Body of Kenyan domestic worker Flown From Saudi Arabia

The body of Esther Wangu, a Kenyan domestic worker who died in Saudi Arabia last year, has finally arrived in the country.

The body arrived on Saturday, more than three months after she died.

Wangu will be buried tomorrow at Kerwa village, Kikuyu subcounty in Kiambu county, her cousin Joseph Njuguna said.

“We feel relieved even though she is not with us. The family is happy we are going to bury her body finally. Her body was preserved well at least,” he told the Star on phone yesterday.

Nominated Senator Emma Mbura, who in January threatened to stage a sit in at the Saudi Embassy until the remains are returned, received the body at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The family has shelved plans to conduct a postmortem on the body.

“The family has gone through enough stress. We will just give her a decent send-off,” Njuguna said.

He asked the government to stop the torture of Kenyan workers by their Saudi employers.

Wangu went to Saudi Arabia in June last year after a Kenyan agent told her she would work as an office clerk.

However, she ended up working as a domestic worker for a rich family.

Wangu died last November 24 at King Fahad Hospital in Gassim city, Buraidah region, said Njuguna.

She was rushed to the hospital after complaining of stomach pain.

Njuguna said they were informed that she had tried to commit suicide.

Mbura said Kenyan domestic workers have gone through enough suffering.

She called for a change in foreign policy to protect Kenyans working in the Middle East.

“In life we must stand together during difficult times,” she told the Star on Saturday.

“I am happy the body is finally back though it is a difficult moment for the family.”

-the Star.co.ke