The runaway maids of Oman
The story of Kadiatu, a young Sierra Leonean woman tricked into working as a housemaid in Arabia. Can she and other abused domestic workers escape and start a new life back home
Two hundred young women from Sierra Leone, west Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in shops and restaurants, they say they were into tricked becoming housemaids, working up to 18 hours a day, often without pay, and sometimes abused by their employers. Some ran away, to live a dangerous underground existence at the mercy of the authorities – but now they’re being rescued and repatriated, and some are empowering themselves as independent farmers back home. Tim Whewell tells their story.
(Image: Sierra Leonean women hoping for repatriation after leaving their employers in Oman. Credit: Do Bold)
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The Documentary Podcast
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