Maids Share Stories of Nearly Being Worked to Death by Saudi Employers

Selvia, a 27-year-old former maid from Sumbawa, a district of West Nusa Tenggara, has been partially paralyzed since 2007.

It happened when she worked as a domestic worker in the Saudi Arabian city of Nabuk, where she says her employers nearly worked her to death.

“They didn’t torture me, but they frequently scolded me and I had to work very hard, lifting heavy objects like gas canisters,” she says.

The back-breaking work did just that — it broke her back, and now Selvia cannot walk properly.

Such stories are common, but only receive sporadic attention, such as the recently discovered horrific abuse of Sumiati, an Indonesian maid, by Saudi employers.

Selvia returned to Indonesia in July 2010.

“When she tried to walk, bent over, I could see that it was costing her a lot of effort,” says Endang Susilowati, an activist from the Panca Karsa Foundation (PPK), which helps former migrant workers who have suffered abuse. “Now her condition is getting worse.”

Endang accuses the government of ignoring its obligations to Selvia by not allowing her full treatment the West Nusa Tenggara General Hospital in the provincial capital Mataram without a government-issued insurance card known as a Jamkesmas.

Selvia’s injury, she argues, stems from a workplace accident, and as such the migrant worker placement agency (that sent her to Saudi Arabia ought to pay for her medical bills and arrange her insurance.

Yanti Yusepa, 25, from West Lombok, is another injured former migrant worker who is still waiting for her insurance payout.

She went to Saudi Arabia on Aug. 29 and arrived back in Indonesia on Oct. 6, paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from a second-story window to get away from what she called chronically abusive employers.

Yanti says she worked for three different families in Saudi Arabia, fleeing from the first two after they starved and physically abused her.

She says the third family was particularly cruel. The daughters would burn her with a hot iron while their mother would beat her. That abuse induced her desperate flight.

“I’m still traumatized. I get scared every time I remember mustering the courage to jump from the second-floor window,” Yanti says. “Not a single person was willing to help me when they saw me fall.”

She says she has not received any compensation from her Jakarta-based placement agency, Sinar Berkilau Mandiri, or her Bahrain-based agent, Al Gandir.

She says the agency only gave her Rp 100,000 ($11) to seek treatment at a community health center upon her return.

Yanti says she knows of at least 26 other Indonesian migrant workers sent out by the agent in Bahrain who have also been abused by their employers, in some cases sexually.

“I was afraid to tell this to the agents because they always threatened me and accused me of lying,” she says.

Awajir, a field recruiter for SBM in the province, said the company was fully committed to its obligations to Yanti.

“We even spent Rp 16.5 million of our own to bring her home when her parents got news that she had jumped from the window,” he said.

He added the company was also trying to process her insurance claim, but said Yanti had refused to have her injuries assessed at a hospital.

“We don’t want to be called irresponsible,” Awajir said. “She asked to be brought home, and we did it. She asked for her insurance payout, and we’re working on it.”

Baiq Halmawati, from the PPK, says more than 350 domestic workers from West Nusa Tenggara are currently stationed overseas and may be facing abuse or inhumane working conditions.