East African Domestic Workers Endure Abuse and Death in Saudi Arabia
East African leaders and Saudi officials are benefiting from a perilous and profitable trade involving domestic workers. Journalists Abdi Latif Dahir and Justin Scheck, along with photographer Kiana Hayeri, spent months exploring cities and rural areas in Kenya and Uganda.
Every day in Kenya, many women gather at Nairobi's international airport, excitedly taking selfies in matching T-shirts and discussing how they plan to use their earnings from jobs in Saudi Arabia. Attracted by recruitment agencies and encouraged by the Kenyan government, these women are hopeful. The promise is that two years of work as a housekeeper or nanny in Saudi Arabia can provide enough money to build a home, educate their children, and secure their future.
However, the arrivals area of the airport tells a different story. Women return with hollow expressions, often suffering from unpaid wages, physical abuse, starvation, and sexual violence. Some come back with nothing, while others return in coffins.
In the past five years, at least 274 Kenyan workers, primarily women, have died in Saudi Arabia—a staggering number for a workforce engaged in jobs typically considered safe. Last year alone, 55 Kenyan workers died, doubling the previous year's toll. Autopsy reports are often unclear and conflicting, noting signs of trauma such as burns and electric shocks, yet labeling these as natural deaths. One report simply stated "brain dead" as the cause of death. Many Ugandans have also died, though their government does not release statistics.
Officials like Fabian Kyule Muli, vice chairman of Kenya's National Assembly labor committee, are supposed to safeguard these workers. The committee has the power to demand thorough investigations into worker deaths, urge the government to negotiate better protections with Saudi Arabia, or pass laws to restrict migration until reforms are made.