For many years, Kenyans working in the gulf have fallen prey to well-orchestrated con schemes that have seen many lose millions of savings they have toiled for.
From house girls to Supermarket Supervisors, many of the Kenyans in the gulf have complained of losing their hard earned money to these fraudsters.
However, the trend is now slowly changing with the emerging of various teams –put up to unite them through prudent use of technology.
They have had to do it, not just to tame thieves, but also, to put an end to the barbaric years of abuse by some of the heartless employers.
One of the most resilient women who went through years of agony is Agatha Owiti, 30, who is a mother of two from Kitale.
Agatha made a bold step to help Kenyans form a formidable shield against torture and exploitation by reaching out to many of them, with intend to form a formal organisation or association that can coordinate their activities and well-being.
This is how Team Gulf Club was born, starting off as a WhatsApp group and ultimately growing into a well-organized welfare group with over 700 house managers.
One of the biggest challenges is adapting to the Arabic culture for survival; including language barrier and how to circumvent conflict situations.
The second biggest challenge is death and how to handle consequent situations that come with it.Flying the bodies home for burial is always a nightmare.
In late 2024 and early this year we had cases where two young women passed away while working in Saudi Arabia due to sudden medical emergencies and we had to work tirelessly behind the scenes to try and help.
“It is never easy due to the bureaucracy that is involved but we were able to mobilize Team Gulf ClubHouse Managers who donated generously despite their modest salaries,”Tragedies like death are always a uniting factor and Agatha believes that they have taken advantage of it to unite for bigger reasons.
Government records indicate that 185 deaths occurred in the Saudi Arabian Kingdom between January 2020 and November 2022.
They have now created investment venture groups that are county based-bringing together House Managers from their home counties for investment purposes through chamas.
Each member of Team Gulf Club contributes a one-time registration fee of KES 1,000, followed by monthly contributions of KES 200, which are split between emergency and leadership funds.
When a member loses an immediate family member, such as a parent, sibling, spouse, or child, each member contributes KES 300 to help ease the burden.
Agatha also revealed that they have created an online awareness system to protect members from fraudsters. Some come in the form of lovers, investment partners and sometimes rogue family members out to take advantage.
She claims she has previously been conned but has grown and learned the hard way.
Most of the members have invested in land, built good permanent houses for parents and funded their siblings in school.
