Women desperate for work trafficked to Kuwait
The advert in the jobs section of a Zimbabwean newspaper read: “Vacancies in the Middle East. For those interested please contact … “
When Soria Hove*, 34, spotted the ad earlier this year she immediately called the number provided and was told to visit the agency’s office and bring along her qualifications.
A few days later, anxious but hopeful, she walked into a well-appointed office with neatly-dressed, professional staff. The job on offer was as a maid in Kuwait. The salary would be US$750 with $150 deducted each month as reimbursement for her air ticket.
Hove was over the moon. The average wage in Zimbabwe is $253 a month–and that’s for just five percent of the population who actually have a formal job.
“It was an opportunity of a lifetime,” she told IRIN. “Finally I could earn an income for the first time and support my family.”
If it seemed almost too good to be true, that’s because it was. Hove wasn’t getting a real job, instead she was about to be trafficked and exploited.
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Zimbabwe: One More Sign of Zimbabwe’s Decline
Women desperate for work trafficked to Kuwait
The advert in the jobs section of a Zimbabwean newspaper read: “Vacancies in the Middle East. For those interested please contact … “
When Soria Hove*, 34, spotted the ad earlier this year she immediately called the number provided and was told to visit the agency’s office and bring along her qualifications.
A few days later, anxious but hopeful, she walked into a well-appointed office with neatly-dressed, professional staff. The job on offer was as a maid in Kuwait. The salary would be US$750 with $150 deducted each month as reimbursement for her air ticket.
Hove was over the moon. The average wage in Zimbabwe is $253 a month–and that’s for just five percent of the population who actually have a formal job.
“It was an opportunity of a lifetime,” she told IRIN. “Finally I could earn an income for the first time and support my family.”
If it seemed almost too good to be true, that’s because it was. Hove wasn’t getting a real job, instead she was about to be trafficked and exploited.
Source
Kenya cracks down on foreign NGO workers, citing wage disparity
Thousands of foreign nongovernmental organization workers in Kenya risk losing their jobs after the NGO Board announced a tightening of employment rules late last month. Organizations fear that the move could affect their work in the country, and many have accused the Kenyan government of scare tactics and inflammatory rhetoric.
The board, a government institution that is responsible for regulating the NGO sector in Kenya, claims that there are thousands of expats working without appropriate permits and cites the large wage disparity between locals and foreigners as one of the main reasons behind the tougher stance.
Feelings of unfair treatment in the workplace are common among Kenyan NGO employees – and not without reason. The humanitarian and development sectors are known for their differential treatment of expats and locals, with the latter receiving fewer benefits and considerably lower salaries compared to their foreign colleagues.
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Human rights group condemns Egypt
JOHANNESBURG – The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned Egyptian human rights abuses committed in June, and in the prior months.
Its recently released report says that 32 people were sentenced to death last month. An Egyptian military court held seven trials of 781 civilians, including 13 shipyard workers, in addition to handing down prison sentences, including life sentences, to 215 prisoners, Egypt’s Daily News reported.
Others targeted in Egypt’s crackdown on civil liberties and freedoms included lawyers, human rights activists and journalists, ANHRI says.
Violations against the media and freedom of press included the deportation of dual British-Lebanese TV anchor Lilian Dawood at the end of June after arresting her at her Cairo home.
Dawood hosted “The Full Picture”, a programme highly critical of the Egyptian government, and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in particular, on the ONTV network.
She also frequently interviewed youths and protest leaders, further making her a target for Egypt’s continuing draconian crackdown on dissent.
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Africans in China: Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side of the Fence?
A young Gambian man has taken it upon himself to tell about his horrific experiences in China, in hope that it will inspire other Africans.
Every so often, stories of migrants perishing at sea or in other forms of transport all in the name of searching for greener pastures across the borders hit our media.
Just recently, bodies of nineteen Ethiopians were found in the back of a Zambian container truck, having suffocated to death. 76 more were found alive inside the container truck and are believed to have been on their way to South Africa. In May more than 700 people perished at sea as the boat they were traveling in from Libya to Italy capsized and killed the hundreds.
These are just but some of the heart-wrecking stories of migrants, who perish on their way to safer havens which they never reach. Some people, however, reach the other side, and the greener pastures they allegedly saw from a distance is not as green or as real.
Then, these people have to embark on a life of struggling to survive every day; searching for jobs to sustain themselves in a foreign land and saving a little to send back home. Those that are lucky get jobs and are able to stay on, others, go through worse experiences than they did in their home countries. With no job or money to survive abroad, they opt to return home. Some don’t even have enough to buy a ticket back home. They call for help from the same people they ought to be helping.
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