Each day brings more OFWs into Jeddah camp

Hundreds of Filipino expatriates are camping under the sweltering sun in dozens of tents that have been pitched close to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah’s Rehab district.
They are hoping to catch the first available flight to their home country.
As their numbers swell by the day, the conditions at the camps have become unbearable, according to Filipinos flooding the makeshift camping site.
Lack of food, water and sanitation facilities have only added to the miseries of the stranded workers, including women and children.
Arab News saw some of the expats strolling aimlessly along the narrow alleyways opposite Umm Al-Qura Road while women and children kept themselves to the ubiquitous tents.
With a view to easing their suffering, good Samaritans in the Filipino community brought in food and baby milk for their stranded compatriots.
Additional policemen were deployed in the area as a precautionary measure. Passport Department officials visited the area yesterday.
Senior diplomats at the Philippine Consulate have met local authorities and requested them to facilitate the repatriation of the workers. The diplomats have also doubled up efforts to get in touch with the sponsors of the illegal workers for the mandatory “no objection certificates.”
A majority of workers in the camp are from Riyadh and the Eastern Province. They believe it is easier to get their exit papers processed at the Jeddah consulate.
The workers have been camping at the place for five days now.
“On the first day, we have had only 34 workers,” said a diplomat. “Most of them were from Dammam. The figure has now gone up to 675, and it includes nearly 50 children and toddlers.”
Some community representatives claim that the number is nearing 1,500. There was no way of verifying the exact number of stranded workers because people are continuously streaming in.
Jenat Faelgato, a mother of two, said she was desperate to go home.
“I have been trying to go for good for the last couple of years but have not succeeded,” she told Arab News. “Now I am at the end of my tether.”
In a tone that was tinged with sadness, she said: “I feel horrible sleeping by the roadside with two little children in such heat. I came to Riyadh six years ago to work as a maid. My job was good and so was my employer. However, my employer’s son would often beat me and that forced me to escape.”
The case of another camper, Valentina Marcoda, from Manila, is no different.
“I am in Jeddah for the last 20 years,” she said. “For 12 years, I worked legally and then I ran away because my sponsor had stopped paying my salary. I have had enough … I want to go home.”
Julie Fernandes, from Panga Piran in the Philippines, has been in the Kingdom for years. “I came here as a domestic helper … I ran away six months into my job because I was not being paid,” she said.
The granting of a three-month grace period by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has generated hopes among the illegal workers that the government may view their case leniently and that it would allow them to go home without any consequences. As a result, the number of stranded workers in Jeddah is surging.