite a while,I hope you and the family are fine. I am fine. My twin girls are now 3months old. They are so beautiful.Their names are Clara and Katendi.
I really felt overwhelmed when I learnt I was going to have twins, especially having them so far from home. I was glad when my mother said she would come spend some time with me. Since I was having such a difficult pregnancy my mother decided she send me a Zambian maid to help me cope.
Well Precious arrived when I was 8months pregnant. She was obviously very happy to be in the States. I told her we paid alot of money getting her passport by express, the holiday visa and the airtickets .So I expected her to work hard.Initially she was very hard working and my house was spotless.I even took her to meet some other Zambians here in Chicago. After a month I noticed she was developing an attitude.She asked me to at least give her Sundays off which I agreed.Then she wanted Saturdays off too! I told her the only thing she does on Saturdays was a few dishes and helping me cook food which she also eats.That seemed to piss her off because she then accused me of not paying her the american minimum wage of $6.55/ hour. I was so shocked, firstly I didn’t realise a girl from the outskirts of Kasempa would even know about minimum wage, secondly how dare she after all we went through getting her the passport, visa, airtickets and clothes.
That very day I went into premature labour but luckily my girls were born without any problems. I told my husband in the hospital to send Precious back to Zambia immmediately. I’m told she wanted $5000 compensation for disturbing her life! We just had a good laugh and sent her on her way.
To cut a long story short Precious is back in Kasempa and my mother has been with us the last 2weeks. I guess I just have to put my career on hold and take care of my babies myself. I’m never going to import a maid from home again.
Well bye for now.Greetings to all.
love Womba
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What’s the nonsense story about?please we need serious topics for discussion!
Womba is one of the people I classify as racist in my own way. The fact that that one girl caught you napping does not institute all Zambians that way. Like I have said before, we have good and bad people in Zambia just like anywhere in the world. You should also have thought of the implications of getting someone from Zed to be your maid, or were you just after cheap labor. She wanted to have what everyone else gets in her new work environment. Shame on you for taking advantage of the poor girl. I wonder what your emphasis of the fact that girl is from Kasempa entails.
shame and sad about that lomba,love to ur girls and ur husband.
The labor laws in the united states are enforced. very few people can afford a maid or a baby sitter? they actually make more money than individuals with white collar jobs. this is not zed my brother…..everybody deserves a decent wage.
Firstly what’s this story about? How we gonna debate this on the blog? I’d say she was within her rights to claim minimum wage. You know better that Child care costs an average of £600 a week, a saving from the minimum wage that the Kasempa girl wanted. Besides don’t expect to pay cheap just because you got her a ticket and passport. She could have had a better life in Kasempa on low wages rather than in America.
Whats with this bs over here? Is Lusaka times running out of sensible stories to publish? What a bunch of crap!
you are a big fool. You paid a lot to organise her visa e.t.c. because it is you who wanted her to come and help you. The expenses were yours. So she still deserved a decent wage. She was right in all her dealings with you.
Wake up my freind!!!!!!
This is the lifestyle section and I do not see antyhing wrong with story. It might be fictitious but we can learn one or two things from. If you are bored with it, choose your appropeiate section to blog. Otherwise thumbs up to LT.
Hey LT, if you run outta stories shut down this motha!
This story does not add value to the Zambian people.
A maid is a human being who can even go to the moon if she thinks US is very far.
Abash incorrect thinking. Your maid just became your husbands Lover and do not be surprised that when you come back to Kasempa you will have trouble with this maid.
By the way what hell are you doing in US?
Imwe bantu, don’t be silly even on BBC there such discussions. There is one now on the extended family, those of you who say are feed up. Don’t visit LT. As someone who lives away from Z, such topics remainds me of the issues at home and Zambia.
I have been blogging here for a coupla months and I always look forward to these Lifestyle stories as they are a breath of fresh air from the usual political stories. So don’t ‘import’ your insults from the other sections. We have grown familiar with the letters between Jelita and Womba. But LT, aren’t you forgetting something? You need to bring Jelita’s long-time boyfriend, Mulenga, into the limelight. And,whatever happened to their bosom buddies Sarah and Kalumbi Banda? lol.
