RIYADH, 31 July 2004 — Plans are under way to set up an orientation center in Colombo for Gulf-bound Sri Lankan housemaids to prepare them for household responsibilities in this region.
The new center will be in addition to the existing 22 training centers in Sri Lanka where women going for employment overseas are given an orientation of the culture and traditions of the country where they will be employed. It is to be established by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) which looks after its 1.5 million overseas workers worldwide of whom 80 percent are estimated to be domestic aides.
“The program at the proposed center will greatly minimize the problems faced by the Lankan maids in the Kingdom,” the Labor Welfare Officer at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh Meeran Mohammed Jiffri told Arab News adding that the program will make the maids aware of the labor rules, their rights and etiquette in the host country. He said that the mission receives a sizable number of runaway maids daily and the number has increased three-fold this summer since some of the sponsors are out of the Kingdom on vacation.
The Lankan mission here receives daily some 40 runaway housemaids of whom 50 percent are handed over by the government-owned Women’s Welfare Center for repatriation.
The common problems that trigger the maids’ escape from their employers’ homes include non-payment of wages, lack of communication and harassment.
Jiffri pointed out that a Saudi sponsor spends some SR6,000 to 8,000 to recruit a maid. Hence they wish to retain the salary of the maid for the first three months fearing she would run away from the house.
“The poor housemaid does not realize this arrangement and she tries to run away from her workplace at the first opportunity ,” said Jiffri citing lack of communication as one of the reasons for the state of affairs. He added that the number of complaints received by the mission is very small compared to the maid population in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is home to some 350,000 Sri Lankans of whom 250,000 are maids.
He thanked the Women’s Welfare Center for negotiating with defaulting Saudi sponsors to get the maids’ salaries paid to them.
“Some of the sponsors who have failed to pay the wages have been jailed and the center has been instrumental in persuading the governorate to pay the wages in cases where the sponsors cannot be traced ,” Jiffri said.
