YANBU, 17 August 2007 — The problem of maids running away is an issue that concerns many families in Yanbu with police daily receiving telephone calls from families whose newly arrived maids have run away. As more maids flee to Jeddah, people in Yanbu suspect there is a gang helping them to abscond.

The process of bringing maids into the Kingdom is a lengthy one, with sponsors spending around SR6,000 before a maid even touches Saudi soil. Once she arrives, the sponsor spends an average of SR1,800 on her salary, food and clothes each month. The sad reality that many sponsors face is the fact that they are generally unable to retrieve any of the money they invest when a maid decides to abruptly leave.

Organized gangs, usually of the same nationality as the maids, are known to help maids run away, secure alternative jobs for them and provide them with a safe house.

According to government statistics, last year 88.7 percent of families around the Kingdom had maids, 68 percent of these maids were below 20, 97 percent of them were non-Arabs, and 68.8 were Indonesians.

Many maids that arrive in the Kingdom do not plan to abscond. However, having arrived here they decide to flee lured by the prospect of higher wages and a guaranteed weekend off.

Housewives in Yanbu expressed their dissatisfaction about the increasing number of fleeing workers. “I’m sure they come to the Kingdom and have it in their mind that they have to flee. There are people helping them. There must be strict punishment in place to make them think twice before fleeing,” said a Yanbu resident.

An officer at a recruiting office in Yanbu said that maids are not to be blamed. “Although some come here with an intention to flee, others are forced to run away because of ill-treatment and harassment. Giving maids a day off in a week would make them feel at home,” he added.

Zuhour Saad said, through a popular recruiting office, she acquired the services of a maid, who fled four months after arriving. “One day I woke up in the morning and she wasn’t at home. I told my husband who looked for her everywhere and asked around in the neighborhood. He couldn’t find her and so we called the police,” said Saad.

The police informed the couple that the maid did not want to return. “Because she insisted on not coming back, we lost all the money we spent in bringing her here. I just can’t understand why she wants to return home. They try so hard to come here and now they want to return, it’s strange,” she added.

Awatif Abdullah lives with her mother in Yanbu. Recently her brother suggested getting a maid to help them out at home. “I was very kind to her. I even went as far as to give her time to familiarize herself with the language and the system in our home. I got my brother to send his maid to train her up, we were very nice to her,” said Abdullah, adding that the two maids used to spend lots of time together. “One morning they both disappeared. They’d run away together. How can someone who is new in this country just automatically decide to flee when she knows no one? There must be gangs encouraging and helping these people,” she said.

Suad Muhammad believes that if maids are punished and forced to return to their sponsors then they would think twice of running away. “I know lots of friends who have spent lots of money on their maids that simply run away after arriving,” said Muhammad.

Najat Abdullah, who is originally from Makkah, works as a teacher in Yanbu. Her husband works in Tabuk. “My husband works in Tabuk and my family lives in Makkah. My young son lives with me and so I got a maid when I became pregnant,” she said.

“Unfortunately, she fled soon after arriving. This situation is absolutely absurd. There must be firm procedures in place to put a stop to this problem,” she added.

Eid Al-Aluni said he once saw his maid making a phone call from his cell phone. “I found it suspicious and when I confronted the maid she admitted she was speaking to a Saudi driver, who works with an Indonesian gang that helps maids run away from Yanbu to Jeddah,” he said, adding that he telephoned the police who managed to arrest the Saudi man.

Walid Khoja, an officer at a recruiting office, said maids do not necessarily flee following preconceived plans hatched in their home countries. “Some flee because the families they work for tend to treat them like machines. They also assume that maids should be passive and never complain,” said Khoja, adding that poverty and poor conditions in their home countries force women to travel across the world to work as maids. “I reckon maids should be given the weekend off to make them feel a bit comfortable,” he said.

Bandar Al-Ahmadi, an officer at another recruitment office, said that if a maid runs away within the first three months of her tenor, then the office would provide the sponsor with a replacement free of charge. “I believe that the only solution to this widespread problem is for maids to pay their own traveling expenses and be prevented from coming to the Kingdom or any other GCC country for three years if caught fleeing,” he said.

Lafi Al-Rifai, head of the Expatriate Department, said that maids, Saudis and recruitment offices all share the responsibility of fleeing maids. “Recruiting offices need to inform maids before they arrive that they will be severely punished if they flee,” he said.