'Help us bring back our blind daughter stuck in Saudi Arabia'
Peris Mugure who is stuck in Saudi Arabia since last year.
A family in Pakawa estate in Nakuru East, in Nakuru City, has pleaded with the government to help them bring back their blind daughter who is stuck in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Peris Mugure is being held at a deportation facility identified as Sakani within Saudi Arabia.
Her family says she cannot talk, walk or see, due to sickness.
“We were informed that she developed eye complications that robbed her of her eyesight. She also cannot walk or talk,” her mother Ms Marion Njeri told the Nation.
Ms Peris Mugure Wanaina left for Saudi Arabia in 2019, after she secured employment in the Arab country.
She worked for two years before she got another one-year contract.
Her family says the employer has never facilitated her travel to Kenya despite her contract ending eight months ago.
According to her mother, the last time she spoke with her daughter was on May 18, 2022, when she informed her that she had successfully completed her contract and would travel back home in a month’s time.
Ms Njeri told the Nation, that Ms Mugure who sounded jovial, told her that her travel documents were being processed and she could travel back home in June 2022.
However, since then she has never heard from her daughter again.
Phone switched off
Ms Njeri said that her phone was switched off, making her suspect something was wrong with her daughter whom she was eagerly waiting to see after three years away.
When the Nation caught up with Ms Njeri at her home in Pakawa Estate, the dejected mother of seven said her daughter’s condition has left the family in agony.
Marion Njeri speaking to Nation journalists at Pakawa estate Pipeline, Nakuru County on January 25, 2023. Ms Njeri is the mother to Peris Mugure who is stuck in Saudi Arabia since last year.
“Before she flew to Saudi Arabia, a friend approached me and enticed me about the opportunities available abroad. She offered to help my daughter get employment but she never disclosed the details of the work. I trusted her because l was sickly and wanted my daughter to earn a living so as to help me, “she recalled.
“When she arrived she even told me that she had secured a good job. We could talk daily even with her boss,” she added.
Ms Njeri said that after she failed to return home, she tried contacting the friend who had helped her travel to Saudi Arabia, but she was told to wait till the election period was over. After insisting, she was referred to an agent.
According to Ms Njeri, the agent informed her that Ms Mugure was to travel back to the country on June 26, promising that she will come home within seven to ten working days, but it did not materialize and the agent blocked her.
After running out of patience Ms Njeri decided to visit the foreign affairs offices in September where she was requested to draft a letter which she has not received any response despite making several trips to the office and writing another one in November.
“I really do not know what happened to my daughter, I was given the agent number who informed me that my daughter was trying to run away and was arrested and taken to Sakani. I know my daughter she was a good person and obedient there is no day her boss complained about her,” she said.
Deteriorating health
Ms Njeri revealed that a friend who was being held together with her daughter revealed that Ms Mugure was at the facility sickly and her health deteriorating daily adding that she was using diapers and a wheelchair.
She said that the friend even video-called her and confirmed that she was not talking or seeing and was only in tears.
"I just want my daughter back even if she is blind or cannot walk. My heart will be at peace the moment I see her. Some of her friends who were together in the facility have returned home. I am even doubting if she is still alive. I plead with the government to help bring her back," she pleaded.
