Lankan maid narrates tale of suffering

A Sri Lankan domestic worker claimed that her sponsor forced her to work in inhuman conditions for over a year even after the completion of her two-year contract.

Velusundaram Manjula, who is at the Migrant Workers' Protection Society (MWPS) shelter, said at a press conference held by MWPS officials that she was not allowed to go back even once during her three years and two months' stay with the family in Isa Town, Bahrain.

"I came on a work visa for the family on September 29, 2009 at a promised monthly salary of BD85, but till date I received only BD60. I was made to do the chores of two houses - my landlord's and his daughter's. I could not cope with the job as the daughter has twin babies and I hardly slept three hours a day. I asked them to send me back, but they refused," Manjula told DT.

She highlighted that she bought her own food from outside, slept in a room without air-conditioner and worked for almost 19 hours a day.

Manjula, tried making a police complaint once in the past but the policemen refused to accept it and sent her back to the same house. "This time I called for a taxi to go to the police station and my landlord himself took me to the station and they had to accept my complaint," she said.

Manjula was handed over to MWPS officials on October 11. "We were told that her issues will be settled in a day or two, but the case was sent to the public prosecution. Two days ago, emigration officials asked us to go with a ticket as the sponsor had handed over her passport and said that the case could be settled and she could fly back," said MWPS Action Committee Member Liz Szalay.

Szalay pointed out that it was unfair to 'settle' the case thus, as Manjula was rightfully eligible for her two months' pay as compensation after the completion of her two-year contract. Moreover, the sponsor had promised a salary hike of BD10 per month, for the period after her contract (BD140 for 14 months) which he said he would give to her when she was leaving.

"The sponsor yelled at us at the emigration office, that he will not give her ticket even if he had to go to jail. Moreover, he asked to go to his house tomorrow and that he would throw her luggage into my car," Szalay said. Couretsy: Daily Tribune