I wish to agree with other bloggers supporting this article. We need a fresh breath of lifestyle and make us think of the past like # 12 has added!Nkwashi yakwa sililo.lol!! And who says we can’t learn something from this article?
I have been very pleased reading articles on this site but I am thinking twice (especially those with substance and the real issues) but now that I am reading this article — is this Lusaka Times for real? I mean this story, looks like you can add and remove stories here as you like. I will do some research after I finish submitting my point.
I once imported a maid from Zambia and regretted the decision. You have to realise these girls also have a life they can’t just be working. Mine started going out partying.I’ld no qualms with that but since I was responsible for her life I had to set boundaries. She didn’t like that and I had to send her back.
#14 please clarify I haven’t understood a word you’ve written
I think this story is worth while. It simply highlights the need to pay people a decent wage for their labour. It simply highlights the exploitation of the have -nots by the rich or those who can afford a decent living. How many people in Zambia have maids who are hard work in their homes yet pay them next to nothing? Is this just because it has happened in the USA? This story is in essence what is prevailing in Zambia. It is something that we must fight against. Just because one comes from the village and have a less than decent education does not mean they deserve a decent wage. How many of you on this blog are not guilty of this “crime”?
you probably caught her having sex with your husband, source of that premature labour
Whatever the so called “Womba” is trying to communicate, i find her passion to abuse the weak poor lady from Kasempa unacceptable behavior below dignity.What’s wrong for an employee to ask for a minimum wage on the American soil?
What a useless topic.
Was the miad paying rent ?
Was the maid paying rent ?
bungwe go ask the maid please? free rent is not an entitlement to free labor.
Mob Justice minimun wage won’t pay for rent and food in the USA
you are not allowed to work with a holiday visa in the usa.Do you realise you were breaking immigration law Womba? What if she hurt one of kids? You would have been deported.Your kids are usa citizens.
you are not allowed to work with a holiday visa in the usa.Do you realise you were breaking immigration law Womba? What if she hurt one of your kids? You would have been deported.Your kids are usa citizens.
Bring back stories on sex, politics and the economy.
Womba,
-Both you and Precious broke US Immigration Laws by having her work on a Tourist Visa. You just made yourself eligible for deportation.
-Maids and Nannies generally make a lot more money than office workers in the United States, so if you think you can import a maid, you better be wealthy.
-Grow up! You surely did not expect this young woman to work for you 7 days a week!
-” I guess I just have to put my career on hold and take care of my babies myself.” Yes, that is what parenting is about. You have to put some things on hold in order to take care of your children.
Good luck and I hope all is well.
Way to go #28!
i think the whole thing has been brown out of context and proportion,first the gal from kasempa was not supose to or allowed to work in the USA for she was on holiday VISA.secondly we have to lay down and explain alot of things here.An invitational was extended to this girl who accepted it to go and help someone in the USA and she ACCEPTED that invitational and she was aware of what was expected of her to do,so for her to start demading minimum wages was wrong coz she was not entitled for that because of the VISA she possesed.thirdly,when she went to the USA she was not paying the bills and buying her on food,she used to feed with the rest of the family.she was thir mainly to help………..
The gesture which was extended to this gal was merely a gift for her to vist the USA and the money she was being paid their if changed to kwacha would have been good,better than what she was getting before she lift.for someone to know the minimum wages that they pay in the USA means they know alot but it was all wrong for her to claim $5000 for what?and how was her life distubed?everyone deserves to be paid better that i understand,coz shes only human hence the need for womba to thank her for what she was doing..correct me if i have missed the whole thing
sounds like those slavery stories,cos you buy air ticket,buy clothes,the person sleeps in your house,eats your food then they must work everyday of the week and who knows how much she was getting paid.Even people from Kasempa know the minimum wage issue so stop mistreating people regardless where they come from.Watch out!!!!Boom!!!!!!!
