More than 70 Kenyan women have documented their harrowing experiences working as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, a new report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday shows.
In the report, launched in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, the rights group documents how workers were deceived by recruitment agents, denied rest days, and worked under inhumane conditions with little or no pay.
One of the women, Bigeni Maina Mwangi, told The Associated Press how she was promised a beautician job in Saudi Arabia, but she instead found herself thrust into a life of domestic servitude under exploitative conditions.
“The contract I signed in Nairobi was changed the moment I landed,” she said. “The agent said I had no choice but to work.”
Mwangi worked in Saudi Arabia for 17 months without pay. When she was finally sent home, her promised wages never came. Due to rising unemployment in Kenya, she found a better job in Dubai, but a return to Oman in 2020 led to even grimmer conditions.
“I worked in three houses non-stop, often without food,” she said.
The Amnesty report urges the Kenyan and Saudi governments to extend labor protections to domestic workers, prosecute abusive employers, and ban recruitment agencies complicit in exploitation.
Another woman, Mejuma Shaban Ali, recounted signing her contract at Kenya’s main airport before flying out in 2014. Her journey led her to what she described as “a prison.”
“I was forced to escape the house disguised as taking out trash,” Ali said. “I got to the Embassy hoping for help. Instead, I was told to find another employer because I had made no money to pay off my employer.”
She ended up working illegally after being linked to a broker, with her passport still held by her first employer.
Both women called for a crackdown on rogue recruitment agencies and stronger embassy support. “There are people suffering in Oman with no way out,” Ali warned.
The rights group estimates more than 150,000 Kenyans work as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.
“The system amounts to modern slavery,” said Amnesty Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton.
The Kenyan government has in recent months cracked down on exploitative recruitment agencies and promised to protect Kenyans abroad. The labor ministry in April facilitated the return of more than 100 Kenyans who were scammed by an agency and got stranded in Myanmar and Thailand.
NAIROBI-(MaraviPost)-I know right! This is shocking, how the new generation has seen the need for some wild in bed excitement that they go to the extent of salivating on another man’s wife.
But this is mutual, get me right here, both the couples agree on exchanging partners to sleep with.
So there’s no cheating here it’s just a no strings attached kind of relationship, it’s also known as swinging.
We all know that there exists elite type of clubs that don’t accept just anyone except registered members, ever asked yourself why?
And to be a member you’ll have to go through some serious vetting or be recommended by someone who is already a member.
There has been a rise in swinging activities recently, mostly the young and middle class couples are the ones that feel the need to do this.
I mean, even our parents and pastors will be sent to their early deaths when they come to know about this. The couples frequently hold weekly swinging meetings.
These are some respected men in the society, some are even honorable leaders in our communities owning filthy expensive sports cars as they park them outside these clubs and the one accompanying them are their lovely wives.
Other rich families join them in these fornication and drinking parties. Most of these people here have known each other for a very long time, probably from childhood because you don’t just get an invite to these parties.
Some of these couples have recently come out to explain themselves, saying that they don’t have the time to go out in search for girls to seduce.
They say that if they have to sleep with someone out of their marriage, it has to be with someone who has the same interests as them, like in education, profession, business interests and more, and someone who will not expect them to leave their wife or husband for them, a no strings attached type of relationship like I mentioned earlier.
These clubs have come up with strict rules of association like some request for health certificates to check for your HIV and AIDS status and if you have any STD and many other rules exist.
As some of the Kenyans become richer, their social behavior tends to change, and what they saw to be sinful and even a taboo, challenge it through these weird social interactions.
Well, they are not so weird because traditionally this used to be a common practice.
But should we blame this on our traditions? Or should we blame this on the influence of global media like reality TV shows? Or should we blame this on substance abuse?
Because it makes us do things without our complete knowledge and consent.
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