This poor Indonesian woman was dumped in front of a hospital, in an unconscious state, after being burned and beaten by her employer. The police say that her employer thought she was dead. She was covered in cuts and bruises, had fractures, head injuries and was suffering from internal bleeding. The article in today’s Arab News, says “the maid gave no indications why she was beaten in such a way. Police are currently investigating the case.” Another case of abuse that was investigated by the police comes to mind, Nour Miyati. If you are not familiar with Nour, this is but just a sampling of the articles her case generated.
I suspect the “maid saga” in some way, shape or form, will continue to be an issue for many years to come. Sad, but true. However, the “blame” for the situation cannot be put squarely on the shoulders of this Country, or any of the other Gulf countries where domestic help is considered to be a necessity versus a luxury. The countries from which the domestic help is imported must make drastic changes to their own dire economic conditions to prevent these people from having to seek the mere means of survival somewhere else.
Update: Today, the man who dumped this maid admits to doing so and offers an answer to the question “why.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether or not charges will eventually be brought against the maid, calling for punishment more severe than her employer’s.
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It's funny how it says "the maid gave no indications why she was beaten in such a way." As if there could be any "reson" that would justify almost beating a person to death.
ReplyDeleteGREAT POST!
ReplyDeleteYou need to look at Chan'ad's blog concerning maid abuse. He has done lots of great reporting on this tragic issue. His blog address is
http://chanad.weblogs.us/
This is a horrific story, this poor lady. I could not imagine anyone doing ANYTHING that deserved a beating such as she received. Then to take her to jail!! This is truly an ugly story!!!
ReplyDeleteAs I have written about this very same subject on the much loved and mourned over R.P's blog, why the hell is it that these countries of origin of domestic help are not actively posting warnings about the KSA's well known repute as a place where the risk of abuse and fraud is the highest in the world bar none!! I am at a loss for words here, please someone out there give us a clue...
ReplyDeleteThanks Sabra for keeping a vigilant eye on this: kudos for your pluck!!
If she 'really' did the things he states, couldn't/shouldn't he have reported it to the police, at the time? Just another excuse.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he realise he would be easily identified? Aren't the wherabouts of foreigners aways known is KSA? really, really sad. How do you lower such a 'superior than thou" attitude?
Sorry about all the questions, just frustrated.
Yeah, Debbie, me to. Well, one would think - with the amount of paperwork required to do ANYTHING here that the authorities would always know where you are. [Unless, you are an illegal overstayer?] Couldn't her "crime" or "crimes" have been reported to the police? Yeah, that makes sense to me. [Unless she was an illegal overstayer - although highly unlikely the "employer" would get in trouble for this, but I am not knowing...] And, yes, he had to know he would be identified. I could comment on this, as well, but will choose to keep quiet for the time being. And, how do you lower the attitude? Well, when there is no more liquid gold supporting this country, trust me, the attitude will change. Did you happen to read the very long post, "What is domestic abuse?" Well, this begs the question: "Haya, does this count???"
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