Four months after landing in Saudi Arabia, Rehema Nyevu could not continue staying with her abusive boss and decided to run away.
Nyevu, a 29-year-old mother of two, left her family in Kokotoni village in Kilifi county in December last year with the hope of making a fortune as a house help in Saudi Arabia.
She was part of about 20 women from Kwale and Kilifi counties who secured jobs there through a Kenyan recruitment agency.
In April this year, Nyevu had had enough of mistreatment and physical abuse and decided to run away. She was arrested and taken to a detention centre.
According to her family members, Nyevu’s travel and work documents were seized by her former boss. She cannot move around or travel back to Kenya. She does not have money to come back, either.
According to her elder brother, Douglas Karisa, Nyevu contacted the family to inform them what she has been going through since she landed in Saudi Arabia.
Since she left her employer, Nyevu has been living in detention, with little hope of coming back to Kenya because she does not have money or travel documents.
“My sister has been living in fear at the centre, not knowing what to do, since she ran away from her employer. We need about Sh54,000 to help her back to Kenya,” Karisa said.
He said they have also contacted the recruitment agency that took her to Saudi Arabia, but its staff said there is nothing they could do.
They have also tried to get assistance from the offices of Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and his Mombasa counterpart Hassan Joho, but no help is coming their way.
“So far, we have managed to raise Sh30,000 after selling some family cows. We are yet to get the required amount to help our sister,” he said.
Karisa said after Nyevu fell out with her bosses, they had agreed to pay for her fare back home but later changed their mind.
The employer went and demanded the money they had deposited with the recruitment agency in Saudi Arabia offices.
Karisa is now appealing to well-wishers to step in and assist him to bring back his sister safely into the country.
Nyevu’s case is not an isolated one.
Kenyan women have continued to suffer in foreign lands, especially the Middle East countries, but due to poverty levels in Kenya, more women are still flocking to those nations.
Recently, a video of Rose Kazungu Charo, also from Kilifi county, went viral showing her in poor health and seeking help to get back home.
She has been sick and abandoned at a detention centre since her health condition cannot allow her to continue working.
In the video, Charo is seen complaining that she is yet to receive her medical results to know what she is ailing from, yet her condition continues to worsen.
Muslims for Human Rights rapid response officer Francis Auma called on the government to come up with regulations for migrant workers in the Middle East.
He said there are many unscrupulous individuals masquerading as travel and recruitment agents trafficking innocent Kenyan girls to foreign nations.
“Since January, we have received over 20 cases of women complaining of mistreatment and abuse in Saudi Arabia. We now want the government to regulate the recruitment process of people going to work in those nations,” Auma said.
He blamed the Kenyan Embassy in Saudi Arabia for not listening to the plight of Kenyans abroad.
-Edited by Skanyara
