Abuse or unemployment: Philippine domestic helpers face stark choice in Kuwait as stories of exploitation by horrible bosses emerge
Sometimes brutal conditions and the hide-and-seek with Kuwaiti police are outweighed by the need to provide for their families at home
After the murder of a Philippine maid in Kuwait, domestic helpers are streaming back to Manila with tales of abusive employers – but many are still prepared to take their chances overseas again.
For them, the sometimes brutal conditions and the hide-and-seek with Kuwaiti police are outweighed by the need to provide for their families at home.
“The mother of my boss, she would hurt me, she would hit me with a shoe with a thick sole. My body was bruised but I would not (go home),” said Marissa Dalot, 40, who laboured for almost five years in the wealthy Gulf state.
“I did not want to go home. I wanted to continue working because my kids were still in school,” said Dalot, who finally decided to fly home over the weekend.
In all, some 10 million Filipinos work overseas in a wide variety of jobs and their cash remittances, which the central bank says totalled over US$28 billion last year, are a major contributor to the Philippine economy.