She dropped by for a visit this afternoon.  We hadn't seen her in nearly a month.  Has a new job.  She's a cook.  And a very good one at that.  Worked for various and sundry Americans, Canadians, and Europeans over the years.  Can cook just about any type of Western food your mouth is watering for.  But she hasn't worked for a couple of years now.  Been making ends meet by selling some of her pastries to Westerners.

That's why she reluctantly accepted her new position.  She's working for a Cameroonian family this time around.  But she wanted us to understand that she won't stick around if they don't treat her at least passably OK.  She listed off all the typical ways Cameroonians treat their house help/cook.  Make you work extra hard.  Complain loudly over every little infraction, real or imagined.  Come pay day the excuses are pulled out.  Don't have any money today.  Will pay you tomorrow.  Or in a week.  That can be stretched on for a very long time.  Just until you figure out that pay was not part of the job.  

So she has a new job.  But for how long?  She's not holding her breath.  This isn't a new story.  It happens every day, all over the place.  Our heart aches for our friend, and all others in the same boat.