Almost every home of Arabian Gulf nationals has an imported housemaid. Used to be that most of them were Goan and other Indian women though that has changed to maids from Nepal, Bangaldesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other far eastern countries.
Depending on the household, some were treated well and others quite badly. In common was the fact that once they entered employment with the family, their passport was taken from their custody, against all international norms, in order to prevent them from walking away when they wished, for whatever reason, with or without valuables and gold ornaments worth small fortunes. Come the unbearably hot summer, the family takes off to cooler climes, lock stock and barrel that includes the domestic retinue. Before Lebanon's civil war disruptions, the favored destination used to be Beirut once described as the Switzerland of the East. After that it has been the UK and in a few cases the USA. Now a Gulf newspaper reports that maids who go with such families to these destinations are lured by local employment agencies offering attractive salaries with the chance of deserting the Arab employers who are holidaying there and living in the west. Apparently maids are running away while their passports are still in custody of the employer. Perhaps they get a police report with the aid of the employment agency and get another issued by their embassy or mission there. Complaints have been made that these maids are often deserting children in their care while outside the home and taking off with no previous indication whatever. I am sure the employers are all the more frustrated since the usual complaint of stealing from them doesn't hold water with police in those countries where freedom of movement is a sacred right unlike for these maids back in the Gulf where their movements are severely restricted and where a complaint of stealing whether justified or not, lands them in severe police trouble. I am equally sure that the employers will have some aces up their sleeves. Since not taking them is not an option due to the work for the children involved, perhaps they will resort to luring them back to their countries on more attractive propositions and when the maids fall for that ruse, they will be grabbed by police on some charge or other. Many Goan maids working for rich and generous Arab families are known to have earned the trust and along with it the ability to bring in their sons and daughters on 'free' visas which enables them to work locally and improve their lot. These maids on retiring after long service, get generous settlements that includes lots of gold and the right of return to 'see' the family and get more such gifts. George Bush Sr has been known to have earned this 'right of return' for his liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein and gone back to the USA plied with valuable gifts even a billionaire oilman would envy. Roland.
