After living in Nairobi for a while, Grace’s parents moved to Naivasha. After she finished elementary school, she went on to high school. But because of money problems, she was able to finish high school. Her mother was able to get her a job working in a hotel.
Grace got pregnant because she was young and naive. So that she would have something to do, her mother bought her work donkeys. Grace had to pay to go get water for her neighbors from morning to night. Grace says, “The job got hard, but I had to keep going so I could take care of my child.”
Her father had the idea that she should work in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Grace liked the idea, so she agreed to it. A few months later, she moved to Saudi Arabia. Grace agreed with her parents that she needed to work hard to make her life better. She had no idea that she could open an account and send all of her pay to her mother.
In that house, her job was to cook, clean, do laundry, iron clothes, and take care of two children. Her boss had twins, which made her job more important. “Sometimes I couldn’t sleep because I had so much to do,” Grace says. She asked her boss to hire another housekeeper, but he said no.
She quit her job and went back to Kenya. Her mother found her another job in Qatar so she wouldn’t be bored. She could work in three different homes in Qatar in one day. Her boss sent her to work at the homes of his relatives. Everything made her feel sick and sad. After a few months, she quit her job.
When she got back to Kenya, she got angry when she had to quit her job. Her mother had wasted all of her money, which was a shame. Grace got married to stop her mother from mistreating her. She later gave birth to a girl. Her mother told her that she should still move to Saudi Arabia and work there, where she took care of her kids.
Grace chose to work in Lebanon so she could change the atmosphere of her job. She took care of an old woman, which was a good thing. Because she was crazy, the woman needed a lot of care and attention. “She would sometimes wake up in the middle of the day and tell me to do everything over again.” She says. Grace quit her job because the boss was too strict and didn’t treat the woman well.
Later, her agent found her a job in another house. Even though the old woman lived alone, Grace still took care of her. Luckily, the woman took care of her well, fed her, and asked her to do very little. After working in Lebanon for six months, one of the old woman’s daughters suggested that they all move to Dubai. The old woman told her daughter how good and hard-working Grace was, so they moved to Dubai.
While she was working in Dubai, her boss gave her a pay raise. She worked for a poor but wealthy family. Her autistic son got sick after she had been working for two months, and her mother called to tell her. Grace sent her mother her whole paycheck so she could take care of the baby. The next day, she called her mom to see how her child was doing. “I tried to call my mom, but the phone was off,” she says.
Grace decided to call her brother, who lived with her mother. When she asked about her mother, her brother told her that she was never taken to the hospital by her mother. Her brother said that the money she sends home is wasted by her mother. “Utaishi kufanya Kazi huko lakini Hutasaidika.” She heard from her brother. Grace was so upset by the whole thing that she decided to quit her job.
After talking to her boss, she agreed to take care of Grace’s papers, so she went back to Kenya. Her mother was very angry. when she found out that Grace had quit her job for good. Even though Grace worked hard, her kids had to stay home because they didn’t have enough money for school fees and uniforms.
Grace got back together with her husband and began a new life with him. Even though Grace worked abroad for more than three years, she didn’t get anything out of it. Her mother never did anything smart with the money she had. She chose to work in Kenya and take care of her kids at the same time.
