About Maids

The news here is all about the maid that is tortured in Medina. And i have read so many opinions about it, so many contradictions that it made me sick.
As we have read that the Indonesian government has halted the coming of women who wanted to work as maids in Saudi Arabia from coming . Honestly i am happy to hear that and wish that this will stop for good. 

Most comments to these news were "it's great" "we don't need them" "witches" "murders" ...etc. Rarely you would read something useful and if you find it , but "even they" would be followed by the main topic.As it happened with many writers in the news papers who kept saying that almost all Saudi are good with their maids so let's not generalize and even they....

Let's be honest about something, there are so many reasons about the mistreatment of maids in Saudi Arabia. i would lie if i say i know half of them, and i can not and wont even sympathy with any.
Are we good with people who work with us in general and that these incidents we keep hearing about are rare situations? . Are we -as a country and citizens- targeted by the foreign media ? Are we simply the best and people are jealous from us and hate us for no apparent reasons? 

The answer to all above is "No". 

The biggest problem here is not anything from the above, the problem is that we can not speak and if we do/did we are going to be labeled as not patriotic, not a good Saudi, westernizer, not Muslim, or not true Saudi -not like not true patriotic, but don't belong to a tribe- .

I know that this is a period , probably a long one, but it will be over. The same as domestic violences and how it was a hush hush topic and now we have governmental committee dealing with such things and father and mothers being sent to jail for being violent with their kids. Yes , the resistance against such movements are still but other voices can be heard too. And i do believe that only through these voices things will be better and the image our country have is completely changed.

Why do we torture our maids , drivers and anyone who works for us? 

But the most important questions is...

why do we torture people who are mainly from poor countries, mainly southeastern Asia and Arabic countries? And can not raise our voices against someone from Europe or North America? 

Yes, we have no respect for Arab or non-Arab.Muslims or non-Muslims in general . But why poorer countries than non ?. 

Is it in our genes? i don't think so. I know huge number of Saudi and who would give you the world but when it comes to maids and drivers, they turn to monsters. Is it frustration? Is it our weakness? we are weak so we can control only those weaker than us ? Is it political ? European countries and America will fight for the rights of its citizens but government  of poor countries don't care? 

Some would say that "even they" , they killed, tortured our children and go out with men and brings them to our houses...etc.
Yes, some of them, like some of us, are pure evil. But this doesn't justify this and rarely do we have cases where a maid or a driver who committed a felony or a murder who is not in jail or even executed. 

Plus "A" hurt "B", who the hell is "C" to get retaliation for "A" ?

Some kill, yes. My mother's cousin was killed by her maid but that doesn't mean they are all are killers.

They hit kids and torture them ? . Be honest and tell me if someone ask you to leave your kids for seconds with that woman in the mall/park/street till you go do a quick thing and be back, would you agree? . 

Then why the hell would you leave your children with someone you know nothing about, someone who might be sick or pervert. Plus, some of the housewives treat the maid so badly and then leave the child with, i mean for god's sake, you slap her, hit her, spit on her and maybe iron her and then leave your child. Unless you have no emotions you are not going to hurt this child .It's completely wrong, but it's you who cause it. 

They flirt with men and get engaged with them in different ways. Well, that's maybe the norm in their tradition or countries. it's ok to fall in love or flirt. So what, you bring someone and force them to adjust to your lifestyle? 

Next time, think a million times before bring someone you know nothing about to your house. 

I have wrote about Maids in Saudi Arabia before. Read it to know if the way they live around us and with us.

This is an amazing video in Arabic by a Lebanese group, it's satire about the situations of maids in Lebanon. Believe me the situation is almost the same in here. The translation is below- by the same group-

Mme Najem advises Lebanese women on the subject of Domestic workers, and she has a lot to say.

0:05Doulica

0:06She's great, great, very smart

0:08She's been with me for around six months

0:11It's like she's not even there

0:12Like it's still her second day here

0:14That's how stupid she is

0:15God hasn't graced them

0:16They are poor, pitiful people

0:18And they don't have money

0:19They take baths in the river

0:22Now that she's here she wants some shampoo

0:25And all their lives they scrub their hair

0:26And they remove lice from it

0:27Now they're trying to be all fancy on us

0:34She works every day

0:35Every day, every day she works, of course

0:37Vacations? For what? To go shopping?

0:40Or

0:41To go find some guy like her

0:44And come back a pregnant woman?

