Every day, runaway workers can be seen milling around the gate at the entrance to the Labour Office of the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Despite the risk, they run away because of ill-treatment. Overwork, no pay as well as physical or mental abuse are their common complaints.
Cielo had worked for four years for a local family and during that time had been denied any communication with her family in the Philippines. Upon arrival, her cellular phone had been confiscated and she was not allowed to leave the house, even on her supposed day off. She explained that in the entire four years of working for her employer she had been able to send money home only once and this amounted to AED 2,500 (USD 680 approx.). Once when she attempted to escape, she was caught by the wife of her employer and as punishment she was held down while a hot iron was pressed against her arm and her stomach. In September 2007, she finally managed to escape and make her way to the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi which is now handling her case. Six months later, matters are still not resolved.
Theresa comes originally from Antique, a province in the Central Philippines and has six children at home that she is seeking to support. She came to the UAE to work for an Arab employer and signed a contract for two years with a Manila-based employment agency. Her specified monthly salary is supposedly AED 750 (USD 204) but for the past eight months she has not been paid at all. In desperation, she ran away. She explained that not only did she receive no money for her work but she was often physically abused by her employer and her employer's 10-year old child who had taken to biting her arm as a means of getting attention. She was unable to complain as the excuse of her employer was simply that had she been attending properly to his needs, he would not have had reason to bite her. The fault was therefore her own. Her arm has now become infected. She was constantly being accused of stealing jewellery, money and other valuables and was allowed no privacy at all. She was unable to close the door of her room and her employer would conduct random checks of her personal possessions. She was not allowed a mobile phone nor any means of communication with the outside world. When her arm became infected because of the constancy of the bites inflicted on her she managed to run away. She is now receiving medical attention but her future is unsure and she is destitute.
Rowena trained as Janitress in Manila in preparation for overseas employment and signed a two-year contract to work as a janitress in the UAE at a monthly salary of AED 1,500. Upon arrival, she was told that her original job was no longer available and she would be employed as a domestic servant at a salary of AED 700 per month or less than half of what she had expected. Because she needed the work she had no choice but to take the new contract but found that her life was a miserable one. She had to work seven days a week, was allowed no rest and no privacy. If she took a rest break from her duties she was accused of laziness. She was constantly being verbally abused and accused of stealing— even to the point of food items that went (supposedly) missing from the refrigerator. In the end, she could take no more and exhausted, she fled to the Labour Office of the Philippine Embassy, seeking their help to return to her family.
Angelita worked for Lebanese family and had already completed 17 months of her two-year contract without a break. Recently, she asked her employer for 15 days vacation in order to visit her family in the Philippines and sort out some personal problems but her request was refused and she was hit by her employer when she sought to intercede with him to allow her request. Fearing that she would be penalized for daring to argue with her employer, she escaped from the house and is now seeking the means to return to Manila.
Fedeliza worked as a housemaid for a family in which there were 13 children to care for plus the parents of her employer. There were only two domestic helpers in the house to care for a large and demanding family. Her companion was a Bangladeshi and both were constantly exhausted from overwork and lack of rest. They could be called upon at any time of the day or night and were expected to respond immediately. Despite having a contract that paid AED 700 a month, her employer had given her only AED 500 a month. She escaped from the household when her male employer started molesting her.
Sandra had been hired as a driver but instead, was forced to work as a domestic helper. She was accused of stealing jewellery, punched and slapped and had been locked in a room for one week. She had not been paid her salary. When she asked if she could leave and go back to the Philippines, her employer had demanded that she pay them USD 2,000 by way of compensation. Scared of her situation and what her employer might do to her, she jumped from a second floor window in order to escape.
Rowena said she came to the Embassy because her employer had been treating her badly. She had been asked not to communicate with her family in the Philippines but, as she explained, she has a young daughter and needs to keep in touch, even if it is only once a week. Out of her salary, she bought for herself a small mobile phone but her employer found the phone. Not only was her phone confiscated, so was all her money so she could not buy another one. She tried several times to get out of the house but the door and gates were kept locked and the security guard employed by the family had been ordered not to allow Rowena out of the house. At one point she had tried to suicide by overdosing on medicine but all that happened was that she became ill. Luckily she found her opportunity to escape at 4 am one morning when the guard was absent from his post. She found the key to the gate and managed to take with her, her most important possessions. She would like to find alternative employment in the Emirates but is scared because the employment agency with which she signed her contract is looking for her and has demanded her family pay them USD 500 as compensation for not completing her contract.
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