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Sickness and non-payment forced Sri Lankan housemaid to ‘abscond’

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ABU DHABI — Sri Lankan housemaid M.K. Somlata fled from her sponsor as she could not take the work pressure as a result of which she fell sick. The sponsor did not allow her to go out for treatment.

Published: Thu 26 Jul 2007, 9:00 AM

Updated: Sun 5 Apr 2015, 3:20 AM

  • By
  • Anwar Ahmad

Thirty-four-year-old Somlata came to the UAE in 2004 and worked in the sponsor’s house in Al Ain at Dh500 a month. When her sponsor stopped paying her salary, she fled from Al Ain and went to the Sri Lankan mission in the capital to seek assistance under amnesty.

“When I fell ill due to workload, my sponsor did not give me a single penny for treatment. Since the salary was not enough to bear the cost of treatment, I had to seek assistance from other friends,” Somlata stated.

“It was good that my Sudanese sponsor sent me a visa for free but did not pay me regularly and treated me inhumanely by burdening me with a lot of household work,” Somlata alleged.

Now she wants to go back and return to the UAE on a good-natured sponsor’s visa. “I shall go home and get myself treated and meet my daughter who is alone at home,” she said.

Somlata is delighted to go back under the amnesty plan but is determined to come back soon if she does manage to find a good sponsor from the UAE.



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