Our press has over the past few years carried many a story on instances relating to domestic help abuse. The dastardly deeds on these defenseless individuals who had left their lands to serve their employers on foreign soil were stories that often minced at the soul.
And although there have been many accommodating regulations aimed at protecting and preserving the rights and dignity of the expatriate domestic help, it appears from news reports that violations continue.
But what about the other side of this equation? The trials many employers have to contend with when dealing with the employment of such help?
Ghada, a mother of three and employed in the IT sector had this to say: “My husband and I are working to make both ends meet and provide for a better life for our young children. We had to set aside hard earned money to pay for the recruitment of a housemaid who would help when we are both at work. First, we had to pay SR2,000 just to get a visa authorization. Then we paid SR7,800 to a recruiting agent to find and bring us a suitable candidate from Indonesia. We waited for three months for this process to be completed. And do you know what happened?
“On the day our maid arrived, my husband went to the airport to receive her. After stowing her small suitcase in the trunk, he drove her home. When he reached our home, he popped the trunk and asked her to get her small bag while he went to open the gate. At that moment a car drove by and our domestic help got in and the car drove quickly away. She did not even bother to take her bag with her! By the time my husband understood what went on and tried to locate the vanishing car, it was too late.
“She had not even stepped a foot in our house and she ran away. It seems there is a mafia out there that lures these maids with promises of better benefits either in their country or on the flights to this country or at airports and arranges for this kind of thing. Why did she accept to work for us in the first place if she wanted to be somewhere else? So here we are, almost SR10,000 spent for nothing and the misery and financial strains of having to go through the process all over again and once again trying to scrape up a similar amount.”
Khulood, owner of a small art studio added: “I am a firm believer in human rights. I treated my housemaid as a companion more so than a servant and would take her out on all my outings. I began to notice though that she would get approached by a few drivers loitering about outside the establishments I would frequent and on a couple of occasions I could swear that phone numbers were being exchanged. Well, three months after she came here and I had her iqama processed, she disappeared. And along with her some of my jewelry. Her contacts must have come in handy. I feel so betrayed.”
Sameera, a resident of Jeddah laments on the state of “untrustworthy and dangerous maids who enter our houses and take advantage of our kindness and harm us, then spread lies about us to act as victims to get other jobs. A list of maids should be complied and updated regularly, so that we are not duped by them and there is some kind of control put over this abuse that employers face regularly which is never highlighted. It is an overlooked fact that maids aren't always the abused ones; many a times they are the abusers, but this fact is rarely highlighted.”
Samira’s comments have an element of truth. Employers, even good ones, are often the victims. Yet very few of their stories get told. And efforts by the government to halt the employment of runaway help so far do not seem to have succeeded.
What are the answers then? Perhaps local employment bureaus with imported domestic staff on their roster from where one could recruit the needed help be it for a day, a week or for the whole year may be the answer.
The onus of protecting the rights of both employer and helper should then fall squarely on such agencies, and backed by the government.