0:46Let her stay in the house and do some work!

0:48Wake up at 5:30 am every morning

0:50When I wake up I want the house to be done

0:52Clean and shining

0:53Doulica!!

0:55Doulica!

0:56Me, I wake up late

0:58I have hundreds of things to worry about

0:59I have my morning coffee with friends

1:00I have my hair, my nails

1:02I have my shopping

1:03I have tons of things to do

1:04I'm not going to wake up at 5:30

1:06That's her job

1:06I'm paying her $150 for it

1:09What do you mean you're not doing anything?!

1:10Am I paying you to do nothing?

1:12Sitting here all relaxed, you want a massage?

1:14She thinks she's my friend? I don't listen to her

1:16Look

1:17You're seeing me like this but I'm smart

1:19I'm smarter than them

1:20They can't outsmart me

1:21Her daughter, her mum, her aunt in the hospital

1:24And they're living alone

1:25Because there was a tsunami

1:27And it destroyed their homes

1:28These things don't work on me

1:29Telephones? Not allowed

1:31What do I know, she probably has some kids

1:34But they're used to it, four five years away

1:36And they don't see them

1:37They probably don't recognize their kids later

1:39I know about these people

1:40They're like rabbits

1:41They give birth and throw them on the streets

1:46She takes the pressure off of me

1:47Sometimes Zein cries and nags and screams

1:50He tires me

1:51One second he's hungry

1:52I don't have much time

1:55He says some words sometimes

1:56I smile to him and stuff

1:58But then I go talk to her

2:00I tell her she has to speak to him in Arabic

2:02Once I gave her a slap

2:03That she will never forget

2:04I slapped her on her face like she won't forget

2:06She forgot to speak Sri Lankan

2:07And started talking to him in Arabic

2:10Of course I don't take her to the beach

2:12Because

2:14First of all she's already black

2:15She's not going to get more tanned than she is

2:17And

2:19And it's disgusting to be in the same pool

2:22I'd feel like throwing up

2:23Like a black liquid

2:26I was very proud of Lebanese beaches

2:28Especially the ones that have some self respect

2:31Places that know that the clients that they have

2:34Wouldn't accept being in the same place

2:36With their maids

2:37You know?

2:37So I was very happy and proud

2:39It was good news

2:40That's why I go to the beach

2:41A lot

2:44Look honestly, I've been thinking recently

2:46Because of how crazy she's driving me

2:48She's making my hair go white

2:50I thought of maybe getting a Philipino

2:52Where's the crystal squirrel?

2:54Where is the crystal squirrel? Look at me!

2:56Look, Philippinos

2:58Aren't as disgusting as Sri Lankans

3:00But some of them are darker than others

3:01It's like

3:03Like tops, for example

3:04There's dark grey, light grey

3:06That's how they are, they have different colors

3:08Between dark and light

3:10But they still are

3:11Those, black people

3:13Now they're trendy

3:17I hear they're good

3:19Aren't they yellow?

3:21Philippinos?

3:24Oh, I don't know

3:25Philippinos are yellow?

3:27I don't want a yellow girl

3:29No no I don't want a yellow maid, no

3:30My hair isn't yellow it's golden

3:38Umm, depends

3:39Per month?

3:40Don't say that people will think I'm dirty

3:42Around three or four times a week

3:45I get bored from the color

3:47Depending on what I'm wearing I change

3:49And I do the same with my hair

3:50Like now it's blond because the weather is nice

3:52When it's raining and stuff I dye it brown

3:55Sometimes wavy

3:57I like it

3:58I like matching my hair and my clothes

3:59How does your hair look in autumn?

4:01It depends, in autumn it's usually dark brown

4:03It looks very good, great

4:05Look, look how empty the house is without it

4:06Are you happy like this? Are you happy?

4:08Is there anything you haven't broken yet?

4:09You're so clumsy!

4:10Come here! Come!

4:12Get out of my face!

4:15I advise every Lebanese woman

4:18Every single woman who has a maid

4:20Not to spoil them

4:21Before there was slavery

4:23Now we're giving them more room

4:24We've started to pay them

4:25But this doesn't mean a lot has changed

4:27I advise them to be careful

4:30And to lock them in

4:32And to take their..

