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KUWAIT: A Filipina domestic helper has been hospitalized after allegedly jumping from the 6th floor of her sponsor's building. The woman, who spoke with Kuwait Times, claimed that she jumped willingly after her sponsor threatened to call the police. She had been caught stealing KD 110 from her sponsor and she admitted the theft to this reporter. "Only small mistakes, but they'll shout at me and hit me in the face. I know how angry they could be. When they said they are calling a police, I was terribly scared. I don't know what to do because I don't want to be arrested; so I jumped out from the 6th floor," she told Kuwait Times.

But there is more to the story. The woman, who gave her name as a 24-year-old Rahima, claims that she isn't really who her employer thinks she is. In fact, she isn't Rahima at all. Instead she said she is 17-year-old Malaiha Omar and that she used a fake name (Rahima) and a fake passport to get a job in Kuwait as a domestic helper.

Lying now in a bed in Mubarak Hospital with several injuries, Rahima (or Malaiha) narrated her story. She hails from Cotabato Philippines in a village of Datu Uddin Sinsuat. In 2016, she worked with a local recruiter in the Philippines to get a fake passport with a different name and age. She then came to Kuwait in August last year and started working. But since then, she claims that her employers mistreated her by whipping her with a belt. But she didn't have much problem until the day her employer discovered that she had stolen KD 110 from him.

"My male employer was asking about missing pants. Out of fear, I said I don't know, but I knew where the pants were. I was just too scared to tell him because I don't want to be whipped again. I accidentally burned the pants while ironing them. So he inspected my cabinet and found the damaged pants. There, he also found the money," she explained. The housekeeper admitted that during her employment, her sponsors did pay her monthly salary. However, after being caught stealing, she now claims that she was mistreated, did not receive a day off and was not allowed out of the house by herself.

AKO-OFW Chairman (International) Dr Celirino 'Chie' Umandap - an Kuwait-based international NGO, learned about the woman predicament, whose identity is yet to be verified through the Philippine Embassy. "Upon learning her case, I informed the office of the president through IACAT and our Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguire. I am just waiting for their reply. Also, I have informed the Office of Susan Ople, of Ople Policy Center," he said.

Although Rahima's (or Malaiha) identity and age are yet to be verified, the question of her being under age has raised concerns. "How do you expect a young girl of her age to handle such a stressful situation? I blamed the local recruitment agency that hired such a teenage girl. It is illegal. The agency should be suspended or banned - or be subjected to investigation. How many more of such cases are here in Kuwait? Remember, even in Kuwait, the allowable age for domestic workers should be at least 24, he said.

Official from the Philippine Embassy who spoke with this reporter confirmed part of Rahima's claim. "She said she jumped from the sixth floor of her employer's window. She said she was only 17 years old. She has fracture on her leg; she cannot moved her leg, there was a surgery on her left eye, but the whole details and the circumstances and information I got are yet to be verified. I just went to hospital to check her condition and see how we could be of help or whether the agency is helping or not. According to the recruitment agency personnel whom I spoke with, the young girl will not be filing any complaints against her sponsor because she said, it was her fault. But police have already filed an attempted suicide case," the embassy official said.

By Ben Garcia