Normally if people want a maid, they contact a recruitment office and arrange the matter with the office.
This is what I thought was usual until I learned from some women that there is another way of hiring a maid. The service is provided by expatriate women over the phone and if you know the rules, the maid will be delivered to your door and you will never have to deal with the bureaucracy and red-tape in those offices.
First, however, you have to get the number of one of the women and then you have to win her trust.
After getting a few numbers from friends, I began the process. The first women I called hung up the moment she heard my voice.
I called again and told her I wanted a maid.
“We don’t have maids,” she answered harshly.
I tried the other numbers and the answer was always the same. I told one woman who finally listened to me that I had got her number from a friend.
Her manner changed at once and she began to question me. She wanted to know whether I had a job so there would be no problem about money.
When I told her to write down my number, she said that she had it since it was recorded on her caller ID.
What she did need to know, however, was where my house was located.
The women who provide maids for people work very discreetly and quietly.
Most of them live in old neighborhoods with narrow alleys and lanes which make it almost impossible to locate a house.
In any case, they will never answer the door unless thorough identification is provided and a careful check is done.
The problem is that their work is not only providing maids.
Some also work as midwives, conducting illegal abortions and even practicing other kinds of medicine. They use taxis to move about and dress like Saudi women, covering their faces, arms and hands.
Where have these people come from?
Where do the maids they provide come from? Do they enter the Kingdom as pilgrims and then slip away? Who provides them with shelter and facilitates their movement from city to city?
Many questions are asked but very few answers are forthcoming.
