KAMLA IS BACK

                                                                     

One of the first things we did after we settled in this area was to hire domestic help.  Kamla was the first.  After hearing about our family’s difficulties with domestic help and according to blogs I've read, I was lucky to find Kamila.  She worked well with little supervision and always had a smile and laughed a lot.  Months later she changed.  She became argumentative and somewhat difficult.  She also looked like she did not feel well.  We sent her to our Doctor.  It turned out she was pregnant.  The Doctor told her she could not do heavy work and walking over the mountain to work was not advised.  We had to let her go.  That is when we hired Madhu.

Recently, Ram happened to see Kamla during one of his morning walks.  She wanted to come back to work with us.  Ram explained we already had Madhu working for us.  A couple of weeks later Kamla came to see me.  She again asked to come back to work.  She almost cried when I told her it was not possible.  Madhu is working for us.  She left.  I almost cried.  I could tell she really needed the work.  I felt I could not fire Madhu without good reason.

 Not long after Kamla’s visit, Madhu had more and more family emergencies.  She was gone more than she was here.  One day Madhu told me she had to go to Haldwani to see her brother and would not come to work the next day.  She did not call or show up for three days.  She did not answer her phone.  When she did finally show up we fired her.  Because of Kamla’s previous argumentative ways we were hesitant to have her work for us again.  We decided to give it a try.   Kamla came back the same day we let Madhu go!

Kamla’s story has slowly come out.  She has been through a lot.  She had emergency neuro surgery.  It started with a head ache that became worse and worse.  From what she and her husband have said it sounds like she had a brain tumor removed.  That could also account for her personality change that we saw last year.  She also lost her baby.  The doctors told her husband she had a one percent chance to survive.  Everyone was trying to prepare for the worst.  She spent twenty four days in the ICU.  The surgery cost one lakh or $1667.00 USD.  That is a lot of money here.  Her entire village rallied around her.  Not only did they manage to raise the money but they cared for her three children so her husband could be with her.  Kamla told me that she prayed that she could come back to work for us.  To be an answer to ones prayer tugs at my hart and seems like an awesome responsibility.

Kamla’s sweet smiling personality is back.  It seems difficult for her to multitask.  It takes her longer to do household tasks.  I don’t care.  I am glad to have her back.