Girls from Saudi bondage arrive home while more fly out

Chepkemoi's plight came to the limelight after she exposed the misery she was going through at her employer's house and Kenyans took it up on social media, calling for her rescue and repatriation.

"She was in a very critical condition and I felt so helpless as a mother. It was so painful to see my child assaulted in a foreign country," said Jerotich.

Chepkemoi, a second-born child, sought a domestic job in Saudi Arabia to provide for her family, pay fees for her siblings and finance her university education.

She was a student at Meru University where she pursued a Bachelor's Degree in Food Science Management and Technology before dropping out in fourth year, following the financial crisis at home.

Although she supported her daughter's quest to migrate to Saudi Arabia, Jerotich affirmed her fears about the Saudi tides.

"It's way better to earn little money in your motherland and live in peace. I have heard cases about Saudi Arabia and I didn't like that place, but when she insisted that she was going there to change our lives, I supported her," she said.

Chepkemoi is one of Kenyan women who have sacrificed their freedom, are undergoing mistreatments and others paying the ultimate price to earn a living and provide for their families.

Saudi Arabia bound women at the JKIA on September 6, 2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Some of the girls had escaped from their employers' houses and sought refuge at safe houses and at the Kenya's Embassy in Riyadh.

That's the trend at JKIA. While distraught families are receiving the bodies of their kin who died in mysterious ways or welcoming back a severely damaged daughter from the Gulf, tens of other hopeful young women would be clearing at the airport to the same destination, for the same job.

Dorothy Mwita, a 22-year-old girl from Makueni, left for Saudi Arabia on the Day Chepkemoi arrived. None of the horrific stories of deaths and tortures could move her resolve to work in the irresistible Gulf.

'Anyone can die anywhere'

"I have heard about those cases but it doesn't mean it will happen to me. After all, anyone can die anywhere. We'll all die and it could also happen to me while in Kenya," she said.

Mwita chose to work as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, with her motivation being the two-year contract guaranteeing her a monthly salary of 900 Saudi Arabian Riyal (about Sh28,800).

"I did catering in school but I've not secured a good job. I only earned Sh200 per day from the hotels I have worked in. This job in Saudi (Arabia) could be my luck. Nitaomoka (I'll sail through my fortunes)," she said.

Teresia Wangari, a deportee, says a prayer at JKIA upon arrival from Saudi Arabia on September 6, 2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

"My body was weak and I was sickly. I was subjected to long working hours without resting. Most of us sleep past 2am and you're expected to be up by 8am," said the mother of four.

Odhiambo Ojiro, a Rapid Response Officer at Haki Africa, said their organisation is handling two other cases of girls trapped in Saudi Arabia.

"The two girls are sending distress calls and are unable to communicate with their recruiting agents," said Ojiro.

Families, victims and human rights organisations are now calling on the incoming government to conduct an audit of the number of Kenyans working in the Gulf, the recruiting agencies and work on bilateral agreements with Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.

Political leaders who were among the people who received Chepkemoi at the airport called for a ban on labour export to Saudi Arabia.