Saudi Arabia: I want to go home as I don’t want to die here

The poor treatment meted out to foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, especially those from “Third World” countries, is well-publicized.

Well, here is another article about the crummy treatment of a Filipino woman who came to work in Saudia Arabia as a maid in the late eighties, and ended up living as a shepherdess in a remote area while her employer stayed in the city of Jeddah withholding both her salary and her passport. Although she has given up trying to obtain the back wages owed to her, she still cannot leave the country without permission of a court.

Stranded Filipino Shepherdess Gives Up SR63,000, Wants to Go Home

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh (Arab News)

It may sound incredible, but a Filipino woman who was hired by a Saudi family in 1987 as a domestic helper is now stranded at the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah after working as a shepherdess for 18 years in Al-Baha and weathering unpaid salaries, ice storms and being arrested several times by the police.

“I want to go home as I don’t want to die here,” said Leonora Somera, aged 65, in an interview with Arab News yesterday. “My employer still owes me SR63,000 in back wages, but since it seems he cannot afford to pay me that amount, I’m ready to just go home.”