Fauziah Muthoni went to Qatar in search of a better life, but ended up being a slave

Despite the several terrifying stories that have been reported by Kenyans working in the Middle East, Kenyans still ignore and troop there. Why?
Most people use agents to get there and since those agents are after money, they don’t state clearly the jobs and location when recruiting. Majority get fixed into fake jobs with outrageous fake salary which always ends up to be a scam.

Is that what happened in your case?
Yes, when I applied for a secretarial job in Qatar, the agency assured me that they have legal secure jobs. My salary was to be Sh45,000. I went through the application process including paying their service charge which was Sh50,000, but upon arrival in Qatar I was told to board another flight different from where I was going. They stated that the papers I had signed were from Saudi Arabia and not Qatar.  I did not have any money to go back home, so I proceeded to Saudi Arabia. When I arrived I was told my work was a house help.

Why didn’t you refuse on arrival and seek help from Kenyan Embassy?
I was hit with a language barrier immediately I arrived in Qatar. Everything was in Arabic and we could only communicate through a translator. I tried calling my family back home but there was an issue with the network connection so I didn’t manage to reach them. I was also informed that my alleged employer had spent his money to pay for my flight ticket so I couldn’t leave without working for the money he had spent.

Was it easy to adjust from your fake promised secretarial job to being a house help?
It was traumatising. My hell started the very day my boss picked me at the airport and the first threat I got from him signaled the hell I had fixed myself in. He never greeted me apart from dictating that I should have started learning Arabic before I got into the country. Immediately I got there, I was never given time to rest. I went straight to my slavery job. I used to work for 18 hours without breaking or resting. 

What is the worst abuse you experienced while working there?
I realised that those people are inhuman. They would eat and then give me their leftovers which were mixed with whatever they had spit from their mouths. One time I forgot to clean their compound and the son of the family made me stand in the scorching sun from morning till late evening. Remember their temperatures can’t be compared with ours, it’s extremely hot there. When I was released I felt like my brain had melted, I almost went mad and suffered from a severe headache for days.

How did you manage to come back to Kenya?
After working for two years without pay, I was transferred to another house by my employer. He took me to his relative where I looked after their sick mother and did house chores. The first two months they treated me fairly before they turned into beasts and started abusing me. When things got out of hand I ran I way.

As I was walking along the streets, I bumped into a police officer who took me to the police station. Luckily another officer who could speak English came and after I explained to him what I was going through he accepted to assist me by contacting the Kenyan Embassy. Though they delayed, eventually after six months I was deported back home with nothing but the clothes I was wearing that day. 

The moment you landed in Kenya, how did you feel?
I had mixed feelings. I was somehow thankful that I was back home safely, but I was also traumatised by how I would face my family members. I had left the country in search of greener pasture and now here I was with nothing to take home; I didn’t have even a single coin that could take me home from airport. I begged well wishers at the airport for fare back home. When I arrived I realized that indeed people can die from depression.

Did your family members accept you back?
I think it was hard for them too. My own child could not recognise me for almost one week. Some family members started avoiding me because I had brought nothing. With time, the vivid pictures of what I had faced in Saudi hit me and that’s how I fell into depression. I isolated myself for weeks until I got a chance to attend counselling classes that gave me courage to speak about my pain.

What do you do for a living?
I am an activist for Kenyan slaves in the Middle East. I create awareness by engaging young girls and also domestic workers who wish to work overseas, telling them of the grave danger that they face. I am also a member of Kamukunji Empowerment Network which deals with capacity building and training for informal sector workers.

Recently we partnered with KUDHEIHA, an organisation which trains and places domestic workers. I counsel victims of abuse who have worked in Middle Eastern countries as well create awareness for those with the urge of working overseas as house helps.

What is the biggest lesson you have learnt from your experience?
I have learnt to be contented with the little I earn wherever I am.