DR. ALI AL-GHAMDI There have been many news reports lately about crimes allegedly committed by housemaids.There are stories about housemaids strangling children or putting pesticides in their milk with the intention of killing them. The newspapers are full of such stories which are also discussed in family gatherings and reported to the police. At the same time, we also read and hear about a housemaid committing suicide by hanging herself from a fan in the ceiling of a house, another killing herself by drinking clorox and a third jumping out the window and falling to the ground breaking her back or leg in an attempt to run away. Regretfully, we have not made in-depth studies of the causes of these incidents, crimes and tragedies. We tend to forget that servants and housemaids are human beings like us with the same feelings and sentiments. Like any other people, housemaids can become physically, psychologically or emotionally ill especially as they have left their homes, husbands and children in quest of a better living. They want to make money to build a house, educate their children and raise the standard of living of their families. We also tend to overlook the fact that a maid who was forced by circumstances to leave her husband, children, family and homeland behind has a limited amount of energy which she cannot increase. We ask her to get up in the wee hours of the morning and to work until after midnight without complaint. We have no consideration for her health or psychological condition. We do not heed the fact that she may not have sufficient experience in carrying out house chores or that she has come from a country of different cultures and values. We do not hesitate to reprimand her verbally or physically for any mistake which may not be wrong from her point of view. The same applies to the man working as our driver. We ask him to work for the whole day and a large part of the night driving in congested streets in suffocating weather. Some of us (mind you I am not saying all of us) do not provide the housemaid or the driver with good food or suitable accommodation. They feed them from their leftovers or serve them with unhygienic food. We do not honor the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which says: " Your servants are your brothers so feed them from what you eat and dress them from what you wear. Do not ask them to do difficult or impossible work and if you do, assist them". The accommodations of housemaids and drivers are another story. They are like prison cells in which the occupant can hardly move. A trusted friend told me that he wanted to buy a spacious and suitable villa but when he saw how small the room for the driver was, he gave up the idea of buying it. We can find excuses for people who buy small pieces of land to build small houses on them. In this case the room of the driver or the housemaid will be small in proportion to the constructed area, but we cannot find any excuse for citizens who build large houses with big gardens and yet give the driver or the housemaid a small room which is not more than few square meters in size. Concerning the salaries of housemaids, we tend to forget the Prophet's Hadith: "Give the hired hand his wage before his sweat dries." This is a call for speedy and timely payment of salaries. Some employers will not pay their housemaids or drivers for months and months. Whatever reasons they may have, this is shameful behavior. Some Saudis complain about housemaids and drivers who run away. They claim that they spent a lot of money on their recruitment but after the probationary period of three months, the workers disappeared into thin air. In fact we should only blame ourselves for this. Housemaids and drivers run away because they are offered double their salary to work illegally.There are brokers who are opening their arms to receive runaway maids and who rent their services to other families for a commission. There are also immoral brokers who accommodate runaway maids in special apartments to do "immoral work". The employment of runaway maids is a gross violation of the country's rules and regulations and it deprives others of their rights. A man spends a lot of money to import a housemaid or a driver and waits for a long time for their arrival, and then out of the blue someone comes along and encourages them to run away from him. There are many other risks involved in the employment of runaway housemaids and drivers. How, for example, can we trace them if they commit a crime? Lastly, I strongly believe that we alone are responsible for what happens to housemaids and for whatever they may do. We are not innocent after all. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
