Human Black Market Thrives in Cities

JEDDAH, 4 April 2005 — Many guest workers serving as housemaids are finding bigger payoffs as overstayers than they can make legitimately. Although they are more expensive, Saudi families find fast, but temporary solutions by hiring them.

It’s a human black market that’s becoming a booming business in Saudi Arabia. Despite repeated warnings from authorities about hiring illegal workers, the business flourishes in part because maids working legally in Saudi Arabia often receive less than 20 percent of their wages, with the balance going to middlemen who arrange the employment, Al-Watan newspaper reported.

But like most illegal businesses, the practitioners are very cagey when it comes to customers. “My maid had run away, so I had to search for a substitute,” said Om Sultan. “One of my colleagues guided me to an Ethiopian woman who has a lot of overstayer maids.”

The Saudi woman learned dealing with such enterprises is less than pleasant.

“When I called the woman by phone, she started questioning me on who gave me her number. And she asked what I wanted? I started answering all her questions in a fearful tone, feeling the horror in my heart that I couldn’t hang up the phone. I continued chatting with her as if I was a prisoner under questioning.”

She said that the Ethiopian woman demanded to know what type of maid she wanted and for how long the job was to last. The “agent” ended the conversation instructing her to come to her place to pick up the servant and demanded SR1,200.

Upon arrival, the Saudi housewife discovered a different world.

“I went directly to the woman who ran the office,” Om Sultan said. “Her place was located in a narrow, dim alley filled with illegal overstayers. I knocked on a wooden door with my heart strongly beating from fear as if I was in the gangsters’ district. A black man opened the door and let me in to meet the woman with whom I spoke on the phone. She asked me immediately about the money and gave me a young, 23-year-old overstayer maid who didn’t speak Arabic. She asked the young maid to call her every two days for instructions on how to do the work.”

Not all operations are like gangland businesses. Om Abdullah, a Somali widow who works as a servant in the educational sector is legally sponsored by a Saudi citizen. But in her spare time, and often at the request of Saudi families, she directs an irregular office to hire African maids illegally.

“I have five children and have lived in Saudi Arabia for 20 years,” Om Abdullah said. “I work afternoons as a housemaid and as a female attendant for special occasions, such as weddings. Because some Saudi families have to get a temporary servant when their former maids escape or leave, I bring some of my overstayer acquaintances to those families. I require them to provide her with an isolated room and give her a day off every two weeks.”

She says she asks the family to give the maid SR1,200 per month while she takes a monthly fee of SR200. She says it’s a great business and demand for such services is increasing — especially during Ramadan.

Another Indonesian maid, Roquaya, who has worked in Saudi Arabia for 25 years said she came to the Kingdom as a guest worker in Saudi houses. Then she started meeting the Indonesian escapees and finding work for them until her phone number spread among Saudi women. She said maids earn SR1,500 monthly, and that figure rises during Ramadan.

Some of the illegal agencies can provide customized services.

Al-Watan contacted a Filipina servant who used to direct a service office as a substitute for a Saudi woman. She spoke in broken Arabic and first asked whether a Filipina, Indonesian or Indian maid was needed and for how long.

“We provide families with maids they desire according to their requests,” she said. “Our requirements are that the maid should work eight hours for SR150 without spending the night at the house. We provide her with a residence and transportation. The family should call us at least one day before the maid is to start her service, and we don’t hire them by the month or week.”

These illegal arrangements often result in problems and creates security and disciplinary concerns. But just like any other economic sector, it is a matter of supply and demand. As long as “legal” housemaids receive only a small portion of their monthly salaries, they will continue to “escape” to the more lucrative illegal market, creating the supply. And as long as Saudi families are willing to skirt the law and pay high prices for illegal help, the demand will remain strong.