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Filipino worker beaten/locked up for refusing to be a maid

On October 26, 2007

According to Arab News, a middle-aged Filipino woman was beaten up because she refused to be a maid/slave:

Officials at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah yesterday said Myrna Salvador was admitted to Dr. Baksh Hospital in the Mina district of the city after suffering a fractured spine and hip. She was brought to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon by her employer’s driver and another worker.

Salvador, a single mother, left her two young children with relatives in the northern Philippine province of Bulacan when she was recruited by Samba Services agency to work at a beauty parlor owned by her employer, Malika Al-Otaibi, in Jeddah for a salary of SR1,500 a month.

This mistreatment is truly disgusting, and let's remember that most of such cases don't even make it to the media so we've yet to hear the worst of these stories.

You can read the rest of the report here.

There is still no NGO that is active towards this issue, partly due to lack of resources/funds and partly because not many people actually care to help. What a sad reality to deal with, and what's worse is that our silence/inactivity is putting even more lives at risk.

We should really do something. For months we have been saying this with no one offering their help in putting together an effective campaign to end this or at least increase awareness on what's happening. There is no way that people are truly aware of this yet allowing it to happen, which is just as bad as actually taking part in what we consider to be a serious crime against humanity. If we make enough people aware of this we can make a difference.