Interview with migrant workers in Bahrain
June 1st, 2007 | Bahrain, Housemaids, Women, Working conditions | Discuss (9)I conducted several interviews with housemaids, a farmer, and a public bus driver in Bahrain. The language barrier made this very hard. I had to mix several languages. Originally I wanted this to be a podcast, but interruptions happened frequently, and also I had to repeat or re-phrase some questions since not all of them understood the words. Finally though, after days of trying to get as much information as possible from their experiences, I managed to pull this through and to organize each interview session. By the end both my questions and their answers were clear enough for me to be able to fully understand and publish this.
I’ll do this in section, to make it easier for the readers.
The first interview I conducted was with an Indonesian housemaid who works nearby. I interviewed several maids who work nearby but I found this to be the most alarming so far, so this is the first one I chose to translate and post.
This is a recording that I had to change to proper English (it was in Arabic mostly, and some Indonesian.) It’s very time-consuming to try and translate this as accurately as possible so that I don’t in any way misrepresent her. I had to leave some parts out due to lack of relevance. In any case, I did my best, and here it is. [My comment within this interview are placed between brackets.]
Name: Razan
Nationality: Indonesian
Occupation: Housemaid/Nanny
Age: 31
Me: Razan, I’m recording this interview for a case study I’m doing on migrant workers in the Gulf. I hope you won’t mind if I share this. Is it okay for me to publish this recording and make it available for others to listen to?
Razan: Yes.
Me: How long have you been living in Bahrain?
Razan: 9 years now.
Me: Did you ever go back home?
Razan: Not a single time.
Me: Why not?
Razan: I am not allowed a vacation.
Me: But it’s not a vacation. Most have contracts that don’t last over 2-4 years, until it is renewed. In this period they can go home for up to 1 month or slightly more.
Razan: Contracts?
Me: Yes, the agency provides a contract which you are required to sign when you go to a new house.
Razan: I don’t know.
Me: Do you like being here?
Razan: It’s not the best.
Me: Why not?
Razan: I’m disrespected.
Me: Disrespected by whom?
Razan: Sir, Madam [note: this is what most maids here call their employers], children, all.
Me: Where do you work and sleep, can you show me?
Razan: It’s the outside room.
Me: Which one?
Razan: Outside. You can’t see it. Behind the house, next to the garage [note: the garage is filthy. I expect her room to be in similar conditions if not worse.]
Me: Can you show me inside?
Razan: Right now, I have to prepare laundry, Madam doesn’t allow me inside the room only if I sleep. I must be here, or if they call me and I am not available, you do not want to see their anger.
Me: Were you ever physically abused?
Razan: I am not certain how to explain it. Feelings hurt more than my body sometimes.
Me: What is the best thing about your job?
Razan: [laughs] Maybe when the family is away, I can sit at home and think. That never happens now. When they leave this house, the responsibilities for me grow, and it only makes it hard. If they come back and the work is not completed, that is big trouble.
Me: Your Arabic is excellent.
Razan: After 9 years, I learned.
Me: Do you ever consider going home?
Razan: When I left my child and husband, my child was only 1 years old. Now he is 10. I did not see him grow. This is the thing that I hate the most. I want my family so much.
Me: Do you ever write letters, or call?
Razan: Calls are not allowed.
Me: Letters?
Razan: I cannot really write.
Me: But after 9 years! What do you do?! How do you communicate with your family?
Razan: I don’t.
[At this point, quite honestly, I was on the verge of tears.]
Me: On behalf of your employers I truly apologize… you don’t deserve this treatment.
Razan: I thank you. It is not your fault.
Me: Why did you come here?
Razan: I did not have options… we are very poor. My child depends on me for money, my husband is the one feeding and taking care of him. We also need to pay for his school. They need me to work here, and I send the money.
Me: How much do you get paid?
Razan: 1 month, I get BD 40 [this is about $106]
Me: You send this yourself?
Razan: No, I have copy of address in Indonesia. I give to Madam, she sends by air [she means mail here.]
Me: And how often do you work per day?
Razan: I don’t stop. I can’t stop. When they go to sleep, they leave me the entire laundry and dishes, and they want it done by the morning. Madam wakes up at 7, if it is not done, I am in danger. Sir wakes up at 4 or 5 for his morning prayer. I must clean his car every day. But they have people in their house maybe until 10 or 11, and they leave the house dirty. I sleep for no more than 3 or 4 hours, and the rest I am working both inside and in the garden or washing their cars.
