HARASSMENT OF MAIDS IN KUWAIT.
This is in response to the earlier article in this forum on the subject "HOW TO KEEP MAID AT HOME”. Let me applaud Rev. Thompson for very intelligently and boldly writing his views on this very pathetic topic that we witness in Kuwait. Maid harassment is a curse on those who are harassing them unnecessarily. Maid harassment like beating, torturing, raping and even killing is the shame on this society where we are living and earning our livelihood. No maid is coming to Kuwait to desert the house of her employer or sponsor but the sponsors and employers of the maids in many cases are responsible for this grave situation. No maid is coming to Kuwait to jump from the top of the floor and commit suicide. They are as given to understand either thrown down by their employers or in extremely rare cases they commit suicide after exhausting all avenues to get them peace. Every maid comes to Kuwait with heavy responsibility to earn some Dinars and sustain her family members back at her home who are living only on the remittance of the maids. When they have such a heavy burden of responsibility, they will on their own volition never commit suicide.
With my limited knowledge I can say that nowhere in the world maids are so much maltreated as it is in Kuwait which is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world. Everyday reading in the local newspapers of their hardships and listening to their stories personally I can rightly say that many if not most of the maid employers are unfit to employ maids in their houses because they do not know to treat human beings as humans beings created by the same God. Treating maids as sub-human beings and as slaves is not only a sin but a sacrilege deserving highest divine punishment. Because of maid harassment by the locals in Kuwait, the image of this country was already tarnished beyond reparation. And yet most of the locals are immune to this criticism even when it came from American Senators and World Human Rights bodies.
During the period of invasion of Kuwait, I was busy in organising public meetings and public rallies in Goa in support of Kuwait and to condemn Iraq for invading Kuwait. The echo of our voice we raised from the streets of Panaji, Goa was heard not only in Delhi but also in other parts of the World including Iraq thru media and news channels. A few days before our first rally on 12th November 1990, I as an initiator of this movement to organize rallies and meetings was approached by a delegation of Arabs supporting Saddam Hussein and his invasion of Kuwait to stop me from organising our public rally on the streets of Panjim and public meeting at Azad Maidan, Panjim. For this they offered me huge purse of money which I flatly refused. Then they offered me threats and also threats to my family. This also I brushed aside as if it is nothing. Then to prick my conscience and excite me, they raised the issue of maid harassment in Kuwait where they said "Kuwaitis are maltreating innocent Goan maids and since this is the case why do you support the cause of Kuwait and Kuwaitis when your Goan maids are brutalized in Kuwait by the Kuwaitis?" For this I replied, “I strongly condemn the harassment of maids who are as good as sisters and mothers to me but their issue is totally different from the invasion of Kuwait issue which cannot be tolerated yet maids issue deserve highest condemnation and I condemn it openly and also I strongly condemn all those who practice brutality against maids and weaker segment of the society”. The harassment of maid issue is not a small matter. It is a matter of shame for Kuwait and Kuwaitis as a whole though there are many Kuwaitis who treat their maids decently and humanely. I salute them.
Inflicting corporal punishment on maids is a sin against God and those who pray 5 times a day and still perform such cruel acts against weaker section of society is extremely "haram". Those who beat maids are cruel people, they have no authority even to touch the hair of a maid, leave aside skin of the maid. Only barberians can beat and torture maids. The government has not given an authority to any Kuwaiti or any employer of maid to harass and beat the maids and yet the employers of maid use their "dadagiri" against maids whose position in front of their employers is like that of a goat in front of the knife wielding butcher.
I really feel disgusted when I come to know of maid beatings by the Kuwaitis. I know personally so many of our Goan maids were maltreated by the Kuwaitis as if these maids are slaves. Many of the maids came to Kuwait not because they are fit to be maids but only as a last resort after exhauting all the options to earn their livelihood in Goa. Many of our Goan maids working in Kuwait are of very high standard even having maids in their own houses in Goa before coming to Kuwait. But later on due to the circumstances beyond their control they migrated to Kuwait for greener pastures by working as maids. In Goa there is no movement done yet to raise the issue of maltreatment of our maids in Kuwait in particular and in the Gulf in general. Human rights activitists and church leaders should campaign hard on this subject. This ongoing system of maid harassment in Kuwait should be stopped, it is unbearable.
As a matter of interest for Kuwaitis, many of the Goan maids who participated in our rallies and meetings in support of Kuwait during the invasion of Kuwait were themselves the victims of beatings and rapings from the Kuwaitis. Inspite of facing so much of maltreatment from the hands of Kuwaitis they still supported Kuwait's and Kuwaitis' cause. This is the greatness of the character of Goan maids in particular and Goans in general. Forgiveness and forgetfulness is the hallmark of Goans. And this makes a Goan unique in India.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
