JEDDAH, 26 April 2004 — The Kingdom’s newspapers continue to be full of stories of maids who run away from their sponsors. Subjected to abuse, unable to speak the language and cut off from contact with their families, many find themselves trapped here, and some see no other escape from multiple pressures than to kill themselves.

Surveys indicate that in Riyadh alone more than 7,000 runaway maids, most of them Indonesians, seek refuge in the maids’ affairs offices every month citing problems with their employers.

Losses resulting from runaway maids are estimated at more than SR20 million per month. Employers spend between SR3,000 and SR7,000 to bring in a maid, but many of them run away after a three-month trial period. The original employer is also required to pay the cost of repatriating the maid even if she did not work with him.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, along with the Ministry of Justice, is currently taking steps to assign judges to the maids’ affairs offices to resolve cases involving domestic servants, according to Al-Yaum newspaper.

An endless stream of reports tell of suicide attempts by maids driven to despair by working long hours without days off, physical, sexual and verbal abuse and unpaid wages.

Seryana, an Indonesian maid, worked in the UAE before she came to Saudi Arabia. “I speak good Arabic, which enabled me to find a job quickly,” she told Al-Madinah Arabic daily.

“From the first day, I knew something was wrong in the house. The wife hit me very hard because I accidentally dropped some plastic plates on the floor. It was like she was waiting for me to do something wrong so she could unleash her violence on me,” she said.

“I learned later that many Saudi women tend to show their violent side on day one to scare new maids so they will not do anything wrong in the future,” the paper quoted her as saying. “This is how masters dealt with slaves in the past, and it’s no way to treat human beings.”

Azizah Muhammad is subjected to a daily diet of insults and beatings. “They always scream at me whenever they have the chance and they beat me whenever they feel like it. They kick me and throw things at me as if I don’t have feelings,” she said.

“Even the young children in the family do not respect me. The family I work for need to learn from Islamic teachings how to respect the weak,” she said.

Why does she stay on? “I am forced to endure the beatings, because if I don’t I will not be able to support my family back home,” she said.

“It’s no wonder there are so many maids who run away from their sponsors,” Soniti Nasr said. “Look at the way they treat us. We escape from a difficult life back home in search of a better one, and all some girls find is torture.

“Maids are human and have feelings. They are not machines. They should be treated with respect and they should be given time to rest after work. They are not supposed to work for 20 hours a day,” she said.

“I think maids are being abused and the government must be made aware of the situation,” Nasr added.