MAKKAH, 17 September 2007 — With a high demand for maids during Ramadan, many people employ runaway maids and pay them extortionate salaries ranging from SR1,100 to SR1,500, instead of the standard SR600 to SR800 paid to legal maids working legally.
Fahd Amash’s wife is a teacher. The couple have five children. “My wife is a teacher and our circumstance requires us to have more than one maid. However, the authorities say we’re only allowed one. Before Ramadan I employed a legal maid, who ran away leaving us in a mess,” said Amash.
With Ramadan at hand, Amash decided to hire a runaway maid. “We had to do things illegally in the end,” he said. “We contacted an Indonesian woman who provides people with illegal maids. She brought us a maid and said we had to pay her SR1,500 a month. She also said we had to give the maid a day off every 10 days and that her work for the month would end on Ramadan 28 in order to give her a chance to perform Umrah,” said Amash.
Houaida Hassan, a Saudi housewife, is in the process of acquiring a legal maid from Indonesia. The maid is due to arrive after Ramadan but Houaida needs a maid during Ramadan and so resorted to employing an illegal maid as her friends do.
“My friends referred me to an Indonesian woman, who has a number of runaway maids and overstayers who don’t speak Arabic. I was told to pay the maid SR900 a month, and that I was to give her a day off every 10 days and that during Ramadan I had to release her on the 28th. The broker also asked for a SR50 commission,” she explained.
“I accepted the conditions and paid the broker SR50. A day later, the maid complained about the work and refused to stay. She asked me to take her back. I took her back and asked for another maid,” said Houaida, adding that the broker asked for another SR50.
“The second maid did the same as the first — on the second day of Ramadan the maid started crying and said she didn’t want to work. I took her back to the broker who said that she would find me another maid but that it would cost me another SR50 commission,” said Houaida, adding that she felt the maids and the broker were playing a game and in the end, she decided to do without a maid instead of being taken advantage of.
Majed Ali acquired a maid for his sick mother during Ramadan. “The maid was to be paid a salary of SR1,500 and the broker asked for a SR150 commission,” said Majed. “I accepted all the broker’s conditions and took the maid to my mother. On the second day of Ramadan my mother called me to come quickly and when I got to her house, I found the maid screaming and yelling. She said she didn’t want to work and wanted to be let go,” he said. “I told her to give me the SR150 that I paid the broker and that I would let her go. She screamed and threatened my mother. She wanted SR200 or she said she would cast a spell on my mother that would make her sick and bedridden for the rest of her life,” he said, adding that his mother was frightened and asked him to give the woman what she wanted and let her go.
An expatriate spoke to Arab News about how brokers manipulate people by planning with the maids to leave work after working for a day or two. “People then end up going back to the broker to get another maid and pay additional commission. The broker in turn gives the maid a percent of profit,” he said.
Ayed ibn Taghalib Al-Luqmani, head of the Passport Department in Makkah, said: “We have recently arrested a large number of illegal maids and the people who shelter them. It’s a wonder that people recruit them and trust them with their children in spite of everything that we know about them. Many of them have infectious diseases and are known to be thieves.”
