Maid mugging in Kuwait

Last Tuesday, November 2nd, my maid walked from the bus stop to my home across the Co-ops Road (Gulf Road extension) in Rumaithiya.  She said she saw a man staring at her from a small white car (like a Corolla).  As she approached the entrance to our villa, he stopped and called her by another woman's name. She turned and said that wasn't her name.  He quickly got out of his car, said "I'm hungry", tore the gold chain from around her neck, returned to his car and drove off.  She wasn't hurt, but is still upset by it.

When she (and I) started relating the story to friends, we discovered that this has happened to other maids across various neighborhoods in Kuwait.

These criminals (or one criminal) know that:

• Maids walking from bus stops during the day are part-timers, usually either on a visa which has been "bought" or who are running away from other homes to work part-time.
• It is highly unlikely that any of these women will go to the police to file a report; because of the point above and also because they may miss further work by spending hours/days in a police station where they will likely be treated badly.

Personally, I have had some bad things happen over the years and I have refused to report them to police stations for the same reason. Until things change, and women/people are made to be comfortable reporting crimes, they probably won't.  I don't want to go to a police station and 1) wait potentially hours for an investigator to show up to work - that is IF that particular station has an investigator to write the case (you may be sent to another station); 2) have someone either blame the victim or treat them with disrespect  (and yes, even blonde-headed-westerners are sometimes treated poorly).  So, what does that make the statistics of petty crime in Kuwait?  Probably considerably lower than it might be.

So, if you have a part-time house maid, tell her either not to wear gold to work, or at least to conceal it when walking from the bus stop.  And as my mommy always used to say, never stop to speak to a stranger in a car.  If he makes advances, scream like hell.