#30! in the usa, people who look after kids for 24 hours, so called “live in” are paid an average of $100 a day,( overtime not inluded) and this rate is for illigal immigrants, food and accomodation included.So this poor girl was actually enslaved by Womba.She should have been paid a minimum of $700/week because the cost of living in the usa is very high, and what ever Womba spent on her visa, passport and air ticket was paid off the first 2-3 weeks she worked
No Pressure, chisungu chanu chili na pressure! Can you be kind to us by making sure you have less ‘typos’ in your posts? More pressure on you!
#34 STUDY E110
What the hell is this?? Why personalise this site? Nonsense!!
Mulelabwaza.
It is good topic of discussion for those with brains between their ears.
womba, u ve lean’t a lesson when we say cheap labor is expensive.Have u seen how that “Kamushi” villager has treated u with equity?Mwilaliila abanenu amasuku pa mitwe.
of course this is a relevant lifestyle story. who are you to stop people from posting?
That girl from the outskirts of Kasempa, she got exposed to whole new culture and was it wrong that she tried to grab a bit of the American Dream? Environments change people’s attitudes and she stood up for some of her “rights”. we have to change the way we perseve “house-girls or nannies”. in most African countries they are treated no better than slaves. If you ask someone to help you with your children, be careful how you treat them foor they may vent out their displeasure on your innocent children.
no comment
you were lucky she did not know where the equivalent of the labour office was, it’s people like u who let the so called investors pay people slave wages because u want every thing to be cheap if you wanted to serve u could have come and delivered at the UTH labour ward.
Precious was an *****!!!…She will probably end up with SIDA in a few years time!!!
Well precious was right 43 thats what exposure can do, she was exposed to the more just and fair world, same applies you some of you who never knew how to use a computor when you went to europe but now you have a laptop coz your friend has it.
As for you Womba you must be an ***** if you wanted somebody to misuse why didnt you pick your relatives?
Staying abroad is very expensive. She was asking for the same as her boss was getting but she did not have to pay rent and all the bills.
cont
you are like women pa zed who take maids as slaves, same race(colour) you want to treat your friend like dogs say the truth may be she was more beultiful than you and your husband admired her back always, coz you women are like that?
precious knew what she was letting herself in.Having said that de gal deserved something like pocket money no more than that for at least a year or so before starting asking about the wages.Once back home she’ll realised that she has let herself down,she could have so much opportunity there but intead she rushed everything too quickly,in less than 2mths de gal wanted to be an American.
#44 Sometimes relatives treat the girls looking after children even worse, it is even harder for them to ask for more pay because as a relative they are supposed to be considerate, people, we have some cultural traditions that border on enslavement of our own kith and kin in the name of helping out the family/clan and asking for more pay can and is, in most cases, considered as being ungrateful. I think we all should have a bit more courage to stand up for our rights despite the consequences. # 43, even in America people do get SIDA if they are not careful.
She deserved what that country offers, more i think she was more than just a maid from Mandevu, she sounds to me like some body who has been to school probably trying to raise some money to improve herself,it’s only fair, i dont agree with 48,she wasn’t an an ileagal imigrant, only ileagal imigrants are paid less than the minimum leagal fees for obvious reasons PERIOD
She was very right to ask for what she rightfully and legally deserved. You Womba on the other hand you were the greedy(thief) employer who didn’t want to pay. Next time if you can not afford a maids just simply ask your mum rather than exploit & look down on Zambians. I am very impressed the Kasempa girl was well informed on USA labor issues. What makes you think others deserve to suffer just because they come from a poor home…*****
49 what wrong if you are from Mandevu?
People expect you to be ignorant most of the times when you come from the Ghetho, Womba is such a person she expected a girl from Kasempa to be ignorant, i think she is one of those ladies who do old jobs, probably cleaning toilets and expects to pay a maid from maids job.
[Belch]…excuse me, I got gas…[51, Chongwe], we as a people love to stereotype. If you are from Mandevu or such places, then, to use hip-hop language, you aint sh*t, …[belch], sorry, i will continue blogging after I get rid of my gas problem…later
#52 i know pipo from Mandevu who are intelligents,educated,behaves well so on and on….Than those who live kuma yadi
What I meant was, is this a contributed article? can I contribute an article also to the Lusaka times? Get it?
crap!!!!!!!!
