Making things personal helps people identify with them. I want to share the story of one of my friends to let you see the way some Egyptian workers live in our good country, and to seek your help.
Mamdouh was a college student in Egypt. He reached the third year of his BA but was caught cheating and was consequently suspended for a year. He didn’t mind and decided it would be a good break away from school, a break that he might put to good use. He got a job at a local pharmacy and, in his own words, “lived like a king”.
It was only for a year that Mamdouh could work because later on he will go back to school, study hard, get his degree and then graduate to a welcoming land of opportunity. He might even get engaged.
The inevitable happened. Mamdouh heard about Jordan and all about the opportunities it offers Egyptian workers, he even saw a number of his friends leave to Jordan and heard about the money they can make over there. His mind was set, “I will leave to Jordan too!”.
Once he got to the Promised Land, Mamdouh was with a group of other Egyptians who were snatched into the arms of a local services company. Since they had nowhere to go, and nobody to consult with or stay with, those young men were ecstatic that they found work so soon. Work means money, and money means eating, drinking, sleeping in a good place, and some saving.
Signing a contract with that company was the best strategy to survive this new environment. Mamdouh was asked to sign a cheque of 500JD as well as the contract. When he refused, the company people told him it is just a measure to ensure he does not break the contract. When he proved to be stubborn, he was persuaded by his friends to sign just as they did. He remembered that he had nowhere to go if he didn’t have the money, so he signed the contract and the cheque.
The company then confiscated all of the Egyptians’ passports. They said this was also a measure to prevent them from escaping work and violating the contract. Now the company literally owned them.
I met Mamdouh during the period of his “indentured servitude” with this company. He came across as a very decent, ambitious, polite, and helpful young man. Being around my age, we used to talk a lot and he told me how he ended up getting verbally abused every day by his Egyptian superior. The company appointed an Egyptian man to supervise the group of Egyptian workers they had, and this man’s technique was breaking these young men’s self-esteem into subjugation. Locals worked with the company like the Egyptians, but seeing the horrible conditions of employment, they would usually leave after a day or two. Only the Egyptians remained because they had no other choice.
The situation got worse. The company reduced Mamdouh’s salary from 85 to 75JD per month. The 10JD they deducted they said were for “insurance”. Mamdouh had to find another job to pay the rent so he started working from 4 PM until 12 AM in a liquor store.
This means his day starts at 5:30 AM, and ends past midnight.
Mamdouh’s contract specifically prohibits him from visiting Egypt. It extends over one year only. Mamdouh finished his service as the contract legally dictates last month, but he cannot go home. He can go to the Egyptian Embassy in Amman and they might help him get his passport back from his employers, but he does not have 500JD to pay the company.
Mamdouh is still working two jobs, waking up at 5:30 in the morning and not resting before it’s past midnight, everyday.
Who protects Egyptian workers’ rights in this country? Does anyone even care about them? Mamdouh may be lucky because he is educated and he does not have a family to support, but most of those workers are not as educated as he is and they have families that wait for them to put food on the table. If they didn’t need the money so bad, they would not submit to the many forms of abuse they suffer in so many places and in so many forms.
Does anyone know how we can help Mamdouh?
<p class="MsoNormal">wallahi eshee bejannin. i know a few such stories myself.
this guy’s problem can only be solved if he brings other witnesses to back his
story. he is a double victim, by the scheming Jordanian businessman and by his
friends who encouraged him to sign the check. Alla yesturna because when we ignore such injustices we become culprits by our silence. <br /></p>
<br />You said that he finished the contract period, so why he
must to pay the 500JDs???
I didn’t get it…
<br /><br />And if entered Jordan
legally, I think any police station will help him and his embassy too…<br /><br />
BTW, my aunt is a judge; if you want I can ask her…
<p>Tololy,</p>
<p>It may help Mamdouh’s case if the name of this employment company be brought into the lime light. I say this, having learned that the power of blogging Jordan is fairly measurable: Please refer to Ramblinghal’s posts in the past 2 weeks. She was able in her ’sounding out’ style to make Aramex pay attention. I realize that this case and Hala’s case are far appart in their nature, but maybe if you post the company’s name it could garner enough attention and maybe even allow socially concious people to take action by contacting this company and addressing said issue. </p>
<p>What you are doing is great! Please keep it up. :)</p>
<p>Good luck to you and Mamdooh.</p>
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The Jordanian Authorities should intervene immediately – Such behaviour are unacceptable… Slavery in our days????
