Agnes

The incident in the toilets still troubled Agnes, and it was two days later. She couldn’t help thinking about it. It felt like it had happened only a few hours ago. She stopped about two metres away from the entrance to the boys’ toilets and put her mop-bucket down. With her eyes half-closed, she took the deepest breath she’d taken since her shift started. It would be a while before she could breathe clean air again. She knew the boys’ toilets would be a smelly mess. A shitty and smelly mess. After seeing what those three boys were doing in the toilets, two days ago, she understood why being in there was worse than being inside a rubbish bin. And to make matters worse, the sun was on full blast and every bad smell was made a hundred times worse. Being in those toilets was enough to make any person feel less than human – nobody should have to clean up someone else’s pissy and shitty mess like that.

“Haibo, sisi, why are you just standing there? Are you scared to come in?”

Agnes could feel her grip tightening around the mop handle. Sindiswa’s questions were silly and annoying. “Sindiswa, since when don’t you know what’s waiting for us in there? You know how cruel these boys have been lately. You heard how they insulted me. Is there any person you know out there who could deal with the shit we deal with in here?”

She had thought of telling the Principal about the state of the toilets, and what those boys made her clean up after them. But she didn’t want him to think she was complaining about her job. Her children’s scholarships were at stake if she got on the wrong side of him.

“I know it’s tough, sisi, but ke what can we do?” Sindiswa said, resigned. She was leaning her tall frame against her mop. “This is a school for rich kids. We’re just poor cleaners who need the money from this job.”

“Hayi, mna, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need this job for my kids.” said Agnes.

Agnes held her breath and then went into the toilets and Sindiswa followed. You couldn’t hold your breath forever though. For most it would be an unbearable smell – the kind that could make you vomit, or faint. But she had to bear it. It was her job. She signalled to Sindiswa to spray more air freshener.

Agnes took a step towards the open toilet compartments to assess the damage. It was bad. There was urine and piles of wet toilet paper on the floor.

And on the wall of one compartment big letters were smeared in faeces: “CLEAN MY SHIT, AGNES”.

Agnes could feel the anger, and the deep deep hurt, growing into a big lump in her throat. But she stood firm. She wasn’t going to allow this to break her. She had a job to do. Her two children needed her to be strong.

When they had cleaned the boys’ toilets they moved on to the girls’ block. Agnes always thanked the girls in her heart. Their toilets were always much cleaner than the shitty mess they dealt with in the boys’ toilets. Here they didn’t have to think about the rotten things some of those boys did. They didn’t have to hold their breath when they were in here. There were no rotten smells in the air, shit stains on the wall and urine puddles on the floor.

Sindiswa filled their buckets with water and Agnes poured the cleaning fluid in.

“I was watching the news last night, sisi. They were talking about that man who beat up his wife and set her alight. It happened right near where I live,” Sindiswa started.

“I saw that. It was terrible. How can anyone do that to another person?”

“The women in our street are going to protest at parliament. For our rights as women. I am thinking of going too. Us women need to stick together.”

“That’s a good thing to do, sisi,” said Agnes, dipping her mop into the bucket and pushing it to and fro across the floor.”

“Ja. And it made me think that we have rights as workers too – as cleaners I mean,” said Sindiswa. “We need to tell the Principal about the boys’ toilets. No person should have to clean shit off the walls, shit put there by some stupid Grade 11 boys. They treat us like animals because we are cleaners. Not like human beings!”

Agnes stopped mopping. Sindiswa was right. It was degrading. They were grown women, cleaning up boys’ shit.

“You know what my father used to say,” Sindiswa went on. “‘You can take everything from someone except their dignity – that they hold in their hearts’. But those boys are trying to take our dignity too.”

“You are right Sindiswa. We should be treated with respect.”

“You know what I am thinking of doing?” Sindiswa paused, then said angrily: “Calling the police!”

“Hayi, Sindiswa. First let’s see what the Principal will do with those boys.”

“But there will be other boys just like them,” said Sindiswa. “We need to tell the Principal about what is happening in these toilets. He never comes in here. He has his own toilet right next door to his office. We are supposed to use these toilets too.”

“I hear you, sisi.” said Agnes, taking out a yellow cloth and starting to wipe clean one of the three mirrors in the toilet. But what if the Principal did nothing, she wondered. What then?

***

Tell us what you think: Does the state of the toilets harm the women’s dignity, or is dealing with them just part of their job?