Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time

By Ludovica Iaccino | IB Times – Tue, May 20, 2014
A Filipino maid has appealed for help after her Saudi Arabian employer caused her horrific burns by throwing boiling water on her body, ABS-CBN News reported.
The 23-year-old employee, known by the name Fatma, asked her cousin to help her after the incident.
Fatma's cousin took pictures of her body disfigured by the burns and uploaded them on Facebook, where many people showed their support and compassion.
The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals.
Her employer poured boiling water on her after Fatma failed to bring coffee on time.
It took a few hours before Fatma was even brought to the hospital to be treated for her burns.
On her third day at the hospital, Fatma secretly gave a nurse a piece of paper with her older sister's phone number in the Philippines.
Her sister was able to give the nurse the number of her relatives in Riyadh.
When her employer again brought Fatma to the hospital for treatment, Fatma's cousin was able to rescue her.
The maid, who has two children back in the Philippines, appealed for help in filing a case against her abusive employer.
She is now in the custody of the Assistance to Nationals section of the Philippine embassy.
A representative from the Department of Social Welfare and Development said they are providing Fatma with food, clothing, toiletries and medicine.
This is not the first time a foreign maid employed in Saudi Arabia claims of being abused by her employer.
According to Amnesty International: "Foreign workers suffer greatly in Saudi Arabia. Some go unpaid. Some are beaten or even raped. If arrested, they're subjected to trials conducted solely in Arabic without translation and many have no money for a lawyer or family to turn to for help."
The governments of Saudi Arabia and the Philippines signed an agreement, last May, that gives Filipino workers more rights in the Gulf kingdom.
The agreement is specifically designed to grant better protection and welfare to Filipino household service workers (HSWs) employed in Saudi Arabia.

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