By Nancy Cherotich
That I love eating is no lie. There is something magical about food; and a hot shower. The sight of food excites me. When I do step in the kitchen to cook, I prepare every single meal with so much love. It breaks my heart to pieces to know that the same source of joy is responsible for my current troubles. Have you ever met people who no matter what and how much they eat they do not grow an inch? I have a cousin who eats fries every single day but her stomach is ever so flat, I get jealous sometimes. If I eat fries everyday for a week, roto tank will have nothing on me.
I really got to know the real effect of food from one of my house girls. This lady was very tiny when I employed her I even feared letting her perform some tasks. When it came to eating, my girl did not spare food. I used to ask her “uko sure utamaliza hiyo chakula?” to which she would reply, “Mama Kyle hii ni kidogo hata. Sisi kwetu huwa tunakula sana.” If there is one thing that my mum had taught me was to never tell a house girl how much to eat as your baby will suffer so I let her be. I remember one time we were discussing with a friend how not checking portions can make one fat; my girl started laughing and said that she is like a cow which has swallowed a polythene bag hence she can never get fat no matter what she eats. During that time I used to work as a sales lady so all the walking I did, worked as my exercise. I was also still breastfeeding at that time and my boy did not joke when it came to suckling hence I really did not struggle with weight then. At one point, I actually began to believe that my body was like a cow that has swallowed a polythene bag. Back to my girl. She was my first house girl so I was really nice to her to the point respect was thrown out of the window. Her love for food did not stop. If I got home in the evening without bread, I would be quickly told that I have forgotten to buy bread but she never bothered to tell me I have forgotten to buy my son’s food or pampers. I remember she once knocked on my door at 6 am on a Saturday morning to tell me ‘blue band imeisha’ and another time on Sunday morning to wake me up so that I can go buy sausages. To keep my girl happy so that my son will be happy, I did not mind getting her what she loved.
With time, the cow vomited the polythene bag it had swallowed and the girl started growing big. The amount of food being consumed also increased to the point I later learned that even my son’s food used not to be spared. One day when I had gone to work, my house girl went to catch up with the other girls and because my son was asleep, she locked him in the house. She and my neighbor’s help took my neighbor’s one month old kid and put her on my couch and off they went for udaku. My son was learning to walk then so when he woke up, he got off the bed, walked to the couch, saw the little baby which I think he thought was a toy. He pushed the baby down and I thank God for the carpet because she was not hurt at all. My ninja then proceeded to the door and started playing with it locking himself from inside while at it. When my house girl came from her udaku and realized what had happened, she called the caretaker to help. There was nothing much she could do so they had to wait hoping that my son will play with the door again and open it. Thankfully he did as expected and the caretaker was made to promise that he will not report a thing. He was willing to let everything go until he saw my son being slapped as punishment. He immediately called me and let me know what had happened. I went back to the house immediately and when I asked her why she dared put a hand on my son, she sneered at me, took her phone and called her mother. The words that came from her mouth made me shake in both fury and fear. “Mum, ambia huyu mwanamke awache kunisumbua bure nitatandika ashangae.” One look at the size of her body and I knew nitatandikwa; there was no way I was going to win that war. I immediately decided to text my brother and made it look so bad so that he would come immediately “Kuja haraka nauliwa.” Knowing that my brother was on his way, I now became officially angry and began packing her clothes and throwing them outside. I then locked me and my young one inside the house and started waiting for my brother. After he came and I told him what had happened, he offered to take the girl back to her home. I bumped to the girl a while back and she was back to her original size and I almost asked her if she still wants to tandika this Yokozuna.
The month of July has been extremely cold and it has not been fair to my chest. My doctor told me to go slow on the exercises for a while and reminded me that losing weight is 80% diet and 20% food hence I should check my portions and type of foods that I consume. I know that I have never swallowed a polythene bag so food makes me grow. I am trying to learn how to control the portions so is my body trying to adjust. Apparently even fruits have to be taken in certain portions because of the sugar. I guess I have to learn karate in order to defend myself in the future. 79.8 kgs is what the scale showed. I am not discouraged.