Amhara women are being bought by Saudis for slave-labor

[The Nomad]

JEDDAH – Housemaids from Ethiopia will start arriving in the Kingdom soon. This follows the go-ahead given by the government in Addis Ababa for the recruitment of housemaids to work in the Kingdom.

Recruitment offices across the Kingdom have already begun to make contacts with manpower agencies in the Horn of African country.

The arrival of the first batch of housemaids within a fortnight will ameliorate the shortage in house help especially after the recruitment of Indonesian housemaids has become problematic, Al-Madina Arabic daily said.

Owners of local recruitment agencies said the memorandum of understanding signed by the National Recruitment Committee in the Kingdom and the Ethiopian authorities had defined the procedures that should be followed in case a housemaid abandons her employer or differs with him.

They said the Saudi embassy in Ethiopia will be responsible for authenticating medical tests ensuring that the recruits are AIDS-free before stamping the visas. The shortage of housemaids has caused an astronomical increase in the salaries of these workers especially during the holy month of Ramadan.

A member of the National Recruitment Committee, who declined to give his name, said the Ethiopians will be good substitutes to the Indonesian maids in case the local recruitment agencies succeed in selecting efficient manpower exporting agencies in Ethiopia.

[The Nomad]

ETHIOPIA: Maids, condoms and kerosene

Photo: WD/IRIN
Tsehay Tura learned how to protect herself from HIV after she was already infected
ADDIS ABABA, 2 October 2009 (PlusNews) - The life of a domestic worker in Ethiopia is rarely an easy one. Often escaping a deeply impoverished existence in the rural areas, these women find themselves in employment hundreds of miles away from their hometowns as maids – or serategnas in the national language, Amharic.

A lack of education, minimal opportunity for normal interaction with society and anecdotal evidence of sexual activity and abuse have led health workers to classify domestic workers as a high-risk group for the contraction of HIV. To begin to address this issue, a pilot project was recently completed by the Washington DC-headquartered social marketing organization, DKT-Ethiopia, and the French oil company, TOTAL.

Dubbed Condoms and Kerosene, the project involved setting up an HIV/AIDS awareness and demonstration site at the Lions' TOTAL Station in Siddist Kilo, north of the capital, Addis Ababa, with the idea of reaching domestic workers at one of the few places they regularly visited outside work.

Hard-to-reach

Because of their closeted existence, "traditional methods of social marketing do not reach them on a consistent basis; they even do not watch TV programmes as they are too busy in the kitchen", said Haileyesus Assefa, public affairs manager at TOTAL Ethiopia.

"As much of their income comes in-kind - in the form of food and shelter - they have little cash," Haileyesus added. "One of the few purchases they make on a regular basis is kerosene."

Over a 60-day period ending in June, DKT-Ethiopia marketers set up shop to demonstrate proper condom use and provide free prophylactics to domestic workers and anybody else who visited the Siddist Kilo fuel station.

One of the beneficiaries was 31-year-old Tsehay Tura, who works in a number of houses throughout the capital. HIV-positive and with two children, one of whom is also infected, Tsehay said she only became aware of the facts of HIV after she was infected. She says many domestic workers are equally ignorant when they arrive in Addis.

Low awareness, high risk

"Many are coming from rural areas and they do not have awareness; many are sexually active with guards and are also frequently raped by their masters or their master's children," she said.

"They go to night school and they might have affairs with their classmates," added TOTAL's Haileyesus.

''The anecdotal evidence is that many domestic workers become sex workers''
Another potential pitfall for domestic workers is commercial sex work, which they frequently enter into if they run into problems with their employers. While sometimes preferable, the terms of employment are nevertheless incredibly harsh, with a working day of 18 hours, a paltry monthly salary of between US$9 and $15, and one day off per month.

"The anecdotal evidence is that many domestic workers become sex workers... this is one of the exit paths for them," said Ken Divelbess, project coordinator of DKT-Ethiopia. "There is very limited evidence about domestic workers in general; it could be 5 percent who become sex workers, it could be 90 percent.

"It is critical [to reach them] as we believe that the first month as a sex worker is the most dangerous, as that is when people can take advantage."

Conducted with the support of the Ethiopian Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS, the World Bank Institute's Rapid Results Institute and the local NGO, Timret Lehiwot (The Coalition for Life), the DKT-Ethiopia/TOTAL project reached more than 14,000 men and women and distributed approximately 35,000 condoms; its success has spawned discussions about conducting similar demonstrations across the city.

[abdisamad3]

xabashi slave's is nothing new in sacuudi carabiya..

[SahanGalbeed]

First of all Amhara in ONE of the different ethnic groups of Ethiopia , nothing says here that they will be drawn from that particular group.
No2 if the governement of Ethiopia is okay with it , why should it concern us ?
No3 there was a point in time in history where the habash used to enslave the arabs , both arabs and habash ALSO being people that enslaved their OWN people .. which then prompted the uprising of the arabs against the habash and subsequently enslaving them .
So you know .. it's a little more complicated once again then it appears

[The Nomad]

First of all Amhara in ONE of the different ethnic groups of Ethiopia , nothing says here that they will be drawn from that particular group.

