Ethiopian maid thrown off 7th floor in Kuwait returns home

(Photo: Courtesy)

An Ethiopian house help, Adesech Sadik, who was forcibly thrown from the seventh floor of a building in Kuwait in April has returned to her home after the incident that sparked outrage worldwide.

According to the Addis Standard news portal, Sadik arrived home safe and sound and has reportedly reunited with her relatives.

Sadik made headlines when her employer filmed a video of her holding on to a window frame with one hand and subsequently falling on a metal canopy seven floors below. The employer was reportedly detained for the action.

Despite the fall, the maid was able to walk away with just a broken arm and bleeding from her nose and ears after hitting a metal.

Sadik denied media reports that she was trying to kill herself. 

"The lady put me in the bathroom and was about to kill me in the bathroom without anybody finding out, she would have thrown my body out like rubbish, so instead of staying there I went to save myself and then I fell," she said, according to Middle East Eye.

"Praise be to God, I was protected. And so, what can be done?"

The incident renews questions over the treatment of domestic servants in Arab countries, where they are employed by many higher income families.

In Kuwait, there are around 600,000 domestic workers, mainly migrants who go to the country to look for jobs.

Complaints of abuse are common and the country’s kafala system of visa sponsorship prevents domestic workers from changing jobs without the permission of their employer.

According to Human Rights Watch, the system “remains a major obstacle to domestic workers’ rights” despite some progress having been made in 2016 to protect them.