Another Kenyan being held as slave in Middle East

Portrait of Winnie Juma who is on a hunger strike in Muscat, Oman where she is working. [Photo: Gideon Maundu]

MOMBASA, KENYA: Another Kenyan woman is reportedly stranded in Muscat, Oman, after being lured to a non-existent job.

Winnie Juma, until recently a resident of Mombasa, is now on a-one week hunger strike in the Arab country after she was hired as a housemaid instead of an airline cabin crew attendant as she had been promised during recruitment.

Rhillah Juma, her twin sister, told The Standard Tuesday that an agent  recruited her sister earlier this year as a cabin attendant with a leading international airline whose operating hub is in the Gulf region.

“We are devastated as a family as it is less than a week after she travelled and she is already seeking our help to bring her back home,” a sobbing Rhillah said, adding that her parents had been hoping that with their daughter’s new job, the family’s fortunes would improve.

“We had so much hope that my sister could help turn things around for our struggling family but that hasn’t happened,” she said.

Rhillah said she has spoken to her sister twice since Monday last week and each time she had cried for help to return home.

COMMON VIOLATIONS

Efforts by this reporter to get comments from the concerned agent were futile as calls to both his mobile and office lines went unanswered.

Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri) to whom the matter was first reported by the family termed unfair the treatment of foreign workers by governments in the Gulf region.

“Most immigrant workers are subjected to inhuman working conditions in the Gulf states. Their travel documents are confiscated on arrival,” Francis Auma, Muhuri’s Rapid Response Unit head, said.

Auma said Muhuri’s records indicate most common violations include sexual assault, overwork, torture, lack of privacy and starvation.

Early last month, a 20-year-old Kenyan woman from Likoni, Mombasa County, had to cut short her stay in Saudi Arabia after being subjected to inhumane working conditions.

She was helped to return home after The Standard highlighted her condition.

On July 17, Kenyan Charice Chepkirui died in mysterious circumstances just four days after arriving in Lebanon for work.

Charice’s mother Lenah Maasai says the State is not clear about  arrangements to bring the body home. She is also seeking help to bring her firstborn daughter, Jerotich, also in Lebanon, back as she is reportedly also being held against her wish.