In the quest to seek for greener pastures in Lebanon and other Gulf states, a total of 2, 262 Ghanaians who were ill-treated have been evacuated from the Arab countries by government.
Some of these young women who shared their experience at a press conference Tuesday, September 29, 2020, noted that they suffered sexual abuse, were beaten to the pulp, jailed for crimes they didn’t commit, and had their passports confiscated in a bid to prevent them from returning to Ghana.
The worst of the harsh treatment meted on them was that, they sometimes slept on an empty stomach as salaries due them were not paid for months.
One of the evacuees who shared her chilling moment said she had her tooth forcefully come off after a slap and abuse she endured from her master.
Another said she was imprisoned for a month for allegedly stealing her master’s gold. While in prison, she wasn’t served either food and water for 2 weeks. Therefore, had to resort to her urine as water to survive in the prison.
“I worked as a house help. My madam said she’ll give me $200 as a salary and paid the first three months. Later, she said she’ll give 100 dollars as salary so I disagreed with her and told her to bring me back to Ghana. She said she can’t because she’s spent a lot on me. I continued working for 5 months without pay so I called on the Ambassador to be of help. I rushed to the Airport and I was arrested for stealing gold. I was in cells for a month for a crime I didn’t commit before [the] Ambassador came to my rescue.”
"According to my madam, she made this up to teach me a lesson,” one of the evacuees said.
She stated that this traumatic experience has left many Ghanaians mad and hospitalised.
“Many have died, many have gone mad…the more the money piles up, they won’t pay and if you don’t run, it’s either they give you a poisonous injection for you to die or go mad or you’ll be arrested for a crime. Because of the language barrier, your side of the story will not be heard.”
Although government has made an effort to bring these girls home, others in Ghana are planning on embarking on a journey to foreign countries to for ‘better’ life.
“I wish everyone takes my experience as an advice to help every Ghanaian lady not to embark on this journey because I am a graduate and I found myself in Lebanon disappointed because I was deceived. I went to Lebanon for a company work but ended up as a house help. The treatment was very bad; I didn’t receive my salary. I spent one year in Lebanon but I came home empty-handed.”
