A housemaid, 48, is convalescing in Dammam Medical Complex after she jumped from the second floor of her sponsor's home to “escape from the torturing sponsor and family”. Rita Joseph from Sri Lanka fractured both her legs as a result of the high jump. Her backbone is also broken. The housemaid revealed her tragic story to Saudi Gazette from her hospital bed. It has been only two months since she came to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic helper. She was offered SR650 as a monthly salary by the agency which recruited her. Unfortunately, since the very first day of her job, she alleges that she had to undergo physical torture at the hands of her sponsor and his family. “They used to beat me for each and everything. ‘Baba' and another man together grabbed me by the neck and hit me on the head. They pulled my hair and used to drag me by the hair,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes. “I was afraid to even sleep in fear of someone coming and beating me,” she said. According to Joseph, the wife of the sponsor was equally abusive. She showed the bruises inflicted by the sponsor's wife, whom she calls ‘Mama.' “Mama always beat me if she was not satisfied with my work. Even worse is that they did not let me talk to my family back home. Whenever I tried to call Sri Lanka, they snatched the phone from me,” she said sobbing. Rita alleged she was given hardly anything to eat. “They used to give me only the leftovers and sometimes that too was denied,” she said. “I decided to escape when Baba and yet another man hit me when I accidentally spilled some milk. I fell down and when they continued to beat me, I begged them on my knees not to hit me further. Then they beat me on my back and the pain was so severe that I felt that I could not endure such treatment any longer. I packed a small bag with my clothes and jumped out through an opening in the wall from the second floor. After the jump, I could not walk, so I crawled outside and fell on the street. Police found me and hospitalized me,” she said. “The sponsor and wife came here and Mama took all my belongings including my ‘Thali' necklace,” she said. (Thali is the symbol of marriage in the subcontinent, worn by married women from the day of their marriage) Rita said someone representing the Sri Lankan embassy came to see her in the hospital, but they never returned. All she wants now is to go back to Sri Lanka. “They did not give me a single riyal as salary, but now, all I want is to go back to my family in Sri Lanka. When I came to Saudi Arabia, I never thought I would have to endure such hardships. I don't want to go back to my sponsor's family, I want to go to Sri Lanka and never come back,” she added. Saudi Gazette contacted the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the expatriate's welfare wing attaché confirmed that the embassy was handling the case of Rita Joseph. He said that the embassy had received a written complaint from the maid's relatives in Sri Lanka. According to the attaché, embassy officials have visited her in Dammam Medical Complex based on the complaint received from Sri Lanka and have gathered detailed information. The embassy is now proceeding with all necessary formalities to send her back to Sri Lanka as soon as she was able to travel.
