Kenyan Woman Enslaved by Cruel Saudi Arabian Employer Seeks Help to Return Home

A family from Mombasa is appealing for help to bring back their daughter who has allegedly been held captive by her employer in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

34-year-old Mwanaiki Said moved to Saudi Arabia in November 2019 to work as a house help but is now seeking to return home after being subjected to untold suffering by her female employer for months, The Star reported.

Her employer is said to have struck her on the head with a rod after she found her preparing a cup of tea, according to Said’s family.

The mother of three kids aged 12, eight, and five, has not received her salary since February this year. The family says she earned Sh30,000 per month and only managed to send home Sh25,000 twice in the first two months.

Further to this, Said says her employer denies her food, pours water on her bed, and is not allowed to leave the house.

“When she called, she complained she is forced to do dishes or laundry twice. Her employer said laundry or dishes were not clean enough,” her mother Saumu Omar said while speaking at Haki Africa offices on Tuesday.

“I cannot stand her suffering anymore. She is beaten daily and has become hopeless. She asks me to care for her three children, as she cannot see herself coming home alive.” 

Haki Africa's rapid response officers said the recruitment agent who took Said to Saudi Arabia has since vanished and does not pick calls or respond to messages.

Muslims for Human Rights (Muthuri) said it recorded 10 cases of mistreatment of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia in the month of August alone.

Many domestic workers have lost their jobs while others have been detained without pay since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Middle East nation.