Sandya who left to Saudi Arabia to help her family returns a broken woman
Kumudini Sandya Kumari, a mother of two, left for Saudi Arabia to work as a housemaid on May 10, 2023, via a private foreign employment agency in Kurunegala, to provide for her family amidst the economic difficulties.
“As the fishing industry was unsuccessful, my wife suggested that she go abroad. I was helpless, so we sent her abroad through the agency in Kurunegala," Sandya’s husband, W. Niranjan Fernando, said.
Sandya's hopes soon turned to horror as she was mistreated and physically abused by her employers. She was also deprived of sleep in the first few months. After contacting the agency, she was transferred to another home that turned out to be relatives of the previous home she served in. There too, she was abused on the very first day, and she had to be hospitalised.
Before she left the first house, the owners had threatened her, saying, “We’ll see what happens to you. We will kill you,"" said Niranjan.
As she had lost contact with her husband, a worker at the hospital had contacted Sandya’s husband, making him
aware of his condition. Niranjan, who made repeated visits to a branch office of the agency in Halawatha, demanding that his wife be brought home, was successful in contacting the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Sandya returned to the country on March 19.
“I pleaded with the agency to let my wife return, but they disregarded me. I was able to bring her back due to pressure from the media,” Niranjan said.
“When my wife went, she was healthy, but now she has screws in her leg because it is broken. She is also mentally distressed. She cannot remember anything that happened. Even the clothes she took were not with her when she came,” he added.
“I feel helpless, as I do not even have a job to take care of her," Niranjan lamented.