The Asantes House

The Asantes' House

CHILDREN'S STORIES

 

Malai was very excited to visit family friends. Her parents were good friends with Mr. and Mrs. Asante that she even called them her uncle and aunt.  She was going to be staying with them for several weeks. Malai was good friends with Mary, the Asantes' eldest daughter and her younger brothers. Mary's family had many things Malai did not have at home and she planned to enjoy all of them while she was on holiday. But, this was not even the most exciting part of the visit for her. What she was really looking forward to was not the food, TV or even riding Mary's' bicycle. What she was really looking forward to was not having to care about anything at all.

 

Malai moved in with a huge suitcase as if she was coming to stay forever. She quickly got down to playing with Mary. She then moved on to Mary's toys and then ignored Mary and her brothers altogether. There was so much to do to around the house. She watched TV and played games on the floor. She went upstairs to play with the dolls and came back down to change her clothes. After she had changed she threw the dirty clothes in the laundry to be washed before she went back to play with more puzzles on the floor.

 

Mary tried to keep up with Malai who was obviously having a great deal of fun. As the day went on Mary became more and more anxious because as Malai played with everything, she never put anything back in its place. The house was gradually becoming one big mess. By afternoon Mary was quite upset and pleaded with Malai to help her clean up before her parents came home otherwise they would all be in big trouble. Eventually Malai agreed and they cleaned up together and were able to greet Mr. & Mrs. Asante with big smiles in the evening. "Did you have a good day everyone?" asked Mr. Asante "yes" said the children sweetly. But that night Mary went to bed exhausted.

 

The next day Malai did the same thing; she pulled out Mary's clothes to try them on and pulled out Mary's brothers favorite toys as well. She pretended she wanted to learn how to play the games, but just as Mary was about to explain how each game was played, she moved to the next one. Soon the rooms were very, very untidy. But this time when Mary asked Malai to help her clean up, Malai said "why should I help you clean up what belongs to you and your brother?" And with that, Malai left the house and went outside to play. Mary was so angry that she wanted to fight Malai. But she also knew it was her responsibility to keep the house clean. That day Mary cleaned the house all by herself.

 

The next day after they had eaten a wonderful meal of roast chicken and rice for lunch, Malai and Mary were asked to wash the dishes. But again, Malai answered, "I am not the one who cooked the food, why should I have to clean dishes that don't even belong to me". Again, it was Mary who had to do all the cleaning up. By evening she was so tired she went to bed before her parents came home. Malai however, was just as full of energy and happiness as usual.

 

Mary's father turned to her mother and said, "This is strange, why has Mary gone to bed so early?" "Maybe she is just tired', said her mother. "Not Mary, she would at least wait up to say goodnight" said Mr. Asante, "Oh don't worry about it" said her mother. "Well I think we should" said her father as they went to bed.

 

The following day Mary's mother came home at lunchtime to find Mary and her brother sitting outside the house. Malai was playing inside an untidy house. She asked Malai to pick up the toys, but Malai said "they are not mine; they belong to Mary and her brother". When she asked Malai to sweep the house, Malai said "but this is not my house so why should I sweep it?". Finally, when Mary's mother asked Malai to set the table so that they could eat lunch, Malai said the most shocking thing. She said "since this is your house and your plates, you should set the table so that we can eat".

 

Mrs. Asante listened in disbelief. So this is what was making Mary so tired she thought. Poor Mary took responsibility for everything. When she told Mr. Asante what was going on, he was furious. How could Malai do such a thing and yet she appeared as sweet as an angel he exclaimed. "We must send her back home at once" said Mr. Asante. "This kind behavior is disrespectful and bad mannered, I will not allow such kind of behavior in our house. We cannot allow Mary to take responsibility for Malai behavior, she must go home immediately", said Mr. Asante.

 

Mrs. Asante smiled as she listened to her husband. When he noticed the smile on her face, he stopped shouting and asked what she was smiling about. Could she not understand that this was a serious matter? Then Mrs. Asante said gently "you are beginning to sound just like Malai". "What do you mean?" said Mr. Asante  "My dear husband", said Mrs. Asante, "this is our house and we are responsible for everything that happens in it. If we send Malai back without taking responsibility for what she has done, we will all begin acting just like Malai and never take responsibility for anything. After a brief silence, Mr. Asante said "so what do you want us to do?"  "Well" said Mrs. Asante "in situations like these something usually comes up sooner or later that solves the problem". "But, what if it never happens?" said Mr. Asante. "I think it will happen sooner than later" said Mrs. Asante.

 

Malai had been visiting for a week and Mary was really getting tired of her visit. Mary had complained to her mother and father, but they just seemed to ignore her. She told them how Malai, just walked around the house jumping over scattered toys, skipped over dirty floors, trying on Mary's clothes and making her brother miserable. Then it happened. Her clothes ran out.

 

The next day Malai looked in her suitcase and found she had no more clean clothes to wear. All her clothes were dirty. She went to the laundry to check if there were any clean and ironed clothes. There were none. When Mrs. Asante came home that evening, Malai complained how she had been there a whole week and none of her clothes had been washed. She said she needed a clean dress for church on Sunday. Mrs. Asante listened and then said very quietly "why should I wash clothes that are not even mine?" " But, but, but" said Malai… "But what?" asked Mrs. Asante " but, but what am I going to wear to church tomorrow?" "I think that its time you took responsibility for something" Said Mrs. Asante.

 

It was the worst Sunday in Malai life. She went to church with a wet dress. She had tried to wash it at night, but it was not dry by morning.  When she came home from church that day, she washed her clothes and all the other dirty clothes in the laundry. By the end of the week she did not need to be told to set the table for lunch, sweep the house or put the toys away. She played with Mary and together they took care of her younger brother.

 

When it was time to go home, Malai apologized to all of them for all her bad behavior and told them that her visit to their house had taught her a lesson she would never ever forget. "And what lesson was that" asked Mr. Asante? Take responsibility for what is around you, as others take responsibility for you. 

 

Allan Bukusi, 2007