Child-trafficking and domestic servitude is drawn from the Amhara region, this is common knowledge, over 95% of maids in the Gulf are Amhara according to recent censuses.

No2 if the governement of Ethiopia is okay with it , why should it concern us ?

The government of Ethiopia is Woyane, Amhara happen to believe this is ethnic cleansing in retribution for previous injustices towards the current ruling class.

It's a valid topic, if it doesn't concern you, there's no need to discuss it.

[The Nomad]

A quote from a concerned Habesha:

Most Ethiopians, the Amhara ethnic group in particular, are calling the Weyane regime's illegal child-trafficking network a "modern-day slave trade" with a deliberate agenda of ethnic cleansing. The majority of the children and the young women sold as sex-slaves are from the Amhara ethnic group.

Just the other day at Yahoo I happened to read some comments made by certain ardent weyane supporters expressing their fears that the on-going child-trafficking and the 'slave trade' may one day come back to haunt them if the Amhara and the other ethnic groups rise up to remove the regime from power and they resort to carrying out vengeful acts of violence [read Genocide] against the people of Tigray. A recent (ICG) International Crisis Group's report have also echoed the same concerns of violence occurring in Ethiopia during the upcoming 2010 phony 'election.'

To my horror and disbelief, the weyane supporters are never concerned about the fate of these little babies and the young women who are being victimized by their regime, but rather of the consequences of their regime's action that may very well place the people of Tigray in a very vulnerable position when the tides turn against them. It is this fu*cked up agame mentality that needs to be eradicated from the face of Africa. And I'm sure it will. Soon come.

[SahanGalbeed]

It's a valid topic, if it doesn't concern you, there's no need to discuss it.

Yeah .. it is valid as long as we all wanna talk shit about the habush , but in my opinion there are many many other ways to do that other than insulting their women .

[The Nomad]

No3 there was a point in time in history where the habash used to enslave the arabs , both arabs and habash ALSO being people that enslaved their OWN people .. which then prompted the uprising of the arabs against the habash and subsequently enslaving them .

Arabs were never enslaved by Habesha, the conquest of Yemen did not involve servitude, the people of the nation where not stripped of their freedom. If you're referring to something else, post a source. If not, you're not saying anything.

This isn't relevant, you said it doesn't concern you. If it doesn't concern you there's no need to come here spreading lies about Ethiopians of all people enslaving anybody.

Just read the article, that's all. There's no need for anything else. Jazakallah.

[SahanGalbeed]

Arabs were never enslaved by Habesha, the conquest of Yemen did not involve servitude, the people of the nation where not stripped of their freedom. If you're referring to something else, post a source. If not, you're not saying anything.

They were , killed in masses too , I don't have time for that now maybe another day ..or maybe you can do your own research till then .

[The Nomad]

Yeah .. it is valid as long as we all wanna talk shit about the habush , but in my opinion there are many many other ways to do that other than insulting their women .

Are you only coming here to argue? You just said it doesn't concern you, saxib.

I am genuinely concerned for their well-being as somebody from the Horn, there are no ulterior motives.

[The Nomad]

They were , killed in masses too , I don't have time for that now maybe another day ..or maybe you can do your own research till then .

Incorrect. Naturally, casualties where suffered on both sides, but their was no form of organized slavery with Habesha being dominant and Arabs subordinate.

I don't need to do research, you do.

[The Nomad]

According to Shaebia News, the Ethiopian slave trade is a multi-million dollar business.

[SahanGalbeed]

Arabs were slaves of habush@one point in history , that's what I have said .
Walaa organized walaa disorganized I don't give a fuck okay ?
I can't take your word as to your intentions for you are too mischievious , alright?
We're somalis here , most of us , maybe not you .
The only thing this kind of thread is going to generate is HATE towards habash women , I 'll stand against it !
simple

[The Nomad]

Arabs were slaves of habush@one point in history , that's what I have said .

Yes, that is what you said. I said you happen to be wrong.

Walaa organized walaa disorganized I don't give a fuck okay ?

But it makes all the difference, it you're arguing that a few Arabs were enslaved in a disorganized manner, there's no point discussing this.

I can't take your word as to your intentions for you are too mischievious , alright?
We're somalis here , most of us , maybe not you .

Cut the character analysis and whining. We're men here. Most of us, maybe not you.

The only thing this kind of thread is going to generate is HATE towards habash women , I 'll stand against it !
simple

It's sad you read this like that. I think that reflects on your own beliefs as that is definitely not the aim of this thread. The aim is to highlight injustice and bring said information to those who may not be aware of it. Nothing else.

Are we done? Jazakallah, again.

[SahanGalbeed]

Yes we are , it is called a roadblock/checkpoint in insurgency/counter insurgency language .. waa iyak