Migrant mothers trapped into domestic servitude

Every year, more than 3 million migrant workers worldwide, most of them women, leave their countries to work for rich families as nannies, cooks and housekeepers. Most are migrant mothers who leave their children behind with plans to send money back home to support their families.

A story on the PBS NewsHour describes how human traffickers entice and trap women from West African countries, including Cameroon and Sierra Leone, into domestic servitude in the Persian Gulf and Mideast. According to the report, they often live and work under conditions bordering on slavery. The U.N. and human rights groups say these domestic workers frequently fall victim to human trafficking and other forms of abuse. Sometimes employers withhold their salaries and even confiscate their passports, though that’s illegal.

Francisca Awah, one of the women interviewed, is a secretary and college graduate from Cameroon who wanted to earn more money to support her new baby. But after paying the sponsoring agency around $500, plus airfare, Francisca didn’t get a promised teaching job, and ended up feeling trapped by her experience as a maid for a wealthy family in Kuwait.

Francisca was lucky to be rescued by Freedom for All, a nonprofit that supports abused domestic workers. The Kuwaiti government also established a shelter where foreign domestic workers can escape abusive employers and get legal, social and psychological services. Most of these women want to return to their home countries.

Watch Francisca and other trafficking survivors tell their stories. For more, click on this PBS video.