SEVERAL women who have been lured to the Middle East by prospects of good jobs and earnings have issued distress calls to escape the appalling conditions under which they are allegedly forced to live.
This comes in the wake of warnings about a possible human trafficking ring to Oman and other Middle-Eastern countries.
The women have taken to social media and other platforms, urging for financial support to allow them to return to Namibia. Most of them have been in Oman for less than a year.
They narrate a sordid tale akin to modern slavery, in which they are made to work themselves to the bone for their host families for meagre pay.
Among those who have come forward with pleas for help is Tjijapaa Kaaronda.
She is the twin sister of former Oviritje artist and entertainer Kazoozu Kaaronda.
Kaaronda, like many others in her situation, has reportedly been told by her host family to pay a fee equivalent to N$40 000 to be released by her employer to be allowed to return to Namibia.
In her passionate plea for help on social media, Kaaronda says she arrived in Oman on 20 March after three days of travelling, which included hitch-hiking by road to Johannesburg, South Africa, and a brief layover in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia.
Upon her arrival in Muscat, Oman's capital, Kaaronda met a man who identified her from some photographs she had sent earlier.
"He took my luggage to a car parked nearby, told me to get in, and we started driving," she says.
Kaaronda says the unidentified man asked for her passport once they were in the car, which she then surrendered to him. She has not seen her passport since.
"They take our passports so we have no way out. All our movements are watched, and we hardly have any time to ourselves. We basically live and work like slaves. Our day starts at the break of dawn, and you remain on your feet until 23h00, ironing, scrubbing walls, mopping floors, cooking and tending the garden," she says.
The biggest shock upon arrival in Oman for those who hoped for better prospects have been their wages, she says.
Kaaronda says they were promised salaries of N$5 000 during the first six months and up to N$20 000 after that by those who facilitated their trip to Oman.
"Upon arrival in Oman, we were told that no such salaries would be paid and that we would only be paid the equivalent of N$3 000 for all the work we do," she says.
Kaaronda has reportedly since managed to make it out of Oman and arrived in Namibia over the weekend.
She has, however, remained unreachable for further interviews.
MORE WOMEN IN SAME BOAT
Three more women who were interviewed on an online community radio run by a Namibian based in the United Kingdom last week shared a similar tale.
* Paheja Katjiteo said she was lined up with young women from other African countries soon after her arrival in Oman.
This is also where those who have disagreements with their employers are brought, starved and allegedly kept in tiny, filthy rooms until another employer makes a bid for them.
The line-up, Katjiteo said, was typical of a cattle auction.
They would be told to parade up and down the room, turning in all directions for the employers to get a 'better angle'.
Soon thereafter, she was told that she now belonged to the family that opted for her, and it was emphasised she was not to leave the family under any circumstances.
"There was basically no consent from us. I was then taken to a house several kilometres away, where I am to this day. I am desperate to leave, but do not know how as I have no passport or any document on me," she said.
THE UNCANNY CONNECTOR
Roots Online has established that many of the women who now find themselves in Oman went through the same agents. The agents include a woman, identified as Kateere Kauari, who allegedly acts as principal agent.
Sources say Kauari facilitates the initial process by instructing those who approach her to pay between N$5 000 and N$8 000 as facilitation fees.
She then books a ticket with the help of other agents - one in Namibia, and another in Oman, whose identities could not be independently verified.
Kauari, in an audio clip on social media, has flatly denied her alleged involvement in an apparent human trafficking ring.
She said she has under no circumstances approached people to travel to Oman, and that all those she has facilitated had approached her themselves.
Kauari said she travelled to Oman herself last year in search of better economic prospects and is employed.
After word got out she had made it to Oman, those who know her and some of her friends started asking how she got there and said they needed help to also make it to Oman, she said.
"I am not involved in any human trafficking ring. These people approached me themselves, and I initially helped them at no charge. But as they were becoming a lot each day and disturbing me, I started charging them for my time and enlisted a man in Namibia to assist," she said.
She said she is not aware of the appalling conditions under which the women are said to be living, blaming the allegations on apparent culture differences between Oman and Namibia.
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Kauari said she never promised anyone big salaries, adding she is being made a scapegoat.
"It's just a culture shock," she said.
Meanwhile, the Namibian Police say they have raked in different stakeholders to address the situation, including embassies and Interpol.
They are calling on Namibians with family members in the Middle East to come forward with information.
The police have said a suspected human trafficking syndicate involving 17 Namibian women was orchestrated from Grootfontein.
Namibian Police deputy inspector general Joseph Shikongo at the time said 17 women were still missing.
He said according to their information, 26 women recently left the country of whom 17 are missing.
The whereabouts of the rest have been identified.
"The Namibian Police have received information on possible human trafficking. It attracts young Namibian women to the Middle East," Shikongo said.
The police first received information on possible human trafficking on 22 March and launched an investigation, he said.
* Not her real name.
- Roots Online
