Our lovely domestic lady is at the heart of our little family. She has been with me for 14 years! Long before Monty came along, and long before we got married and had a baby together. She has known Aidan his whole life. She has worked either one or two days a week for me for over a decade, and we absolutely adore her.
Buyi is in her 40’s, lives in Langa, and is an active member of her church. She has one grown son, but has also adopted another two small children from relatives who sadly passed away. She is the recipient of most of Aidan’s clothing and toys, as he outgrows them. She donates a lot of what she receives from us to her church, and to struggling community members. She absolutely has a heart of gold!
Though a very gentle person, Buyi works extremely hard. She’s an absolute powerhouse! She has an awful lot to stay on top of what with a destructive Threenager running around, getting into more things than we can keep up with. We do clean too, on the weekends especially, but honestly, it’s a lot of work for Buyi and we are exceptionally grateful for her, her dedication, and beautiful soul.
We were never more worried about her than we were when South Africa went into a hard lockdown towards the end of March 2020. One day we were living our normal lives, the next we were all stuck-in-place, wherever we were. My parents were in Plettenberg Bay at the time, and were lucky enough to be able to enjoy 5 months in a beautiful seaside town! But Buyi lived in Langa and we were petrified she’d contract COVID simply for the fact that people in townships cannot socially distance themselves from each other – it’s absolutely impossible to! I had just found out I was a few weeks pregnant and my amazing OBGYN told us we had to completely eliminate any chance of COVID infection. At that time, little was known about the virus and most especially what its possible effects could be on a foetus. We asked Buyi to move in with us so she could be safe from infection, but completely understandably, she didn’t want to leave her young children back in the township. We couldn’t accommodate her whole family, so we told her to stay home on full pay, and offered to send her masks, sanitiser, and groceries every week so she wouldn’t have to leave her RDP house at all. At the time, someone had thought to setup a delivery service to disadvantaged areas and we took full advantage of it. We sent groceries every week, care items every two weeks, and cleaning products once a month. When the hard lockdown was lifted, we had her come to and from work in an Uber, so she wouldn’t have to travel by taxi. When she finally returned to work, we all wore double masks around each other and sanitised our hands and groceries like nobody’s business! I knew her faith was central to her life, so I assumed she was going back to church. We just took all the precautions we could, and thankfully all stayed safe. When COVID vaccinations became available, we ensure she and her family could get one – if they so wished. I never asked if she did or not, because though I’m pro-vaccine myself, I respect everyone’s bodily autonomy. None of us got COVID until 2021, when a nasty strain took us down one by one. By then, Aidan was earth-side, we knew a lot more about the virus, and we weren’t so panicked about it any longer!
Ever since Aidan was very small, he’s been absolutely obsessed with Buyi! He’s fascinated by what she’s doing, and as soon as he could toddle after her, he followed her around the house! He was particularly fond of the broom and mop, but was less enamoured with our noisy vacuum cleaner. Thankfully, dear sweet Buyi was very tolerant of the little hand on her skirt at all times, and she still motored around the house getting things done! As soon as Aidan was big enough, we got him a little broom, and he swept alongside her to his hearts content. He also rolled laundry baskets from place to place for her, and loved nothing more than to be lifted up to the sink to put his hands in the soapy dish water.
Buyi was one of the first people in our family to hold Aidan as a baby! And she was one of the first people he ever waved goodbye to. He used to rush to the window to watch Monty give Buyi a lift to the train station at the end of the day, and eventually went along for the ride. As she got out, he’d smile and wave her off! To this day, at 3.5 years old, Aidan knows where Buyi is in the house at all times and his little face lights up with a huge smile for her every time they cross paths. It’s just the sweetest thing! And it means so much to me that our little one loves her just as much as we do! Hopefully Buyi will be a central part of his life and ours for many, many years to come.
