Dear Vernonica
It was good to read your article and I concur with your sentiments that there is something very dark in the Kuwaiti psyche that allows them to treat maids so appallingly. It would be good to see champions raised for all the different sending nations - you are obviously an eloquent advocate for the Goan maids and it would be great to see others raised to speak out for the Ethiopians, the Filipinos and Bangladeshis and so on. God Bless you in your efforts.
Yours Andy Thompson,
Chaplain
January 26, 2009
January 25, 2009
HARASSMENT OF MAIDS IN KUWAIT.
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.
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.
January 24, 2009
HOW TO KEEP MAID AT HOME
The following article was published in the local Arab Times on 23rd of this month. For the benefits of Goans in particular and goa.kranti readers in general I am reproducing it herebelow. Since there are innumerable maids working in Kuwait, this article will be very informative for our maids as well as to their families. I hope our Church leaders in Goa will highlight this subject in ther preachings in the Churches and religious places to educate our people of the ills maids are facing in Kuwait.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
HOW TO KEEP MAID AT HOME.
By Rev. Andy Thompson.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church,
Ahmadi, Kuwait.
A recent visit to a jail reminded me of the scale of suffering for women in Kuwait. They come to serve families as domestic workers often at great personal expense and sacrifice to their families back at home. Every week the Arab Times continues to report maids who commit suicide, jump out of buildings from the upper floors in order to escape, fill hospital beds because of injuries from their employers and simply absconding through sheer exhaustion.
Running away does not help anyone. Often the maid by running away goes from frying pan into the fire. Gangs on the look out for runaway maids persuade and then force them into the sex trade. For the employers they suffer the inconvenience of having to find another maid and pay yet another 500KD in recruitment fees. Even worse they have the shame of having people wonder what they did to their maids to make them run away.
The reality that these women are human beings, wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of our creator God, seems to be forgotten. One employer on hearing how her maid had been brutally raped and forced into the sex trade after running away told me that the maid still owed her money and what I am going to do about that !!!
The role of a domestic worker in the Gulf has a long history. Traditionally the servants were very much part of the household and treated as extended family members and as such would stay with the family for years and years. Nowadays temporary contracts are more common and the expectations from the domestic workers is that they are employees and not family members. This has been a significant shift and in fact still ongoing. There is a clash of expectations from both employees and servants. Families long for their servants to belong as an extended member of the family.
There is a little known book in the Bible called Philemon which is solely addressed to the issue of runaway slave and his employer. St. Paul pleads with the employer to treat his runaway slave with compassion and ask him to recognize him as a man and a brother. In return the slave is encouraged to work hard and not give cause to his employer to be unhappy. This advice is very relevant today. “Servants obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart. Serve wholeheartedly as though you were serving the Lord and not men because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for what good he does, whether he is slave or free. Masters, treat your servants in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him” (Ephesians 6.5.9).
In practical terms this means that maids who are paid regularly treated fairly and given time off will be more likely to stay and honour their obligations to the family and less likely to run away.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
HOW TO KEEP MAID AT HOME.
By Rev. Andy Thompson.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church,
Ahmadi, Kuwait.
A recent visit to a jail reminded me of the scale of suffering for women in Kuwait. They come to serve families as domestic workers often at great personal expense and sacrifice to their families back at home. Every week the Arab Times continues to report maids who commit suicide, jump out of buildings from the upper floors in order to escape, fill hospital beds because of injuries from their employers and simply absconding through sheer exhaustion.
Running away does not help anyone. Often the maid by running away goes from frying pan into the fire. Gangs on the look out for runaway maids persuade and then force them into the sex trade. For the employers they suffer the inconvenience of having to find another maid and pay yet another 500KD in recruitment fees. Even worse they have the shame of having people wonder what they did to their maids to make them run away.
The reality that these women are human beings, wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of our creator God, seems to be forgotten. One employer on hearing how her maid had been brutally raped and forced into the sex trade after running away told me that the maid still owed her money and what I am going to do about that !!!
The role of a domestic worker in the Gulf has a long history. Traditionally the servants were very much part of the household and treated as extended family members and as such would stay with the family for years and years. Nowadays temporary contracts are more common and the expectations from the domestic workers is that they are employees and not family members. This has been a significant shift and in fact still ongoing. There is a clash of expectations from both employees and servants. Families long for their servants to belong as an extended member of the family.
There is a little known book in the Bible called Philemon which is solely addressed to the issue of runaway slave and his employer. St. Paul pleads with the employer to treat his runaway slave with compassion and ask him to recognize him as a man and a brother. In return the slave is encouraged to work hard and not give cause to his employer to be unhappy. This advice is very relevant today. “Servants obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart. Serve wholeheartedly as though you were serving the Lord and not men because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for what good he does, whether he is slave or free. Masters, treat your servants in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him” (Ephesians 6.5.9).
In practical terms this means that maids who are paid regularly treated fairly and given time off will be more likely to stay and honour their obligations to the family and less likely to run away.
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