#10 “By the way what hell are you doing in US?”
I’ve also been wondering what this supposedly “mother” is doing in the US. If you want a maid here in Zed, then come and live here, otherwise get yourself a maid in the US. You seem to have wanted to manipulate the poor girl but thank God it didn’t work out. Hope you have learnt a lesson.
I know of a person who was deported for human trafficking. He and the Wife brought a distant relative to assist them take care of their Children . The lady in question was brought to Europe as an adopted Child though she was older, Her age was reduced to 17 when she was 24. As a result of the reduced age the lady accessed education and received child support through the adopted parents. But she mixed around with other Ethopians in Europe who told her that she can instead get Student allowance directly if she uses her collect age. This complicated matters and lead to the peolpe who brought her to being deported and her remaining as a victim of human trafficking. Lets be very careful.
I think this is a good discussion although some people think its not thats okay too.
I think everyone deserves a decent wage in USA or ZAMBIA or anywhere you may be. Precius was not a fool even though she came from Kasempa she realised there is Labour laws to protect her from the employers such as Womba.
Precious deserves not just a decent wage but also better working conditions “who works from Sunday to Sunday ” and thats why she asked for Saturday and Sunday off.
This is what Zambia needs Labour Laws to ensure minimum wage look at how those ching chows or chinese investers are treating zambian workers. the government needs to put measures to the protect the zambian people.
Clever girl our Precious,
The west is no paradise…..you want child, have them but do not ask someone else to look after them for you.
People should not take life for granted, you can not have what you used to have in Africa and have it in the west, no way. Zambia girls work at home, not abroad. Life is different, do not be cheated, not even by family
Have sex, you get pregnant, deal with it.
Precious was no fool, clever girl
Slavery was abolishing in 1871, somewhere along the lines.
What next, lock her in the cellar as a sex slave.
Precious was not your sister, grow up fool. Most of raise families and look after our relatives in Zambia – we pay school fees, send clothes, shoes, food, birthday money just to keep the family going.
I have raised 6 children, three grandchildren and supposed 14 nephews and nieces in Zambia while they were in secondary school, they have all finished grade 12, and are new preparing for their careers in Zambia, not in the west in Zambia. Two are at UNZA, three are working for Barclays, 2 are at NIPA one has taken a year out and 4 are working for shoprite in Accounts dept.
Slavery was abolished and its sad that Zambians in the diaspora are doing it. Stupid story anyways!!!!
This Womba woman need so help, she is mentally sick. I guess the Kasempa girlcame to help and cure her disease. Lady, you should be shameful to yourself for doing this to your fellow Zambia. I know we still have bad hearted people like but plaese dont do that to other people, let your mom and your lazy husband help you with your twins. i will call the INS and the Labor Services to come and check on your lazy butt
If u live in America or England…..it`s not easy to employ a maid. But if u get a Zambian maid from home at such an expense, there is no need for that maid to be demanding for a national wage. The problem is that most zambian girls they easily lose that zambian culture as soon as they learn the Europe or American life style.
First of all you think of the living standard of the place where you are before you employ someone. You can´t just pay your worker nothing because you spent a lot on her. For her to do a good job she needs to have a good salary. You should also know that life is expensive in States then in Zed.
Creo que usted mi entiende.
It goes to show the irony of stereotyping towards our counterparts base on where they are from. Womba got what she deserved. Just coz She is in USA does not give her the right to start exploiting poor people from Zed. This is a sickness suffered by many zambians who go abroad. they make themselves belive that since they make alot more cash then they can buy others from Zed. Shame on you.
this sounds like watching a nigerian movie..
is this a real story or what?
Just the name Jelita, makes it not a real story to begin with. You can’t send a maid here. Zambian’s thinking of doing that may endanger their lives. I could not even think of that. Remember the zambian guy that got sued and paid $45,000, that is a true story.
rubbish story. whats gone wrong with LT. gone to the Dogs?
