Human nature leads us to complain regarding everything and nothing. A trivial problem springs strongly in our mind and we consider ourselves the most unhappy in the world. However, if we sometimes listened around us to listen to others, perhaps we would discover that our little discomforts are only vile trivialities compared to what others are going through. The meeting with Ntore pushed me to rethink the world differently.
The sun at its zenith hits hard on the streets of Ngozi. I am lounging quietly in the city center when I see a little girl carrying a child on her back. I decide to follow her. A few meters from her, I think to turn back. Anyway, it’s just a child who comes home with her sister. Intuition helping, I approach it anyway and the thread of the discussion leaves me more and more amazed.
Immediately, I see a child who wears a small smile when I greet her. She tells me that her name is Ntore. She is 12 years old. However, I would have given him 8 years old given his small frail size. She comes from Gatare in the province of Ngozi. I notice that she is rather shy but she confides as she goes along. What brings her to the city center is to entrust the child she is carrying on her back to her mother. I’m waiting for her, she informs me. “Isn’t it your little one?” » (Isn’t that your little sister?). « No, I am their employee. » (No, I am their servant), she replies in her small voice.
No ! A truth that I refuse to accept at the moment. No, she can’t be a Good (domestic). Not at such a young age! Alas, this is the sad truth. How did she get there? I inquired of her. She was born in the Mivo area into a family that was struggling to make ends meet. His father abandoned them when his mother gave birth to a third child who was separated from the second by a few months. Ntore, the eldest daughter, had recently started studying but ended up leaving school to help her mother.
His life was becoming more and more difficult. Housework continued. In the morning, she helped her mother to cultivate their field and in the followingnoon, she prepared food and then went back to cultivating. She even fell ill from it until she was hospitalized. Moved, she takes a short break while telling me her story and says: « You know, when a person is hit by grass, they don’t make a way for him. » (You know, when someone is in misfortune even the grass does not let him pass, Editor’s note). How not to be moved in my turn by the maturity shown by this child abused by life?
So young and so wise
Now, she tells me, life is less difficult where I work in Gatare. She earns 10,000 FBu per month. “It is with this money that I was able to buy these shoes and these clothes. », she continues. She informs me that before getting this job, she wore rags. I notice, however, that even the shirt and skirt she is wearing are worn out. The rest of the money she sends to her mother. I ask her if she has a good relationship with those who employ her. ” We eat once. » (We share everything, Editor’s note), she retorts, while cradling the crying child in her back. “At home, I only take care of the little one. I can also clean the house if needed. My life is more fulfilled than when I was with my family because I worked tirelessly. »
His biggest regret is to have stopped school. She marks a silence that reflects her pain and confesses: “When I see other children going to school, I feel like crying. » She is reflected once more in a silence that does not leave me indifferent. “At my age I don’t even know how to write A.” (At my age, I don’t even know how to write the letter A, Editor’s note), she regrets. My mother has nothing to do with it, she explains, I took this decision to lighten the work of my mother who was already taking care of my little brothers. Then, Ntore made the choice to look for work to help them financially. These statements strike me as unlikely for a 12-year-old girl. As for her father who abandoned them, she admits to me: “God forgive me, but when I saw him I ran away. » (May God forgive me but if I saw him, I would flee, Editor’s note).
Despite everything she has been through, she tells me that she will continue to believe in God. « Do not despair (You should never lose hope, editor’s note). I end this conversation which leaves me more and more shaken and pensive. I can only feel a deep respect for this little girl who bears the blows of this cruel world with bravery and serenity.
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