I am a single mother and I want my kids to go to school and to help my family. I came here [to Saudi Arabia] because I want money, but it wasn’t good for me.”
My family in the province, we have had no contact. Sometimes my mother called me, but madam didn’t give the phone to me, she said, ‘You have to work.’ Madam said, ‘If your mother calls you, you will run away.’ I said, ‘Madam, she got a calling card, and it costs a lot of money to call me.’ But she didn’t want me to talk to my family.
She always said bad things, like “you’re a dog, you’re poor, you’re only a servant here.” I said, “Yes, I’m a servant.” She was angry everyday. She was jealous of me. She told me, “Don’t talk to your Baba, if you do, I will kill you.” I said I treated him like my father. She said, “Don’t say that, you’re not a baby….” I heard all bad things from her, she told me, “You’re crazy, you’re garbage.” I was hurt. I said, “I’m human.” She said, “No, you are not human, you are an animal.”
Narrative as told to Human Rights Watch for their report “As If I Am Not Human”:Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia.
All credit given.