Kenyan Family Pleads for Help as Kin is Held Captive in Saudi Arabia

The family of a 27-year-old Kenyan woman who is reportedly held captive in Saudi Arabia is appealing for help to bring her back home. 

Lear Salima Tsuma is being held against her will by her Saudi Arabia employer after she reportedly fell ill and was unable to continue working as a house help, according to her sister Herina Maku.

The family says the employer is demanding a refund of the Sh300,000 he spent to facilitate her travel to the Middle East nation on July 6th this year to work as a housemaid on a two-year contract.

“Upon her arrival at her employer’s house, she fell ill after two weeks due to being overworked and lack of food. Since she is unable to work they have decided to hold her captive as a way of punishing her until they get a refund of the money they had used to facilitate her travel for a two-year contract that she and the employers had agreed on,” her sister told K24 Digital.

“We are worried we haven’t heard anything from her for the past two weeks our fear is she may die in a foreign land. She is being starved and whenever she cries for help she gets a beating. We now appeal to government agencies to intervene and bring her back home alive.”

When the family reported the matter at Likoni police station in Mombasa under OB number 10/31/07/22, officers advised them to seek help from non-governmental organizations saying their hands were tied.

The family says efforts to reach her employer and a Mombasa-based recruitment agency that facilitated her travel to the Gulf state were futile.

“Upon her arrival before she bought a sim card for Saudi Arabia, she used to communicate to us using her employer’s number, however, after several attempts to reach out to her, and enquire about her whereabouts she blocked us without saying a word,” Herina added.

They are pleading with the government and well-wishers to come to Lear’s rescue before she dies from starvation and ill health.