<p class="MsoNormal">From what I understood the contract is for one year and the
500 JD’s cheque is to prevent breaking this contract, so the cheque should be
for the period of the contract, I guess.<br /><br />
And to tell you the truth this situation is everywhere, in GCC specially Saudi Arabia,
your employer hold your passport and you can’t rent a house, buy a car, move
from one city to the other or leave the country at all without his permission,
he also can kick you out of the country and prevent you from coming back for
the rest of your life, at least foreigners here (Arabs & non-Arabs) can
move from one job to the other, but maybe not in this case.</p>
As far as I know, Mamdouh and the other workers were made to sign the cheque initially to prevent them from violating the contract. Now Mamdouh wants to go home since his contract expired but he can’t because the company won’t let him go. They want him to stay, and if he chooses to go he has to pay 500JD – which he doesn’t have by the way.
<p>It is a shame that people are expolited all over like this. Happens here in the US quite a bit. I am surprised that with his high education he fell into this trap….but it goes to show how desperate some people are to find gainful employment. </p>
<p>I sincerely hope that he is able to correct the situation he finds himself in. Can’t he just say that he lost his passport? Or just go to the border and cross back into Egypt? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I would start by saying that I am really sad to hear that, especially I am a Jordanian who lives in Egypt, and I can see how nice people gets when they know I am a Jordanian. And the process for Jordanian to have a permanent legal residence is not complicated -maybe that goes back to the era were Nasser ruled <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Egypt</place></country-region> – I really miss having that great guy, and I think Egyptians are missing him too… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Anyway, I think the problem here is not an“Egyptians-in-Jordan” issue, it can simply be summarized through the class struggle in the Arab world. everywhere in the Arab world there are companies taking advantage of its employees… simple, direct, and clear. and because of capitalism, slavery is back to this lovely world, maybe not revealed as it used to be, but more vicious, cruel. And once again… .thank you uncle Sam …..</span>
<p></p>
My Egyptian friend, Ibrahim, who is a street worker in my neighborhood, recently lost his wife shortly after she gave birth to twins. The doctor at the government hospital claimed that he did nothing wrong, even after her Caesarian stitches burst open causing her to hemmorage. Now Ibrahim, who worked faithfully for 12 years at the Raghadan Palace, is left alone to tend to 4 children due to medical malpractice.<br /><br />I have been disappointed by the poor standards by which Egyptians in general are treated in Jordan.
<span class="commentBody"><span id="comment-3814"><span ar-sa="" mso-bidi-language="" en-us="" mso-fareast-language="" mso-ansi-language="" ;="" roman="" new="" times="" mso-fareast-font-family="" style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>and
because of capitalism, slavery is back to this lovely world, maybe not
revealed as it used to be, but more vicious, cruel. And once again…
.thank you uncle Sam …..</i><br /><br />That’s funny, because we don’t have any issues like Tololy described here, at the heart of Capitalism. Can you tell me when the Middle East was ever better when it comes to slavery? Thank you for blaming YOUR problems on America… AGAIN… Jordan. <br /><br />I’d just blame Fresto for that but I’m sure he’s not alone in his backwards opinions.<br /><br /></span></span></span>
Tololy, do please post the name of that company so we can see if we can get the guy some retribution – at least get him what is owed him. If we can bring the public’s attention to just one, specific case, then other situations like this can also be remedied.<br /><br />If you prefer, you can e-mail me or any other writer/journalist you know works for a local publication or media outlet, and perhaps a story can be done out of this.<br /><br />Hopefully we can help him and others like him.<br />
I don’t blame USA for this, Craig. But please don’t
say that there is slavery in the states, I can assure you that there are more
than 10,000,000 slaves in the states… the Cubans, the Mexicans, the Chinese,
and of course I’m not going to forget the colored ones…
[...] I found this touching story, written by a Jordanian blogger, on the horrible work conditions of Egyptian migrant laborers in Amman. Egyptian Workers in Jordan: A True Story [...]
