Trapped Kenyan Mother Describes Cutting Own Umbilical Cord After Denied Medical Care in Saudi

Five Kenyan women working in Saudi Arabia have become trapped in the country due to the lack of legal documentation for their children born out of wedlock.

These children, without birth certificates, are rendered stateless, preventing them from acquiring exit visas and accessing essential rights such as education. The women have shared their distressing experiences with The Guardian, detailing their attempts to escape abusive employers who had confiscated their identification documents. Many of the children were conceived with fellow migrant workers, a situation complicated by Saudi Arabia's stringent laws against premarital sexual relations.

The resulting legal implications not only place the mothers at risk of prosecution and imprisonment but also lead to abandonment by the fathers, who fear arrest. One domestic worker in Riyadh recounts her terrifying experience of giving birth without medical assistance. Hospital staff threatened her with jail for lacking the necessary documents, forcing her to labour alone at home, where she ultimately had to cut the umbilical cord herself.

Another mother describes the challenges of raising her child with insufficient resources, often subsisting on leftover groceries from local shops. Despite their repeated requests for assistance from the Kenyan embassy to facilitate their departure from Saudi Arabia, these women claim their pleas have been met with indifference, with embassy officials allegedly labelling them as prostitutes.

“The people at the Kenyan embassy say we are prostitutes. They forget that some of these babies are from cases of rape by their boss or the driver of the house they’re working in. It’s very painful.” a woman with a young child told the publication.

However, the Kenyan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mohamed Ruwange has denied these allegations, asserting that the embassy is actively engaged in seeking resolutions within the legal frameworks of both Kenya and Saudi Arabia.

“The embassy wishes to affirm that it attends to the entire Kenyan diaspora population with utmost respect, decorum, diligence, and professionalism. Specifically, on this sensitive matter involving minors and the inherent danger of child trafficking, the embassy has assisted and continues to assist the affected Kenyan mothers within the applicable laws of both the Republic of Kenya and the host country,” said Ruwange.