Al-Madina I have never expected the price for recruiting a housemaid to reach exorbitant rates that ordinary people cannot afford. Only millionaires and billionaires will be able to pay such huge amounts because for them the money is peanuts and they will never hesitate spending it. I never believed when my friend told me that she had to pay SR17,000 to hire a maid, who does not know how to cook, from a recruitment company for a six-month period. My friend was forced to hire the maid when her own maid had to travel back to her country on short notice. Often we read advertisements by recruitment companies, which claim the maids they supply would not run away from employers and even if they abscond the employer would get a substitute. This was an attractive offer after Saudi families suffered immensely due to runaway maids. On the basis of the new law, recruitment companies have to supply substitutes when maids run away from employers. But the prices charged by recruitment companies are much higher than what Saudis in the middle-income group can afford. They charge between SR4,000 and SR7,000 for the substitute. A maid may continue with a Saudi employer for years if the latter behave with her decently. The recruitment company supplies maids and drivers and the luckiest among us would be able to keep them while the unlucky would lose their maids as well as the money they spent on recruitment. After the crisis created by Indonesia and runaway maids, it was better for all of us to solve the problems caused by such situations and take action against defaulting recruitment agencies. The government should change the policy of preventing individuals from recruiting Indonesian maids. Saudi families have been comfortable with Indonesian maids albeit there were excesses from both sides. Only a few incidents of violence have been reported involving housemaids from that country. The exaggerated incidents should not be used as a pretext to force Saudi families to recruit Ethiopian and Kenyan maids who are not good in household works. A lot of problems have been created because of the failure of these Ethiopian and Kenyan maids to acclimatize with Saudi families. Of course, our families had to put pressure on these maids to get the required service for the money they had paid. I cannot understand the logic behind preventing individuals from recruiting Indonesian maids while allowing recruitment companies to supply them. I believe that this is one of the reasons for the skyrocketing recruitment fees. The government has not taken any measure to protect Saudi families with middle income from the craziness of recruitment companies. My friend paid SR17,000 for an Indonesian maid who cannot even cook. She decided to keep that maid, although the company agreed to send another. She thought it was better to keep that maid instead of trying another who might have other drawbacks. My friend thought it was better for her to accept the reality in the absence of a monitoring authority that has left consumers to become prey to greedy traders. The black market for maids will continue so long as the authorities follow the same policy. Appointing a maid is no longer the sign of prosperity and lavishness of a family as even some poor families would require them to take care of their handicapped children and sick parents. These families may not possess even SR1,000, forget about SR17,000, to hire a maid for six months and pay the same amount again for another six months. The problems facing recruitment of maids can be added to various other problems faced by Saudis, which include housing and skyrocketing rents. People should look at those around them instead of looking at those in the highest echelons to see the poor condition of their compatriots having low salaries with unlimited expenses. They live among us shouldering various family responsibilities and huge financial burdens.
