The runaway maids of Oman
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two hundred young women from Sierra Leone, west Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in shops and restaurants, they say they were into tricked becoming housemaids, working up to 18 hours a day, often without pay, and sometimes abused by their employers. Some ran away, to live a dangerous underground existence at the mercy of the authorities – but now they’re being rescued and repatriated, and some are empowering themselves as independent farmers back home. Tim Whewell tells their story.
(Image: Sierra Leonean women hoping for repatriation after leaving their employers in Oman. Credit: Do Bold)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is me, Fadjah Tzu. I will come and start with short video. |
| 0:05.0 | I will do it bit by bit. This is the kitchen. |
| 0:08.0 | They have two kitchen. This is the outside kitchen. |
| 0:13.0 | A young, open-faced African woman with close-cropped hair in black t-shirt and flowery skirt |
| 0:19.0 | is videoing herself on her mobile phone, giving me a virtual |
| 0:23.7 | guided tour of what's become her entire world. |
| 0:27.2 | I will water the plantation, all the plantation. |
| 0:31.4 | Here I will sweep here. |
| 0:36.2 | This is the other kitchen. This is a store. This is the other kitchen. |
| 0:39.7 | This is the store. |
| 0:42.3 | I will come and clean here. |
| 0:45.3 | Here is a playroom for the kids. |
| 0:48.9 | She's padding across a wide courtyard with lush green vegetation |
| 0:53.1 | in and out of a series of huge empty rooms |
| 0:56.3 | full of expensive, bland fittings and furnishings. |
| 1:00.2 | Here is the other power. |
| 1:02.5 | Bathroom. |
| 1:04.0 | Every room has bathroom. |
| 1:07.1 | Every room. |
| 1:08.9 | Seven room. |
| 1:12.6 | All have bathroom. I'm in the bathroom now. |
| 1:15.6 | Every room is spotless. |
... |
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