THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When Chandrika reached Saudi Arabia last year, she did not know that she was recruited as a ‘Khaddama’, Arabic word for housemaid. The 40-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram was promised the job of an accountant in a hospital in Dammam. She is educated, speaks fluent English and has the experience of working in a Technopark-based company.
Yet, she fell into the trap of a con agent. She endured the situation for five months and had a mental breakdown. When her employer took her to the airport to send her home, she became violent and could not board the plane. As per the law, she should have spent months in jail. But she was rescued by the timely intervention of Manju Manikuttan, a social worker who got her out on bail and arranged a temporary shelter at her own home and a trip back home.
Chandrika’s is not a lone story of Gulf dream going sore. There are many women who are trafficked to Saudi Arabia on false promises and are made to toil, said Manju on the sidelines of Loka Kerala Sabha. She works as a beautician and an accredited social worker of the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Her efforts for voluntary organisation Navayugam Samskarika Vedi has resulted in the rescue of over 400 ‘Khaddamas’ in the last five years.
Women from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh top the list of maids rescued by Manju, followed by those from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The country honoured the Perumbavoor native with Nari Sakthi Puraskar for 2019. President Ram Nath Kovind gave her the award on March 8, the International Day for Women. Manju has a busy schedule and finds time for maids in trouble before her 10-hour shift at the beauty parlour. “I need to go to the beauty parlour only in the noon.
So I spent my time in the morning at government offices which start at 7am,” said Manju. According to her, the lack of awareness about labour laws and immigration laws and unscrupulous agents lead to the exploitation of women. The plight of a Khaddama, played by Kavya Madhavan, was highlighted in the movie by the same name by director Kamal in 2011.
How it happens
The women come to Bahrain and Kuwait on tourist visas and reach Saudi by car. A worker, if not accepted by a sponsor, has to pay a fine of 15,000 Saudi riyals (Rs 28.7 lakh) on the expiry of the three-month visa period. But many of them find employment in the kingdom as maids without proper documents. But it also puts them at risk of physical and financial exploitation.
Though it is not the norm, many are deprived of salary, overburdened with work with little time for sleep and get confined to the house. Some of them run away from employer’s home and take refuge at the nearest police station. The police take them to the deportation centre in the Eastern Province or at the Indian Embassy. Social workers such as Manju meet the victims at the deportation centre and help them to deal with labour court cases and fly back home.
“Many of them do not even wait for collecting salary dues even when they know things are not rosy back home,” said Manju, who lives with her husband Manikuttan and children Abhinav and Abhirami in Dammam.