Eleven Burundian women have left for Saudi Arabia to work as domestic workers, in a government-backed scheme to curb illegal migration.
In the past, hundreds of Burundian women have been trafficked by cartels to work in housekeeping jobs in Arab countries - with some saying they endured extreme domestic violence.
“I am extremely happy... after almost four years of joblessness,” 22-year-old Aline Niyokwizera from southern Burundi told the BBC at Bujumbura's airport on Wednesday.
Jean Bosco Bizuru from a local recruitment agency said they had trained the women in the housekeeping jobs they will be doing in Saudi Arabia.
Burundi has a high rate unemployment among young people, who make up more than half the country’s population. Epimeni Bapfinda, an official in the foreign affairs ministry, said more than 75,000 jobs for Burundians will be available in Saudi Arabia.
Yet in recent years several other nations, including Uganda and Ethiopia, have banned the recruitment of maids to work in Saudi Arabia because of numerous accusations of abuse and mistreatment at the hands of Saudi employers.
Source: BBC
