MADINAH: With Ramadan round the corner, the demand for housemaids has snowballed and, with it, the cost of hiring them. As there are not enough maids to meet the demand, the housemaids, have their own conditions to impose on families: no cooking or families have to pay more, a weekly or fortnightly holiday or they will quit, and never too many requests at one time, otherwise they will pack up and leave. Most of the times the families, which are in desperate need of household help, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, have no other option but to acquiesce to the maids’ demands.
Arab News investigated this phenomenon, which is usually linked to Ramadan and the summer vacation coinciding with the two preceding months when the need for services of housemaids is on the rise.
“I came to Madinah about 15 years ago. At that time I did not know Arabic. Now I am fluent in the language. My salary cannot remain the same as when I first came,” said Mariam, an Ethiopian maid who does not have a valid resident permit. She said she is not only in command of the language now, but she is well aware of favorite Saudi dishes and Saudi traditions and values.
“I am now a real house lady. I do not only cook Saudi food but I also help in the upbringing of children. My salary cannot be less than SR1,500. I am also entitled to a day off every two weeks to go home and rest,” she said.
Mariam indicated that some housemaids were paid more than SR2,000 and said the demand is usually high for their services during the months of Ramadan, Rajab and Shabaan. “We work for whoever pays high salaries,” she added.
Asked if she feared the passport police, especially since she does not have an iqama, Mariam said she has her ways of evading them.
Siryati, an Indonesian maid, remembers that she came to Saudi Arabia about 10 years ago when she was brought from home on a work visa by a Saudi family in the Eastern Province.
“I spent five years with this family. They were so nice to me and treated me like their own daughter,” she said. “We then went to Riyadh for two years and to Jazan for the same period of time. I came to Madinah about a year ago for a visit with the family when I escaped from them.”
She said while at a public park in Madinah she met some of her countrywomen who talked her into running away from the family to make more money.
“They gave me a mobile number to call any time I wanted to sneak out. A man answered when I called and asked me to meet him in a public place. He provided me with accommodations with other maids for SR200 a month and found a job for me for SR1,500,” she said.
Though she is happy where she is now working, Siryati did not conceal the fact that she would work for anyone who pays better.
Another illegal Indonesian maid, who refused to give her name, said she was working as a hostess in wedding halls, especially during the summer season, for SR2000 a month. “Because there are no weddings during Ramadan, we work in houses at a lesser price until marriage season begins again,” she said.
Many of the Saudi housewives who talked to Arab News were embittered by their failure to obtain housemaids to help them during Ramadan because of the higher prices. “All the housemaids I contacted asked for salaries of 1,400 riyals a month minus cooking and with a weekly holiday. Those who do not speak Arabic would demand a monthly salary between SR800 and 1,000,” said Ihlam Omar.
She said she had become desperate to find household help during this sacred month in which her children were on vacation.
“They have turned the house upside down. I cannot control them. I need someone to help me,” she cried.
Um Mahmoud, an aging Saudi woman, said her maid went home on her annual vacation and she was still looking in vain for a replacement.
“They all asked for high salaries and weekly holidays. They also threaten that they could not care for a large number of guests in the house,” she said.
Asked to comment on the issue of housemaids staying without iqamas, a spokesman for the Madinah passport police, Lt. Col. Saad Al-Zaidi, said they were doing their best to catch and deport men and women who were illegal workers. He asked the citizens to cooperate with the passport police and to inform them about anyone staying without an iqama. He also warned against hiding such people and said whoever hides an illegal overstayer would be subject to harsh punishments.
