Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Some 10,000 Ethiopian housemaids are expected to arrive in the Kingdom by mid Ramadan (May 20), local daily Al-Madina reported on Wednesday quoting a source at the Ethiopian consulate general in Jeddah.

The source, who requested anonymity, said the delay behind the arrival of housemaids before Ramadan was due to their training and qualification for a month on the house chores and the Saudi customs and traditions.

The source said the Musanid computer program of the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development was not properly activated in Ethiopia.

"The Ethiopian ministry of labor is also keen that every housemaid should have a clean criminal sheet and have no health issues," he said.

The source expected the Ethiopian house helps to occupy about 50 percent of the recruitment sector because they are comparatively cheap and are hard workers.

Under a contract signed between the labor ministries in the two countries, the monthly salary of an Ethiopian housemaid will be SR1,000 while the cost of her recruitment will rage between SR4,000 and SR7,000.

Ibrahim Al-Majed, an owner of a recruitment office, said the measures being taken by the Ethiopian ministry of labor have delayed the arrival so far of the Ethiopian housemaids and he expected the first batch of about 9,000 of them to arrive during the coming few days.

Under the contract, the Ethiopian housemaid should be well-trained on the Saudi customs and traditions, qualified on the house work and have a clean criminal record.