By Robert Zvidza
Having separated from her husband, Sarah* (27) was left alone in the care of her two young children. The marriage had broken down yes but the kids still needed care yet she found the going tough. The father of the kids did not offer enough. Even the mentainance fee that she gets is not enough to cater for school fees and food for the children.
On the other hand her friend whom she grew up with seems to be doing well across the Limpopo where she is able to take care of her family despite the fact that she is a simple maid. This gives here a thought to try cross boarders for such opportunities.
As she scrolls through her cellphone one lazy afternoon, she stumbles upon a whatsapp advertisement of domestic jobs in the Middle East and the package is so attractive.
Domestic worker jobs are offering handsome pay and other allowances like holiday packages among others to come with it.
She soon joins a whatsapp group where testimonies of those who purpot to have been assisted by the urgents testify to the fact that they are indeed living well in these countries and their lives have changed for the better.
Sarah has a valid Zimbabwean passport but has no money to raise airfares to the Middle East so that her life changes for the better like others. After all many Zimbabweans are working in the Diaspora. She already sees herself as a changed person staying in her own house which she will build on her return and driving at least a car around town.
The headache of not having airfares is not an issue for the agents as they, among their promises, pay for airfares and visa fees for her travel. Everything has been made easy for her and Sarah starts preparations to depart for the Middle East to work and earn better than Civil Servants.
Even family members already envisage a better life as such they help with preparations for departure. They even escort her to the airport to make sure she is gone.
But as soon as they arrive at their destination, life is not as rosy as promised. Sarah has jumped from a frying pan to the fire. She is taken from the local airport to her employer who on arrival confiscates her passport and her cellphone. The job is there but the money is paltry and Sarah now sees her dream crumbling before her. She works long hours, is not given food to eat, and is not allowed to go out of the durawall or take off days.
Slavery!!!
That’s the life many Zimbabwean women have been subjected to in the recent past and many have since gotten in touch with their relatives who have engaged to Government of Zimbabwe to intervene and repatriate them back home.
Since 14 December 2021, there has been an upsurge in suspected cases of Trafficking in Persons of young women in Oman. The trafficking is being perpetrated by agents who recruit desperate people on the pretext of lucrative employment opportunities as domestic workers in Oman.
The targeted people are invited to join different WhatsApp groups for maids seeking jobs. One such group is Maid Agency. Upon joining the groups, they are offered lucrative salaries ranging from USD400-500 and good working conditions. The agents pay for tickets and visas for the victims. Unknowingly, the victims who fall prey only realise the trap upon arrival in Oman where their traveling documents are confiscated.
The victims interviewed indicated that they were subjected to labour exploitation earning no pay or only an equivalent of USD50 per month, physical and emotional abuse. Apart from that, the agents also demanded large sums of money equivalent to about USD3000 money from the victims as a refund for processing their visas and air tickets.
As of now, about 18 Zimbabweans have reached their families and the Government is trying to repatriate them back home from Oman after they were subjected to exploitation in different forms.
The numbers could be more according to the Permanent Seretary of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Aaron Nhepera who recently chaired the First Quarter Inter-Ministerial Committee on Trafficking of Persons meeting recently.
“Human Trafficking is pervasive in nature and we are currently handling 18 cases that have been brought before us as a committee, we have given ourselves tasks to find ways of bringing our citizens back. However, we believe there could be more probably reaching a 100 mark but are not reported,” said the Perm Sec.
Over the years Zimbabweans have been victims of Human Trafficking and
back in 2016, over 140 trafficked Zimbabwean women were repatriated from Kuwait and many more were
reported to be still held there.
The Government of Zimbabwe responded to the scourge by launching a
Trafficking in Persons (TiP) National Plan of Action (NAPLAC) to operationalize
the Trafficking in Persons Act, which was passed in 2014 to fight against human
trafficking in the country.
The plan is underpinned by the 4Ps - Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership - Among the actions it prioritises is strengthening tools for
the identification of victims of trafficking, which is the baseline for
measuring an effective response.
As the problem comes again, there is a need to conscientise
people as continue to flock to Oman despite the warnings of exploitation there.
Last month, CID officers at Robert Mugabe International Airport to conscientize
all Zimbabweans going to Oman and other Middle East countries on the
Trafficking in Persons situation currently prevailing. However, some
Zimbabweans continue to travel to Oman despite awareness campaigns being
undertaken.
There has been another situation of people who were repatriated from Kuwait and they are a current case of another case of trafficking in Oman.
*Not her real name
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