Don't worry, mother.

October 1, 2014 1:23 PM

Almaz's story.
posted by VikingSword (15 comments total)

Powerful.
posted by Fizz at 2:02 PM on October 1, 2014

I don't doubt a word of it. Shameful.
posted by Thing at 2:03 PM on October 1, 2014

I am torn between wondering what a horrible kind of person you would have to be to treat someone in your power in such a manner and the dreadful, creeping worry that such behavior is not as aberrant as I expect. That it is only (or at least largely only) the possibility of societal condemnation that stops it from occurring where I can see it -- the corollary to that latter suspicion being that in places where no condemnation can be expected to rebound upon the abusers that there is little to nothing stopping these kinds of horrors from being routine.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:15 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh, for the day when female and all other people's enslavement will finally end. Everywhere.
posted by bearwife at 2:19 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Enslavement period, as it effects both men and women, albeit differently. Almaz was raped and attacked, whereas the driver at the end is simply forced to labor without pay, but they are both enslaved.

* Sorry, I didn't see your edit before posting.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:24 PM on October 1, 2014

In some ways I wonder, because the story is so short, what, precisely, was going on. Did her first female employer know that there was something going on between her husband and her maid? Was that why she was treated so badly and especially not paid? It clearly cannot be normal not to pay them, as Devi receives her pay at least, and it seems like the supply of labor would dry up if most people were not able to send money home.
posted by corb at 2:31 PM on October 1, 2014

" there was something going on between her husband and her maid"

This seems awfully euphemistic.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:33 PM on October 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

I am torn between wondering what a horrible kind of person you would have to be to treat someone in your power in such a manner and the dreadful, creeping worry that such behavior is not as aberrant as I expect. That it is only (or at least largely only) the possibility of societal condemnation that stops it from occurring where I can see it -- the corollary to that latter suspicion being that in places where no condemnation can be expected to rebound upon the abusers that there is little to nothing stopping these kinds of horrors from being routine.

I've been shocked by the way in which some Westerners in Gulf countries have indulged in slavery of the kind depicted in this story. Maybe I should have expected that humans from all walks of lives, not just wealthy Arabs, will exploit other people if they can. But still, I find them utterly beneath contempt. At least for people native to the Gulf states there is the excuse that they have been raised to know no better.
posted by Thing at 2:36 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I think it was the son that raped her. We don't even see the husband until the page where they're getting into the car to go on a trip. He's just known as Sir and doesn't seem to have any interaction with Almaz at all.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:37 PM on October 1, 2014

In some ways I wonder, because the story is so short, what, precisely, was going on.

Corb and I apparently wonder about very different things.

I wondered what had happened to their previous maid.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:33 PM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

It clearly cannot be normal not to pay them, as Devi receives her pay at least

Corb, what exactly are you trying to imply here?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:00 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

It clearly cannot be normal not to pay them, as Devi receives her pay at least

According to this 2008 report by the Human Rights Watch it's fairly common (and to some degree encouraged) under the Kafala system.

and it seems like the supply of labor would dry up if most people were not able to send money home.

This probably speaks to the desperation of the migrant workers. Also, maybe knowledge about the abuse foreign workers face isn't as widespread in Ethiopia.
posted by Slurms MacKenzie at 7:10 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Made by the same people who did the wonderful Meet the Somalis.
posted by Anonymous at 9:37 PM on October 1, 2014

Corb, what exactly are you trying to imply here?

I think I got the read that the woman who ran the household was trying to treat the girl badly in order to get her to go home, because she didn't want her in the house around her lecher husband, but if it was the son, I'm not sure and will have to reread again.
posted by corb at 9:56 AM on October 2, 2014

It clearly cannot be normal not to pay them, as Devi receives her pay at least

Devi was the maid of the employer's sister. Almaz was staying with the sister (and working for her) while the employer family was abroad. The sister paid her own maid but said Almaz's pay was her employer's (Maysan's) problem.

It was a little confusing to me too, but the bottom line was Almaz was sent back to Ethiopa worked to the bone, repeatedly raped, unpaid, and with a broken back. The sister wasn't as responsible for the first three, but she was at fault for causing the broken back* and then refusing to take responsibility for care for Almaz.

* though maybe it was the sister's daughter who pushed Almaz out the window? The discussion in the "I don't know what happened" frame confused me about who Shada was.

What a desperately awful story. I wonder what kind of aid, if any, Almaz and her mother received after all of that. And whether there is any recourse through the agency that places these girls.
posted by torticat at 7:33 PM on October 2, 2014