Exploitative child domestic work, is it a necessary evil?

Is child domestic labor a necessary evil? I didn’t expect to ask myself this question until I met Jane. Disclaimer here, I do not condone any form of exploitative child domestic work, but I raise this question to spark dialogue on its realities. Around the table sat officials from Amka Africa Justice Initiative, lawyers, representatives from the children’s office and other law enforcement officers, and university legal aid clinic students like myself. Why are we discussing measures to protect children in domestic work instead of ending this exploitative vice entirely? I asked myself. Children are vulnerable; for girls, the risks multiply. Through my interaction with the university legal clinic and Amka Africa, I had interacted with stories of young girls employed in households as domestic workers, only to be sexually assaulted, defiled, impregnated and silenced. The victims would go to report the matter, only to discover perpetrators had already “sweet-talked” the police, money talks, or as we like to say nganji ndio inabonga!!