She recounted that on July 4, after doing household chores for B.G., the latter invited her to a dinner at the place of his friend D.S. which she agreed. “I went with him because he’s been good to me and I trusted him,” she stated. When they got there, the girlfriend of D.S. joined them. The dinner finished late and Christine asked B.G. to take her home but the latter refused claiming he was exhausted. “He said he was very sleepy and not fit to drive anymore. Then his friend D.S. offered us to sleep over in his place in separate rooms. I stayed and we slept in different rooms,” she recalled. The following day at around 6 am, Christine was awakened when she felt someone was pulling her hair. “I was shocked to see B.G. pulling my hair and then he started beating my butt and asked me to keep quiet. I fought back but he was too strong for me … then his friend D.S. entered the room,” she disclosed.Christine then detailed what they made her do before finally, taking turns in raping her. “They had no mercy. What I had mind was to survive the ordeal and come out of the place alive,” she pointed out as she broke down in tears.

After they raped her, she asked them to let her out of the house but they refused. “I pleaded to D.S. to let me out. He then tried to strike a deal with me saying that he will only let me out if I promise that I won’t report him to the police and he would be a witness against B.G.,” said Christine. Left with no choice, she agreed with D.S. so that she could escape from the house. Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador Ricardo Endaya warned all Filipinos especially women to be cautious at all times. “Please be careful in accepting invitations or part time jobs. Don’t trust people easily,” he stressed. Christine is bent on pursuing her case even one of the suspects fled the country. “They have to pay for what they did to me. They can’t just get away with this. All I wanted is to make a clean living to help my family back home. I want justice to be served,” she cried.

By Michelle Fe Santiago
Special to the Arab Times

There are several things that every one must avoid to do while he/she lives in Kuwait. This rule is important to all expatriates, especially the ones who don’t enjoy the blessing of having a ‘wasta’. The aim of this rule is to spend your time here without thinking and feeling sorry for yourself of not to get sent to jail for being a fool. Most expatriates want to stay away from trouble but due to being ignorant about a few basic facts, it leads them to various unexpected conditions which make their period in Kuwait very miserable.

Here are the things you must avoid:
Avoid the use of the term why? In your stay here in Kuwait, you will experience a lot of things that you could never imagine to experience. Thus, you start to think over and over again why? why not or why me and why is trouble always coming to you from all directions.

Avoid showing dissatisfaction about the country’s work laws — the country’s regulations such as requirements of visa entry, or obtaining driving license, the corruption, the abuse of housemaids and etc. It implies that you do not appreciate how lucky you are for the gift of being in Kuwait and that you deserve to be deported or jailed for being ungrateful.

Avoid making complaints against your superiors. Your residency in Kuwait will be a threat if you complain or if you make fake cases such as a false absence report.

Avoid fighting with a Kuwaiti. He simply wouldn’t hesitate to use any wasta to make you the wrong person of the dispute and make you take the blame. You might end up begging to him just to let you go!!!!

Avoid trusting any unbelievable Kuwaiti promises with quick wealth and success. Some Kuwaitis may use your daydreams as a tool to make some money by doing illicit activities. You would be the criminal, while he will be set free.

Avoid saying yes all the time especially when you do not want to. Although it shows the objectivity in ones personality, it doesn’t make sense for someone to like everything he sees or hears with no reaction, especially in Kuwait. Always saying yes can lead to lots of problems such as sexual harassment or abuse or rape, this can even can encourage others to think you are weak and easy. This can cause real troubles for anyone specifically for women.

Avoid starting friendly conversations with taxi drivers. This would give him the impression that you want him to have sex with you and of course, he would ask you if you are married and if your husband is with you. Never admit to be single and alone or even to confess that you are a runaway maid or employee. Many of them would not hesitate to rape you and leave you empty handed and get you pregnant.

Avoid accepting gifts or laughing over sexual jokes with your boss unless it is really okay with you and this is what you want .If you came from an environment where you are very open with the opposite gender, then you might think that such jokes are okay but here, it is not. This would give men a hint that you are ready to have sex with him and you could find yourself a rape victim. Besides, accepting someone’s gifts means approval.

Avoid trying to look sexy by showing the sexiest parts of your body. You may think that you have a sexy body and want the world to see that because it is okay for you, but do not do that here. Lots of men here would think of you as a prostitute and may try to reach or touch you by any means. You may not mean it but this would be hard to convince them because they came from a different culture. The culture here associates clothes with manners. The more you cover yourself, the more respected you will be.

This list can go on and can be virtually endless, but the main fact is that caution is essential because what might be very normal in your country would simply not be normal here. Think of all the options and do the opposite. This may ensure a longer stay in Kuwait with less headaches.

Email me at munaalfuzai@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT CITY: Police are looking for two unidentified Arabs for kidnapping and raping an Asian maid, reports Al-Watan daily. In her complaint to the police the maid said the men kidnapped her from outside the gate of her sponsor’s home in Mahboula, drove her to an apartment in Fintas and raped her several times. The men also stole her cell phone and KD five, drove her back and escaped. However, the Al-Rai daily said the suspects are policemen and they offered to drive an Indonesian maid to an unidentified location, took her to an apartment in Fintas and raped her.

Police have arrested a 15-year-old schoolboy for sodomizing a 13-year-old student more than once over a period of three months, reports Al-Anba daily. During interrogation the juvenile is said to have admitted to committing the act. The suspect has been referred to the Juvenile Prosecution.

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Police are looking for three unidentified persons for stealing money, jewelry and a camera from a Filipino woman and ‘raping’ her, reports Al-Rai daily. The victim told police she was on her way to her sponsor’s home when a man wearing a dishdasha grabbed her from behind and dragged her into his home and raped her. He then drove her to a livestock pen in Jahra and invited two other men to have sex with her. The man then escaped with her purse containing $500, KD 65 and her jewelry and a camera

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KUWAIT: A 13-year-old schoolgirl revealed that she was raped by the haris of their building while she was alone in the flat. The haris came to the flat in order to change some lamps as a periodical maintenance check and assaulted the girl sexually and  threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone. The girl informed her parents what happened and the parents took her to the hospital and reported the matter to the police. The haris was summoned for questioning but was then released because he had told the police that he harassed the girl but did not rape her.

After three months, the girl started feeling sick and upon getting a check up at the hospital, she discovered that she was pregnant. The parents reported the matter to the police again and the police arrested the haris and referred him to the central jail.

Later on, the girl gave birth, but then the police refused to release the baby only after recording the baby under the name of its father. The family got an authorisation letter from the haris while he was in jail and recorded the baby under his name.

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Three Filipino women, including a 17-year-old teenager, have allegedly been gang raped in Kuwait in the past 10 days, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday.

Citing a report from the Philippine embassy in Kuwait, the DFA said the three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were abducted by unidentified men aboard a car while they were walking in the streets of Kuwait city.

Kuwaiti police are still trying to find out if the suspects are the same in each case, the report said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo told reporters that the department will exert all efforts to ensure the prosecution and conviction of the suspects in the crimes.

Romulo assured that the Philippine embassy in Kuwait and the DFA’s Office for Migrant Workers Affairs are providing legal, consular and psychological assistance to the three Filipinas.

“The department will provide the necessary legal funds to secure the conviction of those responsible for committing this terrible crime on our nationals and will ensure that the victims get the proper counseling and social support in order to overcome the trauma of this incident,” Romulo said.

In November 2003, the Philippine government successfully sought the prosecution and imprisonment of three Kuwait policemen for the rape of a Filipina.

The Kuwaiti court imposed prison sentences on the three Kuwaitis in a decision rendered on May 31, 2005.

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