HUMAN CRUELTIES IN KUWAIT.
After reading in this forum yesterday’s news item on brutalized maid in Kuwait, our readers will know what tragic events are taking place in Kuwait especially for the weaker section namely the maids. According to many, what it is highlighted in the local press in Kuwait is like a tip of an iceberg, thank God at least it is coming out now openly. Earlier it was not, the way it is exposed now. Earlier most of the maids in Kuwaiti houses were Goans and they have suffered worst of tortures from their barbaric Kuwaiti employers who loved torturing their maids. They have failed to show compassion to their domestics who like goats meekly surrendered to the torturing by their employers. Maid assaulting and raping are very common in Kuwait and many of our Goan sisters, wives, mothers and other females have suffered this humiliation silently. Yet most of them supported Kuwait, Kuwaitis and their cause of liberation during the invasion of Kuwait by coming on to the streets in Goa in a show of solidarity with Kuwait against Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The uniqueness of Goans among Indians is forgiveness and forgetfulness, for this reason Goan maids came on to the streets in Goa in support of Kuwait. I don’t think Kuwaitis would do the same for Indians. I pity those Goan maids who had to bear all the humiliations from Kuwaiti employers who treated and still treat them as slaves against the teachings of their great and compassionate religion, Islam. Inspite of praying five times a day, many Muslim Kuwaitis treat their maids ruthlessly. Inspite of performing their religious rites regularly they harass their maids. This is against their religion and God will punish severely all the wrong doers, either today or tomorrow.
The incident of Philipina maid brutally beaten and thrown out of window like a cat by her employers is a crime and as such the perpetrators of this heinous crime should be punished. Good that this maid survived to tell her true story otherwise her employers would tell that their maid intentionally jumped from the third floor to escape from the work and died. In this case it would be an end of the story which would be treated as Suicide. I hope poor young maid will recover soon to return to her home place.
It is great to see Philippine Ambassador personally coming to see the tortured maid and took the matter in his hands for further investigation. Would our Indian Ambassador act similarly in a similar case if it happened to Indian maid and especially for a Goan maid? In the past, one Malyali Indian Ambassador encouraged and supported a western couple to kidnap a Goan boy from the hands of his mother as if Indian boy is a toy. Instead of supporting Indian boy, the Malyali Indian Ambassador supported westerners unlike Philippine Ambassador who show keenness to support Philippine nationals. Philippine Embassy is the only Embassy in Kuwait taking maximum care of its citizens in Kuwait especially of its maids.
From the account of the brutalized Philippina maid one can easily conclude how dangerous it is to get recruited in Kuwait thru Maid Recruiting Agencies. Some of these recruiting agencies are acting like butcheries and brothels, they care for nothing other than Kuwaiti Dinars accumulated thru any means. Instead of protecting this Philipina maid from her nasty employers, the agency gave the maid on silver platter to her employers to assault, to maim and to kill her. This is against Islam the compassionate religion that the Kuwaitis are practicing.
Will this maid get justice? I doubt. The employers are refusing to give heed to the summons of the Philippine Embassy. As Kuwaitis the employers will have strong clout in the higher ups, for this reason they don’t care for Embassy’s call. Kuwaitis in this society are wielding lot of power and influence to do what they want, many times many of them even are wrong. This society is not an egalitarian society. Expatriates in Kuwait especially Asians are many times treated with disdain but some Kuwaits who treat Asians and especially Indians with hatred and dislike will not stop sexually seducing their Asian and Indian maids. When the matter of having illicit sex comes they have no shame. This is yet another tragedy we face in this society.
As a matter of interest immediately following the invasion of Kuwait, Philippinas have suffered lot of harassments, molestations and rapings from the disgraceful Iraqi soldiers. The effect of these inhuman atrocities on Philippinas were noticed openly in Kuwait City. Because of invasion of Kuwait, Philippina residents from Kuwait City suffered too much. It is a pity that these pour souls are destined to suffer in Kuwait for no fault of theirs. They are very dedicated workers and sincere to their employers like Goans and precisely because of this soft nature many of them on compassionate grounds volunteered to stay in invaded Kuwait to help and support their employers even without receiving salaries as many of the Kuwaiti employers had no money to pay salaries to their domestics. Staying in invaded Kuwait and face the war was like facing death voluntarily which means committing suicide but many of these maids volunteered to risk their lives for the sake of their Kuwaiti employers. These sacrifices of these domestics cannot be erased from our minds.
This is the holy month of Ramadan. All Kuwaitis will be busy in prayer. Let us all non Muslims also pray for Kuwaitis to treat their maids and weaker section with compassion. That many Kuwaitis are treating their maids with brutality is not a big thing when they burn their own females and children by burning alive over 40 persons within few minutes as it happened in Jahra, Kuwait last week. Their anger is unbearable. Let us all pray during this Ramadan that God may give them cool temperament and may change their attitudes toward better.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
August 21, 2009
August 20, 2009
MAID BRUTALLY ASSAULTED IN KUWAIT BY HER EMPLOYERS.
The following news item appeared in Kuwait’s daily “Arab Times” dated 18.08.09. I am reproducing it for our Goans to read and to know what type of cruelty is going on in this society against the poor maids. Our Goan females wishing to come to Kuwait to work as maids must think twice before deciding to come to Kuwait to work as maids.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
Seen in the picture Philippine Ambassador enquring the condition of the brutally assaulted Philippine maid seated on the chair with her leg in Plaster. The last picture shows her badly bruised back.
QUOTE “HUMANITY DEGRADED … MAID LIVES TO TELL ‘CHILLING’ STAY IN HELL-HOLE.
