RUAHA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY

Violence involves harm to an individual physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. This article examines domestic violence and the way it is inflicted to victims, especially intimate partners in households, children, parents and close relatives living in a particular household. The article focuses on housemaids as employees in some African households and their experiences of violence from their employers. What causes the various abuses housemaids face from their employers? What theological implication can be deduced from the abusive experiences faced by housemaids in the relationship with their employers? By the use of the culture of violence theory and the survey of accounts about the experiences of housemaids in various current researches, this article argues that the violence they face is caused by power relations within family members characterized by retaliations and claim to regain power. The concept of creation imago Dei is used to reflect hermeneutically on the kind of relationship set by God through Jesus Christ in the life of humanity.

housemaids, domestic violence, Cretio imago Dei, human Relationship