4:33Basically everything I'm doing they should do too

4:35Because this way they'll live calmly

4:37And without any worries

4:39This is what I say to all Lebanese women

4:42Thank you Mme Najem

4:43Mme Najem

And also from Lebanon this , but be advised there are heart breaking pictures, Suicide in Lebanon

Another beautiful gallery about Unseen Lives: Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon. They are just normal people trying to make a living. And read this from the same site. 

Also read this interview with A Photographer Who Helped Reveal The Conditions if Migrants in The UAE. .

or check her site Matilde Gattoni

I know for sure that one of the reasons why we torture maids is our believe that they are way below us. So can we even convince people of a project like the following ? 

Photos a Leveller for Maids and Their Employers

by Daniela Estrada

Published on Saturday, June 19, 2010 by Inter Press Service

SANTIAGO  - Fifty pairs of women -- maids and their employers -- from Argentina, Chile and Colombia abandoned their daily routines to pose for photographs for a project about the hierarchical relationship that unites them.

The photography exhibit "Lugar Común" (Common Place), by French-U.S. photographer Justine Graham and Colombian visual artist Ruby Rumié, opened Jun. 15 at the Museum of Visual Arts (MAVI) in the Chilean capital.

"We were both interested in the issue of domestic employment in the Latin American context, and over time we created this platform to show the points that these women have in common as they share the domestic environment in a hierarchical work relationship," said Graham, who like Rumié has lived many years in Chile.

The artists used a variety of poses to portray each of the employer-employee pairs: seated, standing, facing forward, facing each other, or facing backwards. They found the women for the project through family members and friends in Santiago and Buenos Aires, and Bogotá and Cartagena in Colombia.

For the photos the employers and maids wore the same thing: a white shirt and no jewelery or decoration. With the images made under these "equalizing" conditions, the artists leave it up to the viewer to guess -- using one's own cultural codes -- which woman is which.

In total, 100 Argentine, Chilean and Colombian women, between ages 19 and 95, posed for Graham and Rumié and answered 15 items on a questionnaire, including the number of children they have, their wishes and fears, the age of their first menstruation and when they lost their virginity.

The exposition at the MAVI runs until Aug. 8. It has two walls with the photographs of the pairs portrayed facing forward and backwards, and three videos that show how the project unfolded in 2008 and 2009.

One of the videos shows the women posing in the photo sessions, and another shows some of the participants invited to a luncheon served by women university students.

The third uses graphics that group the women according to the characteristics they share, for example, those who have two children, those who fear being alone, and those who have lost a loved one.

"Each pair had a different relationship; some were much closer, lasting 30 years or more, and others knew each other just three or four months," said Graham. But for all of the pairs, it was difficult to be photographed looking each other in the eyes, she said.

In Rumié's view, "in some way, all Latin Americans who have experienced this (being cared for by a domestic employee) feel a debt to these women who have turned over part of their lives to the intimate chores of another family, often even giving up their own personal lives."

The reality of the domestic employees who work "behind closed doors" in Chile was brilliantly portrayed in the 2009 film "La Nana" (The Maid), directed by Sebastián Silva and starring Catalina Saavedra. The film won several awards at U.S. festivals.

In Latin America, paid domestic employment is mostly carried out by women. The "nanas" -- as they are known in Chile -- total 14 million and represent 14 percent of all working women in the region.

In recent years, several Latin American countries -- Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay and Uruguay -- have established policies that improve working conditions for maids and nannies. But in general, this type of job lags behind other forms of work.

While some places domestic service is increasingly professionalized, there are still cases of near slavery and child labor, experts warn.

During the project, Rumié found that "fortunately there has been a change" in labor relations within the household in recent years, with greater respect for maids, who in turn are less submissive.

But more than highlighting the negatives and lack of job security that these women face, what interested the artists was to show how society tends to "stratify a person" based only on appearance, said Rumié.

"We are completely guided by our prejudices," she said, and in the case of domestic employment, many of those ideas are holdovers from the Spanish colonial era.

"This project is not only a visual staging, but also an initiative that provided a symbolic experience for the women," she added.

"The act of seating them facing the camera in the same position was an exercise in dignifying the two women, so that they would look at the camera with the same pride, with the same openness."

In November, some of the photographs were published in the magazine "Paula," of La Tercera newspaper. The show is slated for exhibition in Washington in July 2011.

 Source 

A better site of the gallery where you can zoom in the pictures. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/19-3

Can you check this pdf file , it's amazing. Lots of amazing picture. http://www.a-verare.com/Espanol/Documentos/Lugar_Comu_Graham_Rumie_2009.pdf