By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 23 September 2006
ASIAN embassies in Bahrain will be on standby this Ramadan as officials anticipate an influx of housemaids running away from abusive sponsors.
The Indonesian, Philippines and Thai Embassies, as well as leaders from the Ethiopian and Indian communities, are calling on employers to treat their maids fairly throughout the holy month.
They are concerned by a growing trend of more and more housemaids running away during Ramadan – complaining that they are overworked, forced to fast despite not being Muslims and required to stay up late to prepare meals for the families they work for.
By EUNICE del ROSARIO
Published: 23 September 2006
ASIAN embassies in Bahrain will be on standby this Ramadan as officials anticipate an influx of housemaids running away from abusive sponsors.
The Indonesian, Philippines and Thai Embassies, as well as leaders from the Ethiopian and Indian communities, are calling on employers to treat their maids fairly throughout the holy month.
They are concerned by a growing trend of more and more housemaids running away during Ramadan – complaining that they are overworked, forced to fast despite not being Muslims and required to stay up late to prepare meals for the families they work for.
In the past some have claimed they were physically assaulted by “stressed out” sponsors.
The Indonesian Embassy, in the Seef District, on average assists five distraught maids on a daily basis, but a spokeswoman told the GDN that in Ramadan the embassy receives many more a day.
“It is definitely more than five in a day almost every single day during Ramadan,” she said.
“As the embassy does not have a shelter, we try to help each one and speak with their sponsors to try to resolve their problems.
“At times, if the sponsor is not willing to help, then we take the matter to court.”
She said the embassy is urging employers of maids to treat them properly.
“Maids often complain that they do not get any break at all in Ramadan because they have to work in the morning, then they have to prepare meals for Iftar and stay up until Sohoor (the early morning meal),” she added.
There are about 1,000 Indonesian housemaids registered as working in Bahrain.
The Philippine Embassy, which is the only embassy that has a shelter for distraught workers in Bahrain, said an average of about five Filipina housemaids run away each day during Ramadan based on past records.
“We are on standby once again this year because we expect there to be many maids coming to us for help,” said welfare officer Attorney Venus Bravo.
There are currently about 50 workers at the embassy’s shelter and the number could go up this Ramadan.
“Last year, we had over 70 at the shelter,” said Atty Bravo.
“These maids are being forced to work overtime to prepare large family meals, do their normal chores and look after the children.
Labour attachژ Alejandro Santos has made a fresh appeal to employers of domestic helpers to stop overworking them to meet Ramadan needs.
“What the embassy is requesting for the employers to do is this: if they are not happy with their housemaids then just please take them back to the agency they hired them from and do not abuse them,” he said.
“Employers who hurt and abuse their housemaids must try to remember that these women are human beings too.
“Please do not hurt them. Whatever money you are paying them does not mean you can physically abuse them. This is not acceptable.”
Indian Embassy officials were unavailable for comment, but Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) action committee head Marietta Dias said the “trend” was also evident among Indian housemaids in the country.
“This seems to be the trend here and this year the society will keep a record of the number of runaway maids it receives,” she said.
“The society has also noted that in this year, there seem to have been an increase of runaway maids anyway – all of various nationalities.”
Mrs Dias said that many of the maids brought to Bahrain were inexperienced.
“You have agents that bring inexperienced girls, who are from the interior of the country, those who do not come from big towns but from villages,” she said.
“Obviously, these girls have no clue about their work, the local traditions and culture here.
“We found that within the first two months of coming to Bahrain, these maids run away causing a build up of frustration on both sides.”
She said that employers’ frustrations might also lead to abuse of maids.
“There is no justification of the beating of maids at all, but it is happening more during Ramadan,” she said.
There are about nine maids, mainly from India and Indonesia, currently being provided shelter by the MWPS.
Ethiopian community leader Abdul Salam Daoud said that there might be about 9,000 Ethiopian maids in Bahrain.
“That may not be an accurate figure, but somewhat close to that number,” he told the GDN.
“A lot of them suffer during Ramadan, much more than other times.
“They complain of overwork, that they have to stay up all day and night preparing food for the family and that they hardly get any rest.
“Many of them do not get any rest period, which is very unfortunate.”
He said that community leaders do their best to help those in need.
“Our embassy is located in Kuwait, but we have a tight-knit community in Bahrain and we do our best to help each other,” he said.
The Thai Embassy said it was also on standby, even though there are few Thai housemaids in the country.
“Other than maids, there are those who work in beauty salons that are overworked too,” said a spokesman.
“We are always on standby about this issue and we do our very best to always be there to offer assistance to our nationals.”
© Gulf Daily News