#Dozens #Women #Working #Slaves #Oman #Saved #WhatsApp #Group
Muscat –
BBC Africa Eye investigates how a WhatsApp group rescued more than 50 Malawian women who were trafficked to Oman to work as slaves.
Warning: Details in this article may be disturbing to some people.
A 32-year-old woman sobbed as she recalled the torture she endured while employed as a domestic helper in Oman.
Georgina, who chose to use only her first name, told the BBC she believed she had been recruited as a driver in Dubai.
He owns a small business in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. One day, Georgina was approached by an agent who claimed he could make more money in the Middle East.
It wasn’t until the plane landed in Muscat, the capital of Oman, that he realized that he had been tricked and trapped by a family who exploited him by doing tiring work every day without a break.
“I reached the point I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said, detailing how he could only sleep for two hours every day.
Not long after she started working at the house, her employer began forcing her to have sex while threatening to shoot her if she told anyone else.
“Not only him,” said Georgina.
“He brought his friends and they would pay him afterward.”
Georgina haltingly told how she was forced to have anal sex: “I was badly hurt. I was so desperate.”
It is estimated that there are around two million female domestic workers in the Arab Gulf countries.
In a survey of 400 women in Oman conducted by migrant charity Do Bold, published by the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report in 2023, almost all were victims of human trafficking.
Nearly a third said they had experienced sexual violence, while half reported physical violence and discrimination.
After several weeks, a desperate Georgina asked for help by uploading a status on her Facebook account.
Thousands of kilometers away in the US state of New Hampshire, a Malawian media activist named Pililani Mombe Nyoni saw Georgina’s message and began investigating.
He contacted Georgina and deleted the Facebook post for Georgina’s safety and forwarded her WhatsApp number, which had started circulating in Oman. He quickly realized that this was a broader problem.
“Georgina was the first victim. Then there was one girl, two girls, three girls,” he told the BBC.
“That’s when I said: ‘I’m going to form a group [WhatsApp] because this looks like human trafficking.'”
More than 50 Malawian women working as domestic workers in Oman joined this group.
Soon, the WhatsApp group was filled with audio and video recordings, some of which were harrowing to watch as they detailed the horrific conditions the women endured.
Many of them had their passports taken away after they arrived in the country, so they couldn’t leave.
Some told how they locked themselves in toilets, secretly sending messages asking for help.
“I felt like I was in a prison we would never escape,” said one of the women.
“My life is really in danger,” said another.
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Nyoni started talking to charities dealing with human trafficking in Malawi and was introduced to Ekaterina Porras Sivolobova, founder of Do Bold, which is based in Greece.
Do Bold works with migrant worker communities in the Gulf countries, identifying victims of human trafficking or forced labor and then negotiating with their employers to have them released.
“Employers pay agents to provide domestic workers. One of the most common challenges we face is the employer or agent saying: ‘I want my money back, then he can go home’,” Sivolobova told the BBC.
“The law in force in Oman prohibits a domestic worker from leaving her employer. She cannot change jobs and she cannot leave the country no matter how you are treated.”
This is what in the Middle East is known as the labor system “kafala”, which binds the employee to his employer for the duration of their contract.
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The National Committee for the Eradication of Human Trafficking in Oman told the BBC that the relationship between employers and domestic workers was contractual and unresolved disputes could be referred to court within a week.
The agency added that employers are not allowed to “impose any form of forced labor on their workers” and must not keep “their workers’ passports and personal documents without the workers’ written permission”.
After three months in Muscat, thanks to the help of Nyoni and someone else in Oman, Georgina returned to Malawi in 2021.
“After helping Georgina, I felt angry, I felt very angry,” said Nyoni.
Georgina’s case became a warning signal in Malawi and pressure began to mount on the government to intervene.
Malawian charity Center for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) launched a rescue Oman campaign, calling on authorities to bring the women home.
‘I don’t think there are people on this earth who treat others like slaves’
Blessings is another woman in Nyoni’s WhatsApp group. The 39-year-old woman traveled to Muscat in December 2022, leaving her four children with her sister Stevelia in Lilongwe, Malawi.
He suffered severe burns in the kitchen of the house where he worked, but his employer would not allow him to return to Malawi.
“The extent of the burns, believe me, I saw my sister in pain,” Stevelia told the BBC.
“I remember my sister saying: ‘Sister, I came here because I needed a better life, but if I die, please take care of my children.’ That makes me sad.”
An emotional meeting between Blessings and her family in Lilongwe last October (BBC)
Stevelia began lobbying for her sister to be brought back to Malawi.
Initially the agent angrily told the family that Blessings was dead, but this was not true and finally last October, Blessings returned with the help of the Malawian government.
“I never thought the day would come when I would see my family again, my children,” Blessings told the BBC shortly afterwards.
“I don’t think there is anyone on this earth who treats other people like slaves.”
The Malawian government, which is also working with Do Bold, said it had spent more than US$160,000 (around Rp. 2.5 billion) to repatriate 54 women from Oman.
But unfortunately, 23 year old Aida Chiwalo had to return in a coffin. No autopsy or investigation was carried out after his death in Oman.
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Omani authorities said the Ministry of Labor had not received any complaints from domestic workers with Malawian citizenship in 2022 and only one complaint in 2023 had been resolved.
“The majority of these women were released because money had been paid to their employers, ranging from US$1,000 (around Rp. 15 million) to US$2,000 (around Rp. 30 million),” said Sivolobova.
“So basically, their freedom has to be bought. And that’s what bothers me. How can you buy other people’s freedom?”
A Malawian government spokesperson told the BBC they were developing regulations “to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration that benefits migrants, their families and the country at large”.
Georgina feels calm as she looks at Lake Malawi (BBC)
But Nyoni, whose WhatsApp group has now become more than just a support forum for returned Malawian women, says the trafficking of domestic workers to Oman highlights bigger issues in Malawi, namely poverty and unemployment.
“If young women had job opportunities in Malawi, they would not be trapped. We need to improve this country so that these young people are never trapped like this.”
For Georgina, the trauma she experienced is difficult to forget. He felt calm when he looked at Lake Malawi, one of the largest lakes in Africa.
“When I watched the waves, I was reminded that nothing in life lasts forever. One day this will all be history,” he said.
“I found peace and encouraged myself that I would go back to the old, independent Georgina I used to be.”
You can watch the full BBC Africa documentary Eye Trapped in Oman on the channel YouTube BBC Africa.
(nvc/nvc)
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