AMMAN, JORDAN (CNN) - Isa Almaeda left a life of poverty in the Philippines for the promise of a few hundred dollars a month for work as a house maid in Jordan.
She was expecting a better life, but the 36-year-old wound up working for years without receiving any money, a form of labor abuse rampant in the Middle East. Now, she said, she knows she was a slave and lived nine years in the dark.
Many migrant domestic workers find themselves in similar situations, locked in homes and forced to work up to 20 hours a day, deprived of their passports and unable to leave.
Almaeda said she came to Jordan from the Philippines for the promise of a $500 a month salary as a domestic worker. She intended to support her ailing parents and siblings back in her home country,
Instead, Almaeda said she was trapped in the hell of a foreign country she didn't know, working 17 hours a day in a remote town on the border with Syria.
Almaeda said she knew that her rights were taken from her, but she was afraid of going outside, afraid no one would help her and that her life would be in danger.
So she decided to stay. She did get $500 the first month, and $300 each of the following two. But then the money stopped. Her employer promised to pay her but kept her passport, a common and often exploitative arrangement for low-wage workers in the Middle East. Almaeda said she never was paid again.
Almaeda's work and residency permits then were not renewed, so she became illegal. Fines in the thousands of dollars accumulated over the years and made it harder for her to escape
In 2015, after establishing contact with her sister who traveled from Dubai to Jordan, Almaeda escaped from her employer's home and made it to the capital city, Amman, where she worked illegally.
Almaeda said what she has been through haunts her even in her sleep. She wanted to send money to her family but had nothing. She said she sometimes now cries herself to sleep thinking how hard her life has been and that she dreams of the life she once had.
Almaeda eventually found help, though, at Tamkeen, Jordan's only non-governmental organization specializing in legal aid for migrant workers. Tamkeen has been working with Jordan's anti-trafficking unit to help Almaeda.
Tamkeen's founder, Linda Al-Kalash, said the road to redress is a long one.
"Many cases don't know about their rights, and some of them they know but they afraid to ask about their rights,” she said. "Some stay in Jordan a long time without wages, without connection with their families. Some of them stay more than 10 years without salaries, without labor permit, without residency permit. They don't know where they can go to ask for their rights.”
Since 2007, Tamkeen has helped thousands of migrant workers in Jordan.
Hana, another domestic worker, is described as a community leader, and when the single mother is not working to support her three children back home, she tries to educate others about their rights.
"It is important for people to know there is an organization like them helping the people about their rights, it is important because not all … mostly, they don't know their rights,” she said. "Because when we come here, we are not aware of our rights. Our agency tells us you are going there to be a house maid and that's it. You have to work and learn how to clean and that's it. They never tell us you have to rest, you have to eat good, you have to have your salary. They never tell this to us."
After three months of no pay and long working hours, Hana stood up to her employer.
"Before I ran away, I tell her, 'Madame, I will give you one week to give me my salary.' She told me, 'Why?' I said, 'You will not give me in one week, I will run away.' I gave her this idea, but she thought I was joking, or I am scared."
Through Tamkeen's mediation, Hana got her salaries and passport back.
There are more than 50,000 migrant domestic workers operating legally in Jordan. Another estimated 20,000 are working without proper documentation. Most come from south and southeast Asia or East Africa.
Most are expected to do everything from cleaning, to cooking, ironing, and gardening to childcare. Some work for as little as a couple of hundred dollars a month.
According to a 2016 report by Tamkeen, more than 38 percent of domestic workers do not receive their salaries on time. It also found that many are deceived by employers who promise to pay them at the end of a contracted period, but never do. Some are owed years of wages they may never receive.
According to Tamkeen, confiscation of passports and restriction of movement are also common. The situation is similar in neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The Jordanian government acknowledges the problem, but said they are individual cases and not widespread. The government said it is working to prevent the mistreatment of domestic workers from turning into a phenomenon of human trafficking.
In recent years laws have been passed to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers. While not easy to enforce, these laws raised the minimum wage, limited working hours to eight a day, and employers face fines for withholding travel documents.
The government also said complaints of forced labor and other abuses are immediately investigated.
But organizations like Tamkeen say not all victims come forward.
"My message to them, ask and request for your rights, don't be afraid, go to a police station, go to the Ministry of Labor, file a complaint against this employer," said Al-Kalash. "You have rights. … It is very important to ask for their rights; it is very important to empower yourself."
In December, Almaeda was deported back to the Philippines, leaving behind her long wait for justice in Jordan, where her case could take years in court.
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