"Both Failed Me": Mother's Testimony Exposes the Deadly Reality Behind Kenya's Gulf Labour Export Machine

Caroline Wanjiru left Nairobi on January 17, 2023, with a dream: work in Saudi Arabia for two years, save enough money, and build her mother a house. She had two young sons, ages six and five. The recruitment agency promised a salary, accommodation, and a pathway out of poverty.

Three months later, she was dead.

Her mother — identified only as GM in a testimony published by The Star on May 20, 2026 — described a cascade of failures: an employer who ignored worsening symptoms, a recruitment agency that vanished when things went wrong, and a Kenyan government that told her to "simply return home and wait."

"What I can say is that both failed me," GM said, referring to the Kenyan government and the agency that sent her daughter abroad.

The descent

Wanjiru initially concealed her plans from her mother, knowing GM would object. "In fact, I knew she was going when the ticket came," GM recalled, "like three days before."

Upon arrival in Absa, Saudi Arabia, Wanjiru was placed with a family consisting of a mother, daughter, and husband who maintained three wives. She worked in the household of one of the spouses. Initial communications were frequent and reassuring. Wanjiru spoke with her mother and her two children almost every evening.

Then the calls stopped coming as often. Wanjiru began complaining of headaches and neck stiffness. She was taken to a hospital but received only painkillers and was sent home. The situation deteriorated swiftly.

By her birthday on April 5, she told her mother that one of her eyes was no longer seeing, while the other had become weak. GM immediately raised the alarm, first with the agency and then with a friend working nearby in Saudi Arabia.

Soon, Wanjiru could no longer sustain a conversation, relying on recorded audio messages to communicate her worsening state. The friend alerted GM of the severity of the situation, revealing the employer's growing reluctance to provide adequate medical attention.

It was later confirmed that Wanjiru had contracted meningitis, a condition that had progressed significantly by the time she was finally admitted for treatment. Doctors said she would be discharged after a course of 14 days of medication, after which she would be repatriated.

She did not make it that far.

The aftermath

The employer initially refused to cover the hospital bills or the cost of the flight, claiming Wanjiru was still within her probationary period. Left to navigate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs independently while nursing severe emotional distress, GM was repeatedly told to simply return home and wait.

The body was only returned after an unnamed official intervened directly, though the family still had to absorb a massive budgetary burden for the final funeral arrangements.

A systematic chain of trafficking

Wanjiru's case is not an isolated incident. It is part of what the Global Justice Centre describes as a "systematic chain of trafficking" that begins long before a worker sets foot in the Gulf.

Advocates at the Centre say many workers are misinformed during mandatory pre-departure training in Kenya. "They are not educated on their rights. The only thing they are warned about is that you shouldn't say no to your employer. You should always be submissive," one advocate told The Star.

The violations extend to the total stripping of autonomy. It is common, though illegal, for employers to confiscate passports and contracts immediately upon arrival at the airport. Contracts are frequently altered or presented only at check-in, leaving migrants completely unaware of their precise working conditions until they land.

In the most severe cases, workers endure extensive physical and sexual assault, returning home with catastrophic injuries, dislocated spinal discs from forced hard labour, or permanent disabilities. Many do not return at all.

According to data from Kenya's Vital Statistics Report 2023, the number of registered Kenyan worker deaths in Saudi Arabia more than doubled in 2023, rising to 29 from 13 in 2022. Amnesty International Kenya reported in May 2025 that at least 274 Kenyan domestic workers had died in Saudi Arabia over the preceding five years.

The gap between ambition and protection

The death of Caroline Wanjiru exposes the widening gap between Kenya's labour export ambitions and the weak protections available to migrant workers once they leave the country.

While Gulf jobs continue to be marketed as an economic lifeline for unemployed youth, cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation are increasingly raising questions about recruitment oversight and state accountability. The story also reflects how poverty pushes vulnerable women into risky migration channels despite known dangers.

Kituo Cha Sheria, Haki Jamii Rights Centre, and 12 families of Gulf abuse victims have filed a petition in Kenyan courts demanding fresh vetting of all recruitment agencies, suspension of labour migration to the Middle East until basic protections are in place, and establishment of labour offices, consulates, and safe houses in all Gulf destination countries.

The Labour Migration Management Bill, which would establish a comprehensive legal framework for overseas workers, remains in draft stage. The Kenyan Parliament's Labour and Social Welfare Committee recommended a temporary halt to Gulf migration in 2022 until issues are resolved. The recommendation was ignored.

What comes next

Pressure is now mounting on the Kenyan government to strengthen bilateral labour safeguards, regulate agencies more aggressively, and establish meaningful support systems for distressed returnees and bereaved families.

But for GM, sitting in Nairobi with two young grandsons who will grow up without their mother, the policy debates feel distant. Her daughter dreamed of building a house. Instead, the family is left with funeral debt, trauma, and the knowledge that the systems meant to protect Caroline Wanjiru failed at every turn.

Reporting drawn from The Star Kenya, Eastleigh Voice, Daily Nation Kenya, ECDHR.