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Abused, battered housemaid sans finger and compensation returns to scratch
Sri Lanka’s motherhood continues to toil abroad perilously while the powers that be pay lip service to their welfare and wellbeing
Damayanthi Kumari, literally left a part of herself behind when she left Oman—her finger. After two months working as a housemaid, Kumari returned home on July 2. A battered and bruised Kumari had left behind hopes of giving her children a better life, and her bedridden mother better medication.
Kumari, 30, left Sri Lanka on April 7, after she was assigned by a Kurunegala foreign employment agency to work for a family in Oman. When she arrived at her workplace, the first thing she was asked to do was chop off her hair, lest it contaminate the food she cooks. When she refused to do it herself, the madam of the house had taken her to the bathroom and cut off Kumari’s hair.
Kumari: Loses a finger for not cleaning a knife properly
“She then told me to have a wash using detergent powder. She clearly instructed me not to use the ‘good’ soap that was reserved for her three children,” Kumari recalled.
She can’t hold back her tears as she remembers that fateful day in June, when she lost use of the middle finger of her right hand.
“I was making roti in the kitchen when the madam of the house walked in and saw that I had not cleaned a knife. I told her that this was because I was not finished using it. She then took the metal spoon that was in my hand and lashed out at me. I felt as though my finger had exploded,” Kumari explained.
The madam of the house had explained to her husband that Kumari had cut her finger while making a salad. “They told me that they would not buy me medicine and that I should continue working as usual. I was in unbearable pain. How was I to cook, wash the dishes and bathe their children with a bleeding finger?” she cried.
Kumari was later taken to a communications shop where the madam had permitted her to talk with the agency in Sri Lanka. They had listened to Kumari’s problems and promised her a change of employer. When she returned to the house, Kumari—who had not been paid for her work at the house—was once again sternly ordered to get back to normal chores. But she was enduring great pain.
“When I protested these orders, the madam locked the children in a room and took me to the living room. There she beat me mercilessly. She pulled on my clothes and what was left of my hair.”
A few days later, Kumari fled the house. With the help of a Sri Lankan family that lived in the neighbourhood, she found her way to the Sri Lankan embassy in Oman. “I explained what happened to the embassy officials. They told me they couldn’t take me to get my finger treated immediately, because there were no drivers working. So I was on the painkiller for a few days,” Kumari explained.
The doctors had advised that her nail be removed. But even after the operation, neither the pain in her finger or the anguish in her mind receded. Finally, Kumari was sent in for an operation to remove her finger. Five days after the operation, Kumari returned home.
Kumari had the choice of having an investigation into the incident, but the police in Oman had informed her that this would take months to complete.
“I could not bear to stay there any longer. I just wanted to come back to Sri Lanka, so I signed a letter agreeing to return home without an investigation,” Kumari said. Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau deputy general manager Mangala Randeniya said that, as Kumari had left Oman, she could not receive compensation from the country.
“However, investigations are under way in Sri Lanka. The definition of an agent is one who takes responsibility for its clients, and we are going to visit the agency next week, to determine its role in Kumari’s situation. It could be required to pay compensation to Kumari,” Randeniya explained.
Meanwhile, Kumari affirmed that she had no plans to go abroad for employment again, despite the promise of a better pay.
“People warned me and told me not to go, but I didn’t listen. Today, I refuse to even look in that direction,” said Kumari, who lost her husband a year ago. “Today, I ask innocent women of this country not to go abroad to work as housemaids. I advise them to stay in Sri Lanka and appreciate their freedom — the freedom I was deprived of, when each day, they locked me up in their hostile house and ignored my pleas for human compassion.”
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