...JUST FOR LOSING A KITCHEN KNIFE?

I did not set out to write a topic on domestic help today but something happened yesterday that compelled me to switch lanes. There is this little boy I know, about 10 years old and he lives close to my office. And so, because I am naturally interested in people, I befriended him. He is one of many little friends. Almost every workday our paths cross, he gives me a little smile, hesitant but brief. I didn't need a sorcerer to tell me he was a domestic help or distant cousin from the village/brought to township. When I see his type, I know. Is it the way they cower in fear? Or the way they jump at any sudden noise? Or is it their tattered clothes and mismatched bathroom slippers that give them away? Or the back-breaking chores they are given?

I digress. Back to my point. So yesterday, I was about to cross the street when I saw my little friend about to cross the same street. Kids should always cross a busy street with adult supervision. But as I made to hold his hand, he flinched. Why? His stick-like arms were covered with long angry welts, some even bleeding. Shocked, I asked him why. He said his 'brother' flogged him. I asked why. He said as punishment for losing a kitchen knife in the process of picking vegetables from their vegetable garden. Like, seriously??? I counted the welts on both arms. They were 21. A kid was beaten until blood was drawn just for losing a small kitchen knife. It is wrong and inhuman. 

My question is this: if this kid was a biological son of his Oga/Madam, would same punishment be meted out? This is a rhetorical question since we all know the answer. We don'y live in the Dark Ages any more. A  domestic help is not a euphemism of a slave, so they needn't be treated like one. It's time we ended child abuse.

 I'm sure everyone of us has had a distant cousin/relative or maid living with us during some point of our childhoods. Do you remember how they were treated? Good or bad?

'Rene.