A Kenyan woman in Lebanon is appealing for help to go back home to escape from her abusive employer. Mary (last name withheld), originally from Kiambu, arrived in Lebanon in September, 2012 after being recruited by an agent in Kenya to move to the country as a house-help with what seemed to be a lucrative pay. Her nightmare however began as soon as she arrived in Lebanon.The first employer she was taken to work for was very abusive, and after pleading to be let to go back to Kenya, she was instead transferred to a different employer who has been just as abusive. In addition to being forced to work almost 20 hours everyday with no days off, her employer forbids her from leaving the house unless she is in their company, talk to anyone, or use the phone.The employer couple and their older daughter also regularly insult and physically assault her, sometimes even in front of other people. "My employers lock me inside the house when they leave for work, and I only see outside and breath fresh air wen I'm hanging clothes at the balcony. Because of too much work my legs are too much painful and I nosebleed almost everyday and when I tell my employer she only give me panadol," Mary tells Mwakilishi.com. The only money she receives from the employer is the little money she sends every month for her daughter and mother's upkeep back in Kenya, with the employer withholding the rest of the salary.
"What you are promised to have wen you come here is very sweet but once you get here your nightmare begins. I cry every night wishing for death but the thought of my daughter and mother makes me to hold on but am loosing. Please I beg help me. When you get sick here you are left alone no one touches you. 3 weeks ago I saw a body of a girl taken away in a sack God knows to where but i don't know which country she comes from. Please help me catch the next flight home, and please warn Kenyans again about these Arab countries. I don't want any other Kenyan girl to go through the nightmare that I'm going through," she says.
Her efforts to have the Kenyan consulate in Beirut intervene and help her return to Kenya have been unfruitful, with the consulate instead advising her to cooperate with her employer or risk being detained by the Lebanese government. She is appealing to the Kenyan government and anyone else in a position to help to help her go back home and can contact her mother in Kenya at 0724078218.
