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by Habib Shaikh

Padma, 39, went to Saudi Arabia in May 2003 hoping to be able to help her son and daughter financially. She had previously worked in a factory but left the job after marrying. She decided to look for work in the Middle East.

She recounted that: to get the job she had to pay 7,000 rupees ($70) to a travel agent. She sold the furniture and electrical goods in her house.

"I thought after earning money in the Middle East, I would be able to replace them. But now I am struggling as I came back, more or less empty handed," she moaned. Padma said the agency had promised her a monthly pay of SR450, which is equal to about 12,000 rupees and double the average wage of a factory worker in her country. The private agency was to collect a further sum of money through Padma's employer in Saudi Arabia.

"I registered as a foreign housemaid at the government-run Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment before departure," she said.

She was one of a group of 123 housemaids who landed in Riyadh. The agent in Riyadh took them all to the agency house where they were treated roughly. If anyone fell asleep due to tiredness, the agency's officers would kick them to wake them up. Everyone had to stay awake until they were assigned to their workplace. Sometimes women stayed there for three or four days sitting on a chair.

From the outset, Padma was shifted from one place to another. "My first place was the house of an officer in Riyadh. I did not understand the language so a Sri Lankan driver translated for me," she added. The officer complained that he had wanted a young person, not a middle-aged woman like her.

After four days, Padma was suddenly asked to pack her bag without explanation. She was put in a vehicle and dropped back at the agency house. There, they asked repeatedly about her age. The Sri Lankan agent had lied about her age. She was quite disturbed and started crying. The agency owner took Padma to his house. where she stayed for 16 days without work. She had no chance even to post a letter to her husband and children in Sri Lanka.

"One day when I was at the agency an Indonesian girl in her 20s returned there because she had trouble at the house where she worked. The agency owner hit her with his hands and legs. I was so shocked. We could not speak to each other because of the language difficulty. But she understood that I had no money and gave me SR10 to send a letter to Sri Lanka," Padma recounted. Finally, the agency found another house.

"My new mistress was a doctor. In that place, I did not get enough to eat. After four days, at my request, the doctor dropped me back at the agency house," Padma said. She was sent to another employer where she worked for five months without being paid her monthly wage. "In that house there were 28 people, including 16 children. I worked from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

First, I had to do all the heavy housework alone. A few days later, another Sri Lankan girl joined me. On some days both of us would wash 30 heavy items. We had to clean the house, wash the carpets and toilets and also help with the kitchen work. I worked without any pay and could do nothing about it," Padma said.

Without her knowledge, she was 'sold' to another job firm. The new agency sent her to another place in Qassim, 300km away from Riyadh. "The Qassim house was good compared to the others," Padma said.

Her new employers were teachers. She worked there for nearly one and a half years and received her promised monthly salary. But the house owners' mother pushed her into making a loan of $1,200 or equivalent to 10 months salary, which was never returned. Padma went back to the agency because her visa was due to expire in May 2005. She was hoping to return to Sri Lanka but, without informing her, the agency had renewed her visa for six months.

For another four months, she worked at the house of a relative of the agency owner. The agency owner then took her to his own house before passing her on to another agency, four days later. The previous owner had kept her bag during her stay and when she opened it she found two gold rings and a chain were missing. She reported the theft to the new agency, but nothing happened. Padma finally returned to Sri Lanka.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.