Shiuli Akter Pinki came out of Hazrat Shajalal International Airport on Friday midnight. Her father Babul Saji was eagerly waiting outside the airport for his teenage daughter. Seeing her father, Pinky broke down into tears. Hugging his daughter, the father was trying his best to control his own tears and stop Pinky’s wailing.
But the unfortunate girl, who had gone to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic help only a month ago, couldn’t stop crying, no matter how much her surrounding relatives and well wishers tried to console her aggrieved soul.
It took long 45 minutes for Shiuli to pull herself together and speak to this correspondent, to describe her horrible experience of a month in Saudi Arabia.
Human Resource and Health Foundation, a human rights organisation brought back the nine Bangladeshi women from Saudi Arabia after being informed that the ill-fated women had been tortured to such an extent at their respective work places that they had been shifted to a private relief camp administered by Bangladeshi and Saudi Arabian brokers.
Earlier on Thursday night ,Labour Counsellor to Bangladesh mission in Riyadh told Bangla Tribune that nine tortured women were staying in a camp and it was expected that they would go back within three to four days. These women went to Saudi Arabia as house-maids but due to torture, they fell sick and later transferred to a camp in Dammam, the capital of Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Describing how her dream turned into a horrible nightmare overnight, Pinky told Bangle Tribune at the airport: “I did not know either the address where I was working, or the name of my employer. I did not know even the language. The owner’s family members instructed me what to do using signs. I worked there for three days only.”
But the three days turned into the most dreadful time of her life as she had to clean and wash a three-storied building with 10 rooms in each floor. Moreover, she had to wash and clean the roof also.
“Waking up in the morning, I at first had to do the dishes in the kitchen. Then the whole day, I cleaned every room of the building. My clothes used to get wet after one or two hours’ work, but I didn’t get the time to change. I became so tired by the night that used to fall into sleep wearing wet clothes. In the morning, when I got up to start the same labourous routine, I used to realise that I hadn’t change wet clothes before going to sleep.“
“For such hard labour, the employer gave me only two pieces of bread to eat, in the morning and at night. They didn’t give me rice even if I begged. They had lot to eat, but gave me a piece of bread only. I hope no woman ever goes to Saudi Arabia like me.”
Pinki along with eight other girls were sent to KSA by Al Mansoor, a manpower exporting organisation in Dhaka. But all of them were allegedly tortured at their work places.
The girls said that they were forced to do such hard work, if not tortured physically, that within more or less a month they all had to be transferred to camp in Dammam, the capital of Eastern Province of KSA.
But the transfer was like going out of the frying pan to get into the fire as the camp, administered by Bangladeshi and Saudi Arabian brokers, provided a very dirty and very hot atmosphere.
Describing her life in the Saudi Arabian transit camp where she had to stay for about three weeks waiting for the return ticket, the Bangladeshi maid said, “On the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, they gave me a piece of bread at night. During the sehry, they served rice as we, all the nine girls, earnestly requested them for it.”
“We ate the rice with potatoes and onions. I broke fast at Iftar drinking a glass of water only.”
“After going to Saudi Arab I suffered a lot, especially for the scarcity of food,” Pinky said, wiping the rolling tears, and asked this correspondent, “Tell me is there anything more terrible in the world than a starved stomach?”
Her father told Bangla Tribune, “My daughter is only 18 years old, but in the passport it was shown 26. She has not got her National ID yet.”
She hoped to bear the educational expenses of her two younger siblings, that’s why she went to Saudi. We were going to lose her for good. I am happy to get her back.”
Al Mansoor took Tk 45,000 to send Pinky overseas, on the condition that Tk 55,000 more will have to be paid later from Pinky’s salary.
Before leaving the airport, Pinky requested, “Please brother, shut down Al Mansoor. God only knows how many unfortunate girls would have to suffer at their hands.”
She hails from South Kumira village under Tangibari police station in Munshiganj.