25,000 Ethiopian maids wait for flight to Saudi Arabia
By Hamdan Al-HarbiOkaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – The arrival of about 25,000 housemaids from Ethiopia has been delayed because of a shortage of flights from Addis Ababa, a senior official said here Friday.

Ali Al-Qureshi, member of the National Recruitment Committee and a member of the Recruitment Committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), has urged the airlines operating between the Kingdom and Ethiopia to increase their flights to lift the maids now stranded in Addis Ababa.

Saudi families are desperately seeking housemaids from other countries after their recruitment was banned from Indonesia and the Philippines earlier this month. With Ramadan fast approaching, the need for the housemaids is ever-growing with black marketeers making huge profits.

Al-Qureshi said the National Recruitment Committee has managed to employ a large number of Ethiopian domestic workers as part of the committee’s plan to open new channels for housemaids to break the Indonesian monopoly.

He said there are seven flights a week which are only enough to lift 1,000 maids a week. The recruitment procedure, he said, are normally completed in a fortnight, but the main problem is to make travel arrangements for the domestic workers.

Easy recruitment procedures in Ethiopia and the assurances given by the Ethiopian government for a smooth flow of domestic workers to the Kingdom have been encouraging factors for several recruitment offices in the Kingdom to look toward the African nation, he said.

Recruitment offices in the Kingdom see Ethiopian workers as good alternatives to Indonesians, some of whom have become a source of great nuisance to Saudi recruiters because they flee their employers and cause other problems, he added.

Yahya Aal-Maqbool, head of the Recruitment Committee at Jeddah Chamber, said Ethiopian domestic workers are good substitute for the Indonesian and Filipina workers, pointing out that Ethiopian maids have worked in the Kingdom for a long time, but they were employed by a specific class of the society.

In view of the unacceptable conditions set by the Indonesian and Philippines for recruitment of domestic workers from the two countries, the Saudi Ministry of Labor banned recruitment from those countries, which led the National Recruitment Committee to open new channels in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Vietnam.

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cf ... 0716105311

The job nobody wanted.

Saudis eyeing Ethiopians as maids
By ROY C. MABASA
July 18, 2011

MANILA, Philippines — Recruits from Ethiopia are being considered to fill the gap that will be left by Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

According to Yahya Hassan Al-Maqbool, head of the recruitment committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ethiopian recruitment offices should be able to provide the manpower following the kingdom’s decision to ban domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia.

"This will expedite the recruitment of Ethiopian housemaids and reduce the procedure’s duration which is three months at present," Al-Maqbool said in a statement.

Saudi newspapers earlier quoted a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor saying Saudi employment agencies would recruit domestic workers including maids from countries other than the Philippines and Indonesia.

According to the reports, the decision is a result of a breakdown in negotiations between Manila and Riyadh regarding labor issues.

Among others, Manila had wanted a minimum monthly wage of $400 for Filipino domestics, a location map from prospective Saudi employers of their residence and the opening of a bank account by the employer for the hired maids to ensure that their salary would be paid.

With this suggestion of Al-Maqbool to tap Ethiopian manpower, labor experts say the Philippine government can abandon any hope of sending domestic helpers to Saudi.

Al-Maqbool said that at present, Ethiopian recruitment officers were only allowed to deal with two Saudi offices. "The Ethiopian offices should be allowed to deal with many offices in the Kingdom," he said.

Each Saudi recruitment office was processing 60 visas from Ethiopia every month, he said. "We are requesting to increase the number of visas given to each Saudi office to 500 monthly," Al-Maqbool said.

He also called for more weekly flights between Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia to "expedite the recruitment of housemaids from Ethiopia."

Al-Maqbool described the manpower recruited from Ethiopia so far as good, but said the final judgment would take time to make.

He expressed his belief that the recruitment of 25,000 housemaids from Ethiopia during the coming few months was not difficult or impossible if there was cooperation from the Ethiopian side.

"The Ethiopian manpower has proved that they are a successful substitute for manpower from Southeast Asia, who were causing a lot of problems," he said.

There are 170 offices in Ethiopia and 150 offices in Kenya that are licensed to export manpower to Saudi Arabia.

According to press reports, the kingdom will open training institutes in the two African countries for the possible recruits.

The demand for housemaids in the kingdom is said to have gone with Ramadan only two weeks away.

Many Saudi families are now even seeking the help of illegal housemaids who demand a monthly payment of 2,000 Saudi rials.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/327312/sa ... ians-maids

Ethiopian maid forced to have sex with sponsor

KUWAIT CITY: Forced sex with sponsor: An Ethiopian housemaid who claims that her Kuwaiti sponsor forced her to have sex with him over a two-month period has been referred to Forensics, reports Al-Anba daily.

This came when the maid through the lawyer of her embassy filed a complaint with the police and the Public Prosecutor referred the case to Forensics.
The sponsor is expected to be summoned for interrogation.

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDeta ... fault.aspx


Ethiopian woman sexually harassed by gang

KUWAIT CITY: An Ethiopian woman working at a shop in a commercial complex lodged a complaint at Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Police Station, accusing a group of Asians of sexually harassing her. She said the men live near her flat and had harassed her several times. Police took details of the men and will call them for interrogation.


Ethiopian woman demands KD 15,000 worth car, KD 5,000 cash

Out-of-court settlement over kidnap, rape bid

KUWAIT CITY : Two Kuwaiti youths allegedly tried to kidnap an Ethiopian woman, who works at a restaurant, in Abu Halifa recently.

According to security sources, the woman cried out for help when the suspects suddenly parked a luxury car beside her and forced her to get into the vehicle with the intention of raping her. Passersby rescued the woman and reported the incident to a nearby police station.

Sources revealed the suspects’ families have been negotiating an out-of-court settlement with the woman.

Sources said the woman allegedly demanded for the luxury car, which is worth KD 15,000, in addition to KD 5,000 cash.