Helping at Home

1A duty is a job that belongs to you

Look at that list again. Not one person who is big enough to work is doing nothing.

2What if Mama did it all alone?

Let us count the jobs in that home for one day: buy the food, cook it, fetch the water, sweep the yard, wash the plates, feed the goat, mind the baby, wash the clothes.

That is 8 jobs.

If Mama did all 8 by herself, she would start before the sun came up and still be working when everybody else was asleep. She would be worn out, and she would be cross — and who could blame her?

But four people in that home are big enough to work: Papa, Mama, Gatete and Mutesi. Share the 8 jobs between those 4, and each person has just two. The mountain of work becomes a small hill.

Many hands make the work light.

3Duties are not the same in every home

In Mutesi’s home, Mama cooks. In Kwizera’s home, it is her grandmother who cooks, because her parents work far away. In Rwema’s home, his father cooks the supper every single night, and he cooks it very well.

So do not say “this job is Mama’s job” or “that job is Papa’s job”. Every home shares its duties differently.

And listen to this carefully: there is no job for boys only and no job for girls only. Gatete is a boy and he washes plates. Mutesi is a girl and she digs in the garden. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

4Jobs a 7-year-old can really do

You are not a baby any more. Here are real duties you can take on:

• Sweep the yard or the floor
• Fetch a small jerrycan of water — a small one
• Lay the mat or the table and hand out the plates
• Wash the plates in a basin
• Fold your clothes and put them away
• Feed the chickens or pull weeds in the garden
• Play with the baby while Mama cooks
• Tidy your own things — bag, books, shoes

That last one counts as a duty too. When you tidy up after yourself, nobody else has to do it for you.

5Doing a job well — a worked example

So Mutesi picks up the broom and sweeps the yard. Well done, Mutesi!

Then she drops the broom right in the doorway and runs off to play. In the dark, Papa comes in carrying the beans, steps on the broom handle and nearly falls over.

1. Start without being asked. Look around, see what is needed, and go. A good helper does not wait to be told three times.
2. Finish it. Do not sweep half the yard and run out to football. Half a job leaves the other half for somebody else.
3. Put things back. The broom goes behind the door. The basin goes on the shelf. Then nobody trips, and nobody has to hunt for it tomorrow.

The next evening Mutesi sweeps, and then puts the broom back behind the door. Papa comes in and does not trip. He does not even notice — and that is exactly how you know the job was done well.

6Helping outside the gate

On the last Saturday of every month, neighbours all over Rwanda come out and work together — cutting grass, clearing rubbish, digging the ditches so the rain does not eat the road. This community work is called umuganda.

It is the same idea as helping at home, just with a bigger family: the whole umudugudu.

Try it yourself

Think like a good, safe helper. Answers are underneath.

1. Mama is cooking on the burning jiko and the yard is full of dry leaves. You are 7. Which job can you safely do?
2. There are 8 jobs in a home and Mama does all of them alone. What will happen to her?
3. Gatete says, “Washing plates is a girl’s job.” Is he right?
4. You wash the plates, but you leave the wet basin in the middle of the path. Did you finish the job well?
5. Name two duties you could take on in your own home tonight.

Answers

1. Sweep up the leaves. Sweeping is safe and it truly helps. The jiko is burning, so the pot is hot — that job is for a grown-up.
2. She will get very tired, and the work will never be finished. Eight jobs are far too many for one person. Shared between the four people big enough to work, each one has just two.
3. No. Boys wash plates and girls dig the garden. There is no job that belongs only to boys or only to girls.
4. Not quite. Washing the plates was good — but a job is only done when you put things back. Somebody could trip on that basin in the dark.
5. Any real answer is right: sweeping, folding your clothes, laying the mat, feeding the chickens, minding the baby, tidying your bag. Pick one and start tonight!