Travelling to Kuwait… BEWARE!

Posters that hide the truth (Gary German images)

 “Travelling to Kuwait”… this is a phenomenon that has gripped our Cameroonian society. Young girls tend to be excited when they envisage themselves travelling to Kuwait to get a job. Some of these young girls are often in search of a job or greener pastures, while others are just attracted by “flashy things”. These young girls give away the small money they have to so call “agents” that facilitate their travelling process.

Things however change when they get to Kuwait; these young girls become slaves who work for more than 22 hours and they are molested sexually. Also, they have their passports seized and are cut off from the world and once they get there it is extremely difficult to leave.

They are consumed in this spiral of suffering, poverty, torture and death. I came across this recording that says it all….

The Guardian says:

Once in Kuwait, women often completely disappear from view. Isolated in private households and excluded from Kuwait’s labour rights legislation, they are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Once employed as domestic workers in Kuwait, women find it difficult to leave if they suffer abuse. Under Kuwait’s kafala sponsorship system, domestic workers are not allowed to leave or change jobs without their employers’ permission. With their residency status also tied to their employer, if they run away they become “illegal.”

They suffer in silence (news24online pictures)

This has to stop (global pictures)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world is a crazy place; things are never what they seem to be. That all alone should make people wise and careful in anything they do. It is always preferable to stay back home in poverty than to go to a foreign land with promised riches.

Banners, adverts, flyers, websites, word of mouth and other ways of publicising and promoting this phenomenon of “travelling and working to Kuwait” should be hindered.  Spread the word about the sufferings our girls face there and let this phenomenon come to an end.

I pray for girls already in this hell, may the Lord be with them and keep them safe until the Cameroon government intervenes in this situation.