JEDDAH - Ethiopia is facilitating procedures to send 45,000 maids to the
Kingdom every month, an informed source at the Ethiopian Embassy in Saudi
Arabia has said.
Ethiopian housemaids have been high in demand after the Kingdom stopped
recruiting housemaids from four countries, including Kenya, because the
Kingdom has been unable to reach a satisfactory agreement with these
countries, Asharq Al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
Noor Adeen Masfa, Vice Consul for Economic Affairs in Jeddah, said his
department and committees from the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor met several
times to facilitate the travel of housemaids to the Kingdom after they are
properly trained in Ethiopia.
"We decided to finish procedures of 1,500 housemaids due to the increasing
demand for Ethiopian housemaids by Saudi families. Ethiopian housemaids are
trained well on Saudi customs and traditions, besides the percentage of
runaways is low," he said.
Unavailability of sufficient flights from Addis Ababa has also caused the
delay in the travel of a large number of housemaids.
Some Saudi families have complained that their Ethiopian housemaids left
their households after coming to the Kingdom to work illegally because they
get lucrative offers from private companies and brokers. Masfa said this
matter was studied and discussed. Deterring penalties will be put on
housemaids who do that, he said.
"Some Saudi families employ housemaids illegally and pay them SR2,000 a
month. That's why many housemaids run away," he added.
Masfa said the Ministry of Labor in Ethiopia is considering to put
conditions in the contracts to allow housemaids use a cell phone and talk to
their families and the consulate in the Kingdom.
"Saudi recruitment offices have welcomed this idea," he said. - SG __
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Received on Sat Mar 17 2012 - 08:05:23 EDT