<p><span class="commentBody"><em><span id="comment-3822">I don’t blame USA for this, Craig. But please don’t say that there is slavery in the states, I can assure you that there are more than 10,000,000 slaves in the states… the Cubans, the Mexicans, the Chinese, and of course I’m not going to forget the colored ones… </span></em></span></p>
<p><span class="commentBody"><span>You are either insane or have been brainwashed. Ethnic minorities in the US have the same rights as anyone else, and an employer would be sued (or jailed) if they tried the tactics the Jordanian company did. Racial discrimination can happen anywhere, but laws against it regarding employment are well enforced, and many victims of discrimination have become millionares after suing their employer.</span></span></p>
<p><span class="commentBody"><span>The last time I heard of such a thing in the US, it was a Saudi living in America that confiscated the passport of his Indonesian maid. He’s currently serving a 27 year prison sentence: <a href="http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=80144&d=1&m=9&y=2006">http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=80144&d=1&m=9&y=2006</a></span></span></p>
<p><span class="commentBody"><span>You really need to stop believing every bit of ridiculous propaganda you see in the Middle East media.</span>
<p><em><br /></em></p></span></p>
<p><em><br /></em></p>
Hollowpoint, please read Human Rights Watch (HRW) report for year 2006 page 512…<br /><br /><a href="http://hrw.org/wr2k6/wr2006.pdf" style="font-weight: bold;">PDF REPORT</a><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/usdom12292.htm" style="font-weight: bold;">USA CHAPTER</a><br /><br />
<p>Hollowpoint,</p>
<p>I almost made an ass of myself…wasn’t sure who you were quoting. Mahdy…I don’t know, maybe he (maybe she…don’t know) has never been here and relies on propaganda to develop his worldview. And Fresto is a Marxist. Talk about a failed ideology! Just ignore him.</p>
<p>I’m tempted here to bring attention to the plight of many young Thai, Vietnamese and Cantonese girls who get sold as sex slaves into brothels in Australia. I am not sure if it also happens in the US but I wouldn’t be surprised. </p>
<p>What is really saddening about this particular story as 3arbawy pointed out, is that there are often other Egyptians involved. </p>
<p>It is true testimony to the power and lure of money. </p>
<p>Visiting Egypt a few months ago, I went shopping with my sister at a small boutique in Alexandria. The clothes were really bad- the kind of stuff I wouldn’t even pay $5 at a garage sale in Australia. My sister admired a skirt. When I asked the shop owner how much it was he said 800 LE. How could he justify charging that much money for an ugly skirt? He said that he had paid 40 L for it in London. He was lying- right there to my face, he was lying. I told him that I thought he was trying to cheat his fellow countrymen and that he should be ashamed of himself but as I walked out of the shop, I knew, as he did, that there would be someone just around the corner willing to fork out 800 for an ugly skirt and letting herself get ripped off for the sake of wearing something from abroad. </p>
<p>Why have we become this way? Why have Egyptians become so concerned with making money that they seem to have forgotten about decency, dignity and fairness?</p>
Usual Suspect,<br /><br /><span class="commentBody"><span id="comment-3845"><i>I’m tempted here to
bring attention to the plight of many young Thai, Vietnamese and
Cantonese girls who get sold as sex slaves into brothels in Australia.
I am not sure if it also happens in the US but I wouldn’t be surprised. </i><br /><br />I believe it’s North Korean girls in the US, being smuggled in via Canada. In this case, though, it’s asian criminal gangs… there is nothing like what Tololy described happening above board in the United States. The prison sentences for that kind of thing are SEVERE in America, as they should be. The problem is with a lot of the women from third world countries is that they are scared to come forward.<br /></span></span>
Tololy – good work. I really hope something good works out.