Employers uncooperative, recruiting office contacted: Embassy.
By Boie Conrad Dublin.
Arab Times Staff.
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 17: A Filipina household helper who was allegedly severely beaten and then thrown out from a third floor window by her Arab employers survived to tell her harrowing tale.
25-year-old Christina (first name withheld on her request) said she underwent operation to correct her broken spine and leg at Al Razi hospital last July 20 where she was brought after the incident.
According to Christina, she ran away from her employer’s home due to physical maltreatment and being denied food, so she sought refuge at her agency’s office in Hawally which then reportedly called her employers who immediately came to fetch her.
Despite her protestations against going back, she said she was forcibly dragged by her employers with the help of an agency employee through a back entrance to avoid attracting attention, to their car and while inside, was continuously beaten and kicked.
“On my arrival at my employers’ home, I was kicked and punched all over my body and later taken to a room and told to stop crying or they will throw me out of the window. But because of the excruciating pain I felt from the beating, I couldn’t help crying, so they came into the room, opened the window and dragged me towards it. I cried and begged them not to and clung to my employer’s legs but they kicked me repeatedly on my face until I was groggy and half conscious and then found myself falling and hitting the ground hard,” Christina sobbingly recalled her ordeal.
She said she learned her employers called for an ambulance which then took her to Al Razi Orthopedic hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for a broken spine and a broken leg.
A concerned compatriot, a nurse, at Al Razi hospital reportedly called the Philippine Embassy to alert them about her case and shortly thereafter, a representative from the embassy came to check on her.
She was discharged from the hospital three days ago and is now being looked after at the Filipino Workers Resource Center or FWRC of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office at the Philippine Embassy.
Screaming and crying in pain even at the slightest movement, she struggled to utter a few words asking H.E. Ambassador Ricardo M. Endaya to seek justice for her and make her employers and the agency answer in court for leaving her maimed, possibly for life.
According to knowledgeable sources, the employers are refusing to cooperate ignoring summons from the Philippine Embassy to appear and shed light on the matter. Ambassador Endaya also has reportedly called the agency’s representative and the owner to explain their side in allegedly forcing the victim to return to her employers despite knowledge that she was being maltreated.
The Philippine Embassy has retained the services of top caliber Kuwaiti lawyers to handle Christina’s case.
Ambassador Endaya held an emergency meeting Sunday with Embassy and POLO staff to discuss cases of abused workers and to remind them of their responsibility as diplomats whose main concern should be the protection of Filipino nationals”. UNQUOTE
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
Seen in the picture Philippine Ambassador enquring the condition of the brutally assaulted Philippine maid seated on the chair with her leg in Plaster. The last picture shows her badly bruised back.QUOTE “HUMANITY DEGRADED … MAID LIVES TO TELL ‘CHILLING’ STAY IN HELL-HOLE.
Employers uncooperative, recruiting office contacted: Embassy.
By Boie Conrad Dublin.
Arab Times Staff.
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 17: A Filipina household helper who was allegedly severely beaten and then thrown out from a third floor window by her Arab employers survived to tell her harrowing tale.
25-year-old Christina (first name withheld on her request) said she underwent operation to correct her broken spine and leg at Al Razi hospital last July 20 where she was brought after the incident.
According to Christina, she ran away from her employer’s home due to physical maltreatment and being denied food, so she sought refuge at her agency’s office in Hawally which then reportedly called her employers who immediately came to fetch her.
Despite her protestations against going back, she said she was forcibly dragged by her employers with the help of an agency employee through a back entrance to avoid attracting attention, to their car and while inside, was continuously beaten and kicked.
“On my arrival at my employers’ home, I was kicked and punched all over my body and later taken to a room and told to stop crying or they will throw me out of the window. But because of the excruciating pain I felt from the beating, I couldn’t help crying, so they came into the room, opened the window and dragged me towards it. I cried and begged them not to and clung to my employer’s legs but they kicked me repeatedly on my face until I was groggy and half conscious and then found myself falling and hitting the ground hard,” Christina sobbingly recalled her ordeal.
She said she learned her employers called for an ambulance which then took her to Al Razi Orthopedic hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for a broken spine and a broken leg.
A concerned compatriot, a nurse, at Al Razi hospital reportedly called the Philippine Embassy to alert them about her case and shortly thereafter, a representative from the embassy came to check on her.
She was discharged from the hospital three days ago and is now being looked after at the Filipino Workers Resource Center or FWRC of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office at the Philippine Embassy.
Screaming and crying in pain even at the slightest movement, she struggled to utter a few words asking H.E. Ambassador Ricardo M. Endaya to seek justice for her and make her employers and the agency answer in court for leaving her maimed, possibly for life.
According to knowledgeable sources, the employers are refusing to cooperate ignoring summons from the Philippine Embassy to appear and shed light on the matter. Ambassador Endaya also has reportedly called the agency’s representative and the owner to explain their side in allegedly forcing the victim to return to her employers despite knowledge that she was being maltreated.
The Philippine Embassy has retained the services of top caliber Kuwaiti lawyers to handle Christina’s case.
Ambassador Endaya held an emergency meeting Sunday with Embassy and POLO staff to discuss cases of abused workers and to remind them of their responsibility as diplomats whose main concern should be the protection of Filipino nationals”. UNQUOTE
TIATRO "TO AMKAM VISORLO "By Jacinto Vaz".
Hi Veronica,
Sending you a few pics for use in goa-kranti of tiatr 'To Amkam Visorlo'. Originally written and directed by the late Jacinto Vaz and presently being staged all over Goa by Ben Evangelisto.
Daniel
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