Saudi woes: Diana’s case was a drop in the ocean
Diana Chepkemoi at their Chelaino village in Bomet County on September 9, 2022. She was recently rescued from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia where she had been stuck following allegations of abuse by her employer.
What you need to know:
- More than 400 girls in Sakan deportation centre in , Saudi Arabia.
- Most of them have overstayed and their exit passes have expired, thus they cannot travel back home.
- Faith Maina who runs a CBO has assisted up to five girls to come back home.
- Kenyan Embassy officials accused of ignoring the girls’ pleas, taking bribes.
A number of Kenyan girls stranded in Saudi Arabia at a deportation Gulag are asking the government to evacuate them from that country.
A source tells Nation.Africa that there are more than 400 girls in Sakan deportation centre. Most of them have overstayed and their exit passes have expired, thus they cannot travel back home.
Majority were lured into the country by better employment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, but it turned out to be a long journey, full of suffering.
On September 26, a group of the girls demonstrated inside the camp in a bid to push the authorities to release them. Nobody listened.
One of the affected girls tells Nation.Africa that they only want to go home, adding that Diana Chepkemoi’s case was a drop in the ocean.
“We have a lot of girls languishing here and other holding places and we want the government to evacuate us just like they did with the citizens who were living in China or India when coronavirus pandemic struck. We are fed up with this life,” she says.
Back home
Faith Maina who runs a community-based organisation (CBO) has assisted up to five girls to come back home. She urges the government to listen to the cries of those girls and bring them back home.
“These girls’ rights are being violated and the only thing is to just evacuate them back. We saw the government bring back citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic period; this should also apply here. It is race against time,” says Ms Maina.
She opens up on sleeping in the wee hours of the night trying to console girls who keep calling her all night.
“I’m overwhelmed with cases in Saudi Arabia. A good number have reached out to me asking to come back home. If you listen to their stories, you will wonder if we have government representatives in that country,” says Ms Maina.
In a video seen by Nation.Africa, the girls are crying for help; to be deported back home because they are suffering.
A man who works in Saudi Arabia, who wants his identity hidden, says the Kenyan Embassy officials have ignored the girls’ cries to be repatriated home.
He notes that many other girls are packed in different agency offices across the country, and conditions there are not good.
“The government of Kenya has to listen to this, there are more than 500 girls suffering and want to go back home. Others have stayed here for up to two years and the leaders have buried their heads in the sand.
Bribes
“We have girls from other countries in the group, and their embassies have been working hard to ensure they are taken back home. Why are Kenyans taken through such situations as if they don’t have a place to call home?” he wonders.
He singles out a case where a girl tried to escape, using a rope, from the deportation centre and while she was at the third floor, the rope cut; she fell and died instantly. The body is still at the mortuary.
“What is going on here is so sad and unacceptable. I just want to ask the government to rescue the girls and investigate the embassy officials who have been taking bribes here to cover up what is ongoing,” he adds.
Despite the outcry, there are many other Kenyans who live in different cities and they have no complaint.
So far, the CBO has facilitated the return of Diana Chepkemoi (Bomet), Caren Chesang (Uasin Gishu) and Nelly Chelagat (Nandi).
