From a domestic worker to a landlord

Zipporah Nyokabi has teamed up with her sisters to invest in housing units. [PHOTO: JOSEPH MATHENNGE

We often hear stories from the Gulf where migrant workers lose their lives, while others undergo untold suffering. But for ZIPPORAH NYOKABI, working as a housegirl there was a blessing in disguise.

When Zipporah Nyokabi left the village in Limuru, Kiambu County in 2011 to go to Saudi Arabia as a migrant domestic worker, she had a dream. Her dream was to use her earnings to uplift her family from abject poverty and set them on a path of economic empowerment. Today, Nyokabi is contented with what she has achieved and she is now the talk of Bibirioni village because of her achievements.

Hers is a story of rags-to-riches after building a two-storey block of residential houses and turning her mother's mud house into a four-bedroom bungalow still under construction.

"I look back to when we were living in a mud house then later to a timber shack, and where we are now, and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to go and work in Saudi Arabia," says Nyokabi.

She adds that although the stories of mistreatment of Kenyan migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia do happen, she was lucky to get an understanding employer who treated her well.

She worked in Saudi Arabia for eight years, at a time when reports indicate that at least 93 Kenyans have died in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries since 2019, according to government reports.

Others, especially domestic workers, have complained of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse by their Arab employers. But not for Nyokabi.

Communication breakdown

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"When I reached Saudi Arabia in January 2011, there was a communication breakdown between me and my employer because of language barrier, where I spoke English and she spoke Arabic," Nyokabi said.

She decided to quickly learn Arabic so as to break this barrier and that is what helped her to be able to solve the communication problem between them.

Nyokabi says she believes language barrier could be a major contributor to the differences between Kenyan domestic workers and their employers in Saudi Arabia.

"After I started speaking Arabic though broken, my relationship with my employer improved and I was provided with a friendly working environment, good food and my needs were catered for," she adds.

She notes that when her employer learnt that her favourite dish was not rice, which she served on daily basis, she started buying for her fresh maize and beans to prepare githeri for herself. Nyokabi says even after her initial setbacks, she was never distracted from her mission of improving the welfare her family back home.

That is how she ensured that she channeled her salary back home to educate her siblings and cater for other family needs.

"I was later joined there my two sisters and we started pulling our resources together. We have now built a two-storey residential house and we are in the process of completing a four-bedroom bungalow for our parents," she adds.

Nyokabi says they have become role models in their home village for managing to uplift their family from abject poverty by working as migrant domestic workers.

She adds that allegations of sexual harassment and violation of workers' rights in Saudi Arabia are not far-fetched but they happen because of some of the workers complicity.

"These things happen, just because they did not happen to us does not mean there are no such vices out there," she says.

She however notes that some Kenyan domestic workers fail to complain when their rights are being violated, thereby encouraging their exploiters.

Financial discipline

Ms Anne Mburu, a migrant jobs recruitment agent says Kenya migrants securing domestic jobs, especially in Middle East countries; get training support from the Ministry of Labour.

"The government launched a curriculum on Homecare Management that pointed to pre-departure training and orientation for workers," she says.

Mburu adds that that Nyokabi, who shares her success stories about Saudi Arabia on her YouTube channel, has helped to give different perspective about working conditions in the Middle East.

Nyokabi's mother, Florence Gathoni Waweru, heaped praises on her, saying she has helped uplift the family from poverty.

"I am very happy for what my daughters have done for us as a family, but I know they managed to do this because they have financial discipline," she says.

Adding that were it not so, they would have squandered their money on other luxuries, "without considering our condition as a family."