Empowering the African Woman

Emma is hard working lady; she is the one who introduced us to Moline who she is hosting in her house. Emma is also living with her brothers. She is the eldest. However, she has been to most of the countries in the gulf. She knows Arabic and has gained connections with the gulf. 

According to her, she needed to leave the country because of her many needs. She is still taking care of her brothers and her parents have passed on. She thinks she can go back to the gulf so that she can save to start a catering business with Moline. 

When asked whether a self-search of employment is preferred to use of travel agent service, she says,

“…. Everything has its pros and cons. 

But it is much better than using a travel agent. However, when you get a wicked employer. There is nowhere to run. At least with the travel agencies, you can go to the travel agencies and ask for a change of employer. However, it is not always easy to trace the offices of travel agencies given that one is always in a new place. 

Emma has worked in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Dubai, Qatar, Iraq and lastly Sudan,

“…In Saudi Arabia, I stayed almost 2 years, Jordan (2 years), Doha (17 days), Qatar (10 months), Iraq (4 weeks) and Sudan (11 months). I left Kenya when things were difficult. We had no food at home. My parents were not working. I am the eldest, I had to find work. My dad was sick, my mum had to lie to him about my journey to the gulf. I went there to support my family; I only came back home when I heard that my father had passed on. I stayed for a while then my mum got a stroke. I had to leave again to support my mum and pay for her medical bills before she died.”

 When asked whether she had any negative experiences, she notes that luckily, she had very few bad experiences, which she has learnt to manage,

“…. I worked in Doha for 17 days because I fell sick. My legs were swollen (because of standing for too long). So, I was sent back home. There was also a time I stayed for a month without work. The travel agent had put us in a house (on the second floor) serving us only lentils and bread. The employers would come and ask small or slim lady. They refuse to have anyone who is big claiming that those are going to beat them. I had to complain that I came there to work.”

 When asked which of the countries had the worst experiences, she notes. 

“…. People have different experiences. Some countries like Saudi Arabia have extremely strict rules. Those girls who go there and do not understand the culture suffer. You need some basic knowledge of the country. That is what girls need to know. At least, now, some countries are emphasizing training. The travel agency had taken my passport and refused to give it back. I think, the government is working with the travel agencies because, when a travel agency is involved, there are no hiccups. You do not get stopped in the airport. We do not get checked. I know you do not want me to go back to Saudi, but what choices do I have if the whole family depends on me?”  

AWE is trying hard to persuade Moline and Emma to stay. We hope by the end of the therapy they can be convinced to change their minds about migrating to the Gulf.

Evelyne left Saudi Arabia 2014 when she was about 23 years. When she got to Saudi, her first employer confiscated her passport (apparently this is legal). She had no knowledge of Arabic language, and she did not know anyone. Her employer also confiscated her phone. However, she managed to come across it (during her work) and took and hid it. All the time, she felt like a prisoner in that home. She could not converse with anyone because she spoke no Arabic and had no connection to home. Her troubles worsened when one day, she met an African lady, got excited, and began conversing with her,

“…my boss was not very happy that I had talked to someone. I started receiving death threats”. 

Nevertheless, she continued working tirelessly with little food. At one time, she got sick. Her employer ignored her. She continued working without rest (yet sick) or was not taken to hospital. She was only given Panadol to ease her pain, 

“…there was no medication, yet I was sick. In fact, one day I collapsed because of work. I was taken to hospital. I relaxed at the hospital then went home and continued working. There was no end to work. One day, I was taken to work in the rural areas. I was working for so many families. The houses are big between 6 and 15 rooms besides toilets, I had to clean the whole house. I would wake up 5am, prepare the children, start cleaning, do laundry. At 3pm, I would be asked to shepherd the animals (camels) in the fields and leave the fields by 11pm. I would come back eat (very little food), do the dishes and any other chores, and sleep 1am (earliest).  Given the culture where men and women do not mix, I was expected to find time to clean men’s room. Sometimes, the men of the house would make advances at me. 

They would wait when I was cleaning the room and harass me. I had sometimes to lock myself in the bathroom to avoid rape. There was nothing anyone could do. Those people had guns. I knew it because I used to clean them. I lived in constant fear. 

This got me to think ways of escaping. I went online on Facebook and started looking for anyone for help. Luckily, I found someone (from Kenya who was in that country) who offered to help. He told me what to do. He organised the whole thing. I told him where I lived, and he came. He told me to take my clothes as if I going to throw trash outside and got into his car. That is how I left that house without my passport. I had worked there for almost 2 years”. 

Later, Evelyne got another job and worked for 1 month. She never got paid and left the job. She got another employer who was better relative to the first employer. She was taking of an old woman. Her work was to give her medication to her, clean the house and prepare her food. The work was not heavy, and she was treated well. However, she had to leave Saudi in 2017 because government crackdown on immigrants without passport, 

“…. there was a scandal. There were reports going round, workers were running away from employers. The only option was for workers without passport to surrender or face imprisonment when found. 

Through her boss, she chose to surrender. She went to check whether her boss had retuned her passport but found that she was already listed in the black book. There was no option but to return to Kenya in 2017. 

According to her, once you are in the black book, you cannot return to the country for 5 years. After 5 years, she tried getting back but could not. She chose to stay. I was lucky to meet Resi and Raphael from ETAW who have been counselling to settle in Nairobi”.

We met Evelyne last year during our ETAW meeting and that is how we got to know everything. She agreed to join our ETAW team as an ambassador. However, since her return, she has been in abusive marriage which often is violent. She got into depression and almost went quiet, 

“…I did not want to talk to anybody. Things were bad. I lost weight due to the domestic abuse in marriage. Now, I am healing. I have peace since I separated from my husband”. 

Eva is now employed as tailor but also under hard conditions. Her dream is own her business as a tailor. She needs about KES70000 to KES100000 as capital to start this business. 

We met Moline recently after returning from Sudan. She had gone there for work and had worked for 2 months under deplorable conditions, in her words. 

“…this is the worst job I have ever had. I have in the gulf before, but not Sudan. It was bad. There was no time for rest.” 

The war in Sudan ended her employment in Sudan. They had to escape with her employer and family through Ethiopia. They could fly through Sudan. Her employer (who she calls madam) had requested her to go with her to where she was going but she chose to come home (Kenya),

“…she was not good boss. She really mistreated me. She only came to know my value during the war. The war is Sudan was bad. I heard guns. At first, I did not know what it was. It was Madam who told me to get into the house. I would have died…There had cut down electricity, water, and internet. We had to flee.”

 Although Moline has just landed from Sudan, she is still looking to have another job but not in Sudan. She has three children, two boys and one girl. The two boys are in high school the father of the boys died when they were still young -in fact, the last one did not get to see his father. Moline was still young then. This situation is what prompted her to look for a job in the gulf region. In her words,

“…things were tough. I had no parents. I only had my eldest sister. So, I left the children with my sister and headed to Saudi Arabi. That was in 2012. I have stayed there for 5 years”. 

“...The business was doing well. I had come from Saudi, and I had made good savings. This is the money I used to start a business. The business grew because I had managed to persuade some Arab Clients, however ex- lover duped me. I am happy I can talk about this freely to ETAW because it is helping me heal my wounds.

Moline is hopeful that she will find a job. She can now speak Arabic and she is an expert chef in Arabian dishes. Even though she is aware of the dangers awaiting her, moline thinks she can go to the gulf, save some money, and come back and start a business. We hope by the end of the program she will be persuaded to stay.