#70 Bauze
seeing the heading of this article moved me to read the whole story with a hope of getting something logical and rational. But to my disappointment and disgust it turned out to be a bunch of stupid, arrogant, selfish and undigested words. Being a proud zedian, i would like to advise that so called womba to not only look at belly but consider others’ as well especially for the ones like our dear sister who taken to the US for cheap labour. Instead of being proud of the whole issue she should be ashamed because it all shows how much a disgrace she is to humanity. ndiye belengeza na XENOPHOBIA! Womba U r a SHAME!!!
Just discovered the site and i must cinfess i have enjoyed reading most of the posts, but like No. 34& 35 have said, pay attention to spellings (E110 vital), anyway it added another measure of fun to the reading.
Hey i meant ‘confess’ not ‘cinfess’…
Precious’ attitude is typical of why we generally don’t progress as Zambians. She was brought from ku munzi and given the chance of a lifetime to not only improve her own life, but also in time, the lives of her family back home. Firstly, she would never have been able to afford the ticket and visa fees on her own, so that “free labour” should have been seen as paying it back. Womba is not entirely blameless though, she should have established a concrete agreement with Precious before she came over such as; What she would be paid, if anything, no sleeping with my husband ….etc. She has learned a very expensive lesson.
Meanwhile, back to myopic Precious, (to be continued)
(cont)
She wanted the American Dream “NOW”, without putting in any of the work. People (I know some) work and save for years in Zambia just to get to America, and then when they get there, work and slave to make a decent living for themselves. Miss Precious had it handed to her on a silver platter and instead of being grateful, typically of her type, she wanted more!
Those twins she was helping to look after would not have been babies for ever and in the course of time, she would have had a lot more time to pursue her own ambitions. Not to mention saving up a bit of money, some of which she could have been sending home. (to be continued)
(cont)
As I said at the start, Precious’ lack of foresight and imminent greed is typical of us Zambians and why the country is in the mess it is in Today.
Just wait until I am in charge of things………Vote For Me!!!
Some woman think whn they re married they hve it ,pliz learn to treat pipo with respect coz most probably the envronment wasnt that all welcoming.Above all we re all the same in Gods eyes ,no maids.
some woman think tht whn they re married they hve it.pliz learn to treat pipo with respect,coz most probably the lady was having the horrible time of her life.we re all the same as we all created by God and with him no maids
from the way the lady counted the things she did for the lady ,it tells that she is got pride .so jst imagine staying with ths kind of a woman .am not judging u but pliz repent
Womba is an arsehole period….
i agree with kabwe, woman like womba think that they can treat maids as slaves wanting cheap labour.its not all maids, i had a maid sent to me by my mother, she was God sent. when thing where bad for me i encouraged her to find a job elsewhere i also helped her find a job. i also did everything for her passport wise because of the relationship i had with her.she is doing fine and is earning more money, she is my family here and she even comes to my house on easter holidays.the bible says, do unto others as you want them do unto you.
Womba, I know you wrote this article in good faith. Don’t be discouraged at the comments out here, people are free and entitled to share their opinions. I know you brought this girl in good faith and i am sure you had other plans of helping her out. Life in the developed countries is very interesting especially when people get exposed, even the patience runs out. I have heard many stories like yours where people meant well. The best thing you can do is take your child/children to a day care or find a baby sitter. Forget about bringing somebody from home even when you mean well. “Uluse lwalile inkwale” Life is full of lessons some painful but take it with a grain of salt.
what a story
nice story,only parents can understand you.
leave the girl along she only wanted to have fun on the weekends,after all she young and whats the point of being in the us of a if she has to be working from 6 to 6 24 seven i rather be in kasempa than scrab floor all year without pay a descent pay she was claiming what was rightfully has she also had family back home to support,how can you be in us of and fail to support your family back home,where was she going to eget money if she was’nt goin to get paid atleast she could havr allowed her to got a second jod
Please, isn’t there anything else interesting that someone can write about? You are damaging this website’s image. Put something interesting or don’t put anything at all.
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