Comments on: Helping Hints When Engaging a Part-time Housemaid in Saudi Arabia

By: An Egyptian Housemaid in Makkah « American Bedu

An Egyptian Housemaid in Makkah « American Bedu — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:06:39 +0000

[...] you who would like to read some of the earlier posts I have written about housemaids, you may like this post on engaging a part time housemaid and this post on obtaining a housemaid and this post on [...]

By: American Bedu

American Bedu — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:20:24 +0000

We used Fast Track Agency in Riyadh. The costs vary depending on what nationalties. If you do additional searches in my blog on housemaid you’ll find where I’ve written earlier posts on the step by step procedures.

By: Maryam

Maryam — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:18:27 +0000

Thank you for the information – are there any agencies that you could recommend and do you know what the procedure and costs are?

Thank you

By: American Bedu

American Bedu — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:08:10 +0000

Maryam,

Your Saudi husband will have to apply through one of the many agencies for sponsorship of a maid and driver. There are no restrictions in regards to whether a woman is working or not.

By: Maryam

Maryam — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:57:36 +0000

I am married to a Saudi National and we will be relocating to Saudi next month. I will not be working for the moment. What are the procedures for us to get a maid and driver? Are there any restrictions because I will not be working? Please your assistance would be most appreciated.

Thank you

By: American Bedu

American Bedu — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:33:51 +0000

Syed Saboor – this is a blog about customs, cultures and experiences in SAUDI ARABIA. Therefore I usually do not write about other issues; there are many other blogs out there covering all the relevant issues.

Keep on track, keep your comments clean or else you will be blocked. I was kind earlier and only removed your very inappropriate comments with foul language. If you persist, you are blocked.

Thank you – American Bedu

By: syed saboor

syed saboor — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:52:44 +0000

Furthermore, in Israel Palestinian women are abused. In addition, Eastern European women are forced into prostitution to serve the vile appetites of the Israeli military. The Jewish-controlled media says nothing about this abuse of women.
National Review, a thoroughly neoconservative publication, ran several articles about Saudi slavery in the United States, involving women. Daniel Pipes on his webpage does the same. Come on you people, think about it! You bash your own fellow Muslims, when non-Muslims do much worse.
I ask you to consider the facts and weigh the evidence, instead of serving as dupes for this present “War of Terrorism” against the Islamic world.

By: syed saboor

syed saboor — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:46:39 +0000

This is nothing. Why do you people harp on abuse of women in Saudi Arabia. In India, specifically in occupied Kashmir and Gujrat, Muslim women are raped en masse by Indian soldiers. What goes on in Saudi Arabia in regards to women being molested pales in comparison to what goes on to Muslim women in the rest of the world, including in India.
Yes, I agree there is abuse in Saudi. Arabs in the gulf do have a superiority complex about themselves, as do most Arabs, but what happens to others is far worse. In Thailand, the whole sex industry there is far more demeaning to women then anywhere else in the world. An industry created by the United States after the Vietnam war.
Much of this Saudi bashing is symptomatic of Jewish Neocon propaganda. The same lies about women being abused was used by the Bush administration to go to war against Afghanistan.

By: delhi4cats

delhi4cats — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:56:28 +0000

American Muslimah Writer,

Trusting a maid or even a driver can be well….many times, a matter of trust. At the moment I have no housemaid or driver. I was using a part-time housemaid but recently let her go for unreliability and carelessness. Thankfully not due to an issue of mistrust. But you raise a very key and common area where many have problems with domestic help. Your MIL’s technique is good. I have not given specific tests in regards to trust but when I have had live-in help in the past and also my part time help I had here, I had ground rules which I post on the refridgerator door as a regular reminder. We reviewed the ground rules together so there is no misunderstanding or confusion. One of the issues is trust in that if I find anything missing or an item was broken and I was not informed, that could be grounds for immediate dismissal.

Many families I know will not allow the housemaid into their bedroom to clean unless escorted by a family member because that is where jewels or other important papers are kept. Many others, to avoid risk of temptation, keep their valuables secured.

It seems though that the most common observation is that a housemaid will not steal overtly from her employers but if she accompanies the family when they visit others, then if she is someone who would steal, may be more tempted to take something from another home, especially if another housemaid or two can be around to take the blame.

One does have to remember that the housemaid generally comes from an impoverished background and is being exposed to what in her eyes are riches she has not seen before. In her eyes, her employer may be living in exess and living lavishly. She may think “he or she does not really need this or that since they have so much.” I’m not saying this is right. And of course, the way a housemaid is treated also goes a long way in how they in turn react with the family who employs them and what loyalty is given.

By: AmericanMuslimaWriter

AmericanMuslimaWriter — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:51:35 +0000

Yes abu Sinan, it’s great what you wrote! We need to take responsability to take care of ourselves and teach our children to do the same EVEN if we have maids. Does the maid wipe(water wash) your bottom after you go for you or do you do it yourself is what people need to ask themselves. If you can wipe, you can do other things that “lesser” people can do too.
In Lebanon they look down on the Palestineans and Syrians that come to look for low jobs and my husband needed a job badly I told him to try to be a street sweeper and though he has no racial prejudices he wouldn’t do it because his family would get talked about and he didn’t want to bring harm to them. SO not everyone is racist but a lot of people have to pretend they are for family. Sad i know.

BEDU: I want you to please add more (an update maybe?) (or an excerpt here) about HOW TO KNOW IF YOU CAN TRUST A MAID because THAT is the main worry about most maids if they are going to rob you blind. Weither they are legal or not. I love your post but I’m itching for more.
My mother-in-law who has to hire before SriLankans and now (because price has gone up for Sri’s) Bangladeshis always tests them with a simple test. She leaves a 10 or 20 in the fridge or in pants pocket in the laundry or on a dresser or in a drawer then asks the maid to do that task of cleaning that place anytime she gets to it (like she’s not emphasizing the place) and if it’s there at the end of the day she knows she maybe can trust them better or if the maid takes it to her and says she found it. Sometimes when it was gone she would ask the maid if she’s seen it and sometimes the maid gives in and says yes and she put it on a table and will rush to her room to retrieve it or other maids will say no (lying). She fires both the second ones. So I am curious what ways you know of or have heard of to test the maids so they don’t take your most personal items.