According to Mary, a young African girl from Zimbabwe who was
lured to work as a slave in Kuwait, there are many girls and women from poor
countries who are trapped in the Arab region.
Mary is one of the few fortunate African girls who happened
to meet a kind slave owner; otherwise most young women who are lured or
smuggled to work overseas are treated inhumanely. Mary’s boss allowed her to
use a cellphone, she was given her own room and bed to sleep and she had access
to good food that was served to guests and family in the house.
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| Beautiful African girls posing and playing in front of the camera |
However, like other girls who are trapped in the Gulf
region, a string of disappointing surprises was in store for her. Her job
designation as a Maid turned out to be false; she was not going to be working
for a hotel earning US$250 a month. Instead, she would be working for a slave
owner. Girls like Mary are recruited through various channels by agents who are
keen to cash in on the slave trade, which is thriving in many parts of the
world, especially in Asian and Arab countries.
According to an interview with Mary, some of her friends are
regretting their decision to accept the offers of employment in the Gulf
region. One of her friends named Rudo (pseudo
name) had a horrible experience with her boss.
Rudo was one of several girls who responded to an advert in
the local newspapers in Zimbabwe. The advert was looking for young women and
girls to work in Kuwait as Maids. The only requirement was that the candidates
had to be female and healthy, that is HIV negative. Girls who passed the HIV
test were given job offers to work overseas in Kuwait. They were not going to
pay the expenses related to immigration and relocation. The recruitment agency
paid for the candidates’ flight tickets, meals and airport shuttles.
If you are a poor girl from Africa, Asia, South America,
Latin America and the Caribbean, it is hard to resist such an offer. The
recruitment agents will never reveal the true nature of the job which the recruits
will find themselves in once they arrive at the destination. They take
advantage of the desperation of girls in third world countries who will jump at
the opportunity to work for a measly US$250 a month, which is more than enough
for most of them.
Once Rudo was recruited by her Zimbabwean agents in the
capital city (Harare), she and other Zimbabwean girls who passed the HIV Test
were given their air tickets to board a plane at Harare International Airport.
A connecting flight landed them in Kuwait where they were escorted by agents on
arrival. Each girl was taken to her boss’s house, where she would be working as
a “Maid”.
Unlike Mary who was treated well, Rudo did not have that experience.
Her boss treated her like a dog. She did not have a room to sleep in. She was
told to sleep in the verandah on a thin mattress. She did not have a bed and
her only meals were scraps of food left by guests and family members during
lunch and supper.
She was told to wake up at 5 am every morning, to start her
chores like cleaning, washing and cooking. She was supposed to cook for guests
anytime of the day or night. Traditionally, Arab families are large, and
usually live together in a big house with many rooms. There might be over 20
people in the house to cook food for every night and day. You can imagine the
amount of labor that is required to take care of such a number of people.
Rudo managed to escape her Kuwait captor’s home, and she is
back in Zimbabwe, narrating her ordeal to the local media. The story circulated
in the media, and this got the attention of the police who initiated an
investigation. Seven Zimbabwean suspects who were responsible for recruiting
unsuspecting girls in Harare were arrested and their passports were confiscated.
The suspects are out on bail, but as the investigations revealed, a former
Kuwait Embassy official was also implicated in the human trafficking syndicate.
It turns out there was a Zimbabwean agent based in Kuwait who was facilitating
the trade of opportunity-seeking girls to recruiters in Kuwait. He is reported
to have vanished when news of the bust came out.
According to Mary, there are a lot of African girls who are
trapped in Kuwait, and they have no means of going back to their countries.
Most are in an abusive work environment, where they work long hours as slaves.
[True Story from STAR FM radio]
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