Kenyan Family in Agony After Daughter Goes Missing in Iraq

A Kenyan family is in agony following the disappearance of their daughter after she traveled to Iraq in search of greener pastures.

Esther Njeri Wairimu from Njoro, Nakuru County left the country for the Middle East state in May this year to work as a house help, never to be heard from again, according to the family. 

Her father Samuel Ng’ang’a told the media that her daughter was excited when she left the country and was hoping to change the family’s financial status, but she has never communicated with them since then.

The distraught father says efforts to reach Esther and bring her back to the county have been met with false promises from her agent, who keeps on changing statements on his daughter’s condition.

The family said their only wish is to see their daughter whether dead or alive even as they blamed the Kenyan government for turning a blind eye to the unending gross human rights violations against Kenyan migrant workers in the Middle East.

Estimates by the International Trade Union Confederation show that more than 2.1 million women employed in households across the Gulf are at risk of exploitation.

Amnesty International says workers in the Middle East often complain of a lack of payment for their work, forced labor, physical abuse, rape, and dangerous working conditions.

In March, outgoing Labor and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui said Kenya exported over 39,000 labor migrants in 2021. A majority of them secured employment opportunities in the Middle East while the rest went to European and North American countries.