Topic: Bring Kin Home From Saudi Arabia

Families with their kin stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia say the Government should assist to bring them back.

This is even as many stakeholders at the Kenyan Coast lauded the temporary ban on the export of Kenyan workers to the kingdom.

“All I want is my wife back,” said Mwandodo Juma, whose wife, a nurse, he said was lured to Saudi Arabia in November on the promise of a career in the medical sector only to be condemned to domestic work.

A mother of a 24-year-old Kenyan woman, Rehema Juma Mwasina of Likoni, Mombasa, is also appealing for assistance to liberate her daughter from an abusive employer.

Fatuma Juma Ndurya said her daughter, who was recruited late last year for a housemaid job, complained of mistreatment. “I fully support the ban. My suggestion is that Kenyans be stopped from going to Saudi Arabia to work as maids,” she said.

On Monday Central Organisation of Trade Unions Secretary General Francis Atwoli described the employment arrangements of Kenyans in Saudi Arabia as “indirect slavery” and hailed the Government for stopping the flow of its citizens to the conservative state.

Agreement

At the same time, some stakeholders are urging the Government to enter a new agreement with the Saudis to secure Kenya’s employment quota in the kingdom.

Hussein Khalid, Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) executive director, told The Standard that consultations between the two states should be completed within three months.

“We cannot ignore the contribution into the Kenyan economy from monies wired back to assist families here,’’ he said. He said there are about 80,000 Kenyans employed in the Arab world today.

“We appreciate and acknowledge the Government’s belated move to stamp its authority to save Kenyans in dire need of assistance who have undergone inhuman forms of treatment but want an expeditious move to forestall job losses,” said Khalid.

His sentiments were echoed by the National Chairman of the Kenya Association of Private Employment Agencies Abubakar Bunu.

Mr Bunu said while they welcomed the move for a temporary stoppage, “the wait should not be long as there are potential nations like Eritrea, Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia, which can fill in the gap left by Kenya’s absence.”

Source: The Standard

Buruburu,

Read this depressing article about the situation in Riyadh...

Scores detained as dream for jobs fail



Fatuma Masoud, the mother of Khadijah Omar who died in Saudi Arabia where she worked as a househelp. The government has put in place measures to protect Kenyans who seek jobs abroad.

By DANIEL NYASSY [email protected]
Posted Friday, July 13 2012 at 23:30

More than 80 Kenyans are stranded and starving in a transitional detention camp in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Nation has learnt.

The group said to have left the country with hopes of securing employment in the Middle East called on the government to rescue them.

They are living under deplorable conditions with no food, no proper sleeping place or basic requirements.

A text message from one of the stranded Kenyans yesterday said some of them have lived in a camp she identified as Tariili in the suburbs of Riyadh for over a month.

“Living conditions here are terrible. We want to go home. We are calling on our Government to come to our rescue,” she said in the message. She however declined to be named for fear of repercussions.

She added that she went to Saudi Arabia over a month ago to work as a stewardess but ended up as a domestic servant in the hands of an abusive employer.

Reasons for detention

Head of Middle East Department on refugees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi Nyambura Kamau could not be reached for a comment as she had left the office.

However, other officers at the ministry who declined to be named as they are not allowed to speak to the press confirmed the issue and gave details surrounding the detentions.

“There are many cases of Kenyans being held in detention camps there for various reasons. They are actually divided into various levels,” said one officer.

Some of the Kenyans being held were arrested in the streets or in spots engaging in prostitution, others had run away from their employers while others did not have valid documents, said another officer.

“For those who ran away from their jobs, their employers rushed to the police and reported that they lost gold and other jewellery stolen by the runaway workers,” said the source.

Others were waiting for their air tickets ‘to mature’, said the source adding that it was summer in Asia when many people travelled making it hard to get space in planes.

“Although relatives have sent air tickets, they have to wait until there is space in the flights to come home. So as they wait for that day, they are being held in the camp,” said another source in the ministry.

Another officer spoke of two cases in Saudi Arabia where two Kenyans recently admitted to have stolen gold from their employers and since they could not pay for it, opted to serve three months in prison.

And yet in other instances, there was a tussle between agents and families of those being held where some compensation has to be made before they can be released.

“But we are doing everything possible by liaising with our embassy in Riyadh to get all the details of the refugees so that we can help them come back home. The embassy will seek ‘consular access’ for those being held in order to compile a detailed report before ferrying them back home,” the source said.

But one of the officers warned us that, “This is a court matter and I advise you not to report about it because you will be charged with contempt of court. Stories in the newspaper don’t help, anyway.

The officer added, “this is a private matter between those people and their families. You cannot ask the government to send air tickets for them when there is a government ban. In the first place, they left without telling anybody so, let them sort themselves out”.

The officer continued, “These people tell a lot of lies. They will not tell you the truth. They know very well their relatives have to come here and fill forms giving us the details before we try to assist them. Have they come?” She posed.

The officer blames parents for encouraging their children to venture into the Middle East when they know conditions are bad and wondered whether it was out of poverty or desperation that parents would send their children to a place where another child suffered.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Scores+...z/-/index.html

This is even as many stakeholders at the Kenyan Coast lauded the temporary ban on the export of Kenyan workers to the kingdom.

“All I want is my wife back,” said Mwandodo Juma, whose wife, a nurse, he said was lured to Saudi Arabia in November on the promise of a career in the medical sector only to be condemned to domestic work.

A mother of a 24-year-old Kenyan woman, Rehema Juma Mwasina of Likoni, Mombasa, is also appealing for assistance to liberate her daughter from an abusive employer.

“We cannot ignore the contribution into the Kenyan economy from monies wired back to assist families here,’’ he said. He said there are about 80,000 Kenyans employed in the Arab world today.

Poleni waKenya na hii Modern day slavery...