When Clement Otafi became the houseboy in the Richards’ family, he never bargained for what he later experienced. He thought his uncle had brought him to a place where he would experience paradise at its fullness and enjoy life blissfully. Really, the Richards were a very rich and wealthy family.

They lived in a very beautiful mansion tucked away in the rich neighbourhood of Victoria Island, Lagos. There was definitely no sign or inkling to believe that the house was a slave domain or hell on earth. So, without much ado, Clement’s uncle, Obigu, collected the sum of N100,000 from the Richards family with a devilish smile on his face and left the young 13-year-old boy to his cruel fate. That particular money was for the two-year payment of Clement into infernal slavery. Clement was an orphan who lost his parents to the cold hands of death while he was barely a four-year-old boy.

Mr. and Mrs. Richards had four grown-up children, two boys and two girls, who were in their late teens and early 20s respectively, but sincerely they had grown to be over-pampered, spoilt and over-indulged children who would virtually do nothing to assist their parents. The children were very overweight, obese, lazy and redundant because they would do nothing every day but only eat and eat, munching everything that came their way.

Every day, Mr. and Mrs. Richards would wake Clement up as early as 5:00 am to begin the day’s work, while their own children were still fast asleep and slumbering lazily on their cosy beds. He was permitted to sleep every day around 12:am in the midnight. Only him would wash and scrub the toilets, sweep the whole duplex, wash the plates and also go on endless errands in the vicinity and outside.

As if these harsh duties were not enough, the children of his boss would bring out all their clothes to be washed by him. It was a very bitter and tasking job, day in day out. When he was about to rest, after he must have been through with the laundry of his boss’ children’s clothes, Mr. and Mrs. Richards would chastise him and bring out their own clothes too, for the young boy to wash also. It was a gruelling, rigorou

s, painful and hurting experience on daily basis.
The experiences narrated so far were the tip of the iceberg compared to the dehumanising, unpleasant and unjustified treatment that was always meted on the unfortunate houseboy for some unforeseen ‘offences’ allegedly ‘committed’ by him. There was a particular day a piece of meat was missing in the stew pot and all hell’s fury was let loose on Clement that he must have stolen the piece of meat. The young boy honestly begged his employers that he wasn’t the culprit but his honest confession fell on deaf ears as he received the most terrible beating of his life. His boss’ children came out in anger and rage and caned him mercilessly and recklessly.

But sincerely, the missing meat was eaten by one of the spoilt children of the Richards’ family. The horsewhip was used to cane the unlucky houseboy and he cried from morning till evening. He had several marks of cane lashes on his skin to show for it. He would never forget that very day in his entire life.
To be continued
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