Me: Wow, mashalla! You are amazing.
Razan: [laughs] I am used to it.
Me: But for all this Razan, you get BD 40 per month? That is far too little. For the work you do, you deserve much more!
Razan: If BD 40 puts food in my son’s mouth, I am happy.
Me: Well, knowing that you go through all this, I am not happy!
Razan: What can we do? This is life.
Me: This isn’t life. This isn’t living. How can you accept that?
Razan: Where do I go?
Me: The agency. Tell them what is going on.
Razan: What agency? Do you see me have a car? I don’t know anything. I can’t leave this house without being lost. I think of leaving many times but where do I go?
Me: Razan you have to tell them to show you the initial contract. You can see there for how long you signed for. 9 years, it sounds a bit funny.
Razan: They give me trouble. Sir and Madam are strong.
Me: You can ask them, no? Tell them, I am just curious about my work. Since next year will mark my 10 years of being here, can you please allow me to visit my son in Indonesia?
Razan: I think about it.
Me: Think about it.
Razan: If with my own money, I cannot. Not enough.
Me: If you are going to come back to them after 1 or 2 months, many employers offer to pay for a 2-way ticket to ensure your return.
Razan: I think about it.
Me: Thank you for this interview Razan. I would like to show the world what people like you are going through.
Razan: It’s not a nice life, but you will find it everywhere. I do what I can to survive. Allah gives me the power.
[End]
If I manage to edit this correctly; I would also like to feature this in an Arabic podcast here. Let me know if any readers here are interested.
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:36 AM
Oh my GOD, This is absolutely disgusting! I can’t believe that there are people who act in such monstrosity, they shouldn’t even be called human! Herein Jordan, it’s different, the employer pays for the two way ticket, and the contract is 4 years the most, calls are allowed and the maid is allowed to go out! She if she was abused she has the right to complain, it’s almost heaven compared to what Razan has to live through!
June 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 AM
This is sad.. but true.. but working for nine years without a breaking or seeing her only son..Ouch!
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:04 PM
Complain to whom when she is not even allowed to go out…even on Friday ?
June 3rd, 2007 at 2:58 AM
Yes, I’ve read about many such cases in Bahrain. it is very sad that people are abused and taken advantage of. I also saw it alot in South Africa. But the bottom of the line is I don’t really think much can really be done about these situations unless the governments step in. In South Africa you are required by law to draw up a contract with your housemaid, you are required to pay a minimum salary of x amount, and you are also required to contribute 1% of their salaries, matched by your equal contribution, to an Unemployment Fund. You are also required by law to give them sick leave and annual leave. But again, this can only be enforced if the housemaid actually makes a formal complaint at the Labour offices. They sometimes wait in very long qeues to even see a consultant, and many times their files get lost. Once again it brings me to my unviersal point: most things always come back to government. They are meant to represent the people and work in the people’s best interests, but the global trend just proves that most are completely corrupt, work hand-in-hand with big corporates for profits, profits, profits, and really, its never about the people at the end of the day!
If anything we need to petition governments directly to bring in laws that protect these people, and hope that they are able to follow through with cases of complaints.
As for helping these people, the only way we can help them is to educate them about self-empowerment. And to create shelters where they could go to for help…….
June 5th, 2007 at 4:32 AM
“Sir wakes up at 4 or 5 for his morning prayer”.
He seems to be a good muslim.
There is no god. There is only humans who should be responsible towards other humans.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:53 AM
Thank you for bringing this to light. From some of the comments it seems some countries have tightened up their laws to prevent the most egregious exploitation. Hopefully your blog will help Bahrain to do the same. Or you might get sued. Good luck.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:16 PM
What horrors. And there are probably millions of people in similar situations. I continue to be astonished at how brutal people can be to other people. And “Sir gets up at 4 or 5 to pray”!! Just another example of someone who sees only “the letter of the law of God” but fails to see “the spirit of the law of God”, namely, that all men are created equal and are made of the same identical substance of the earth.But truly, Sir and Madam have their reward in the bitterness of their own souls, for no human can be that way and be truly happy inside.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:56 AM
Horrible. But I have seen many housemaid are going out for the purchase.
This means some OR many cases are there as described.
But ofcourse, need unity and come out to do something
July 13th, 2008 at 8:51 PM
If you want to serve your Creator, serve His creation. What gain will his morning prayer give him?