Dubai Consumer Mirror: Disturbing Video

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Disturbing Video

Taken from IndiansInKuwait.com:

Recently one family in Abbasiya* employed a female servant at there house to look after their kid. after some days the kid start showing always gloomy and tired. with some doubts, the family put a hidden cam in their sitting room when they left to work. When they returned, they saw the cam and they are shocked to see how the servant is treating the kid.

See the disturbing video here

*Abbasiya is a residential area in Kuwait

20 Comments:

That's one of the most disturbing things that I've seen for a long time.

I couldn't watch it all.

:-|

By nzm, at January 17, 2006 at 2:51 PM
don't know about this particular occasion (it's very light on information), but remember that housemaids do get treated very badly in the middle east, not that this would excuse such an incident.

By samuraisam, at January 17, 2006 at 3:00 PM
This video really is very disturbing. I can't believe she is doing this to the poor child, for no reason whatsoever. God knows how many kids suffer the same fate when left in the hands of un-trained or un-supervised maids.

By Dubai Sunshine, at January 17, 2006 at 3:20 PM
IMO that baby/toddler only needed to be cuddled with a bottle of milk and a special blanket and laid down for a nap (the crying was typical of a very over-tired child)....I hope the housemaid got what she deserved.
I have left the cam on before when mine were babies...my only complaint was the maid would sit there all day long rocking them and singing to them...hmmmm...I guess it could have been worse after seeing that movie.

By CG, at January 17, 2006 at 6:28 PM
that was disgusting and i didn't even finish the movie. i hope that maid gets her due.
i felt like jumping into the computer and beating the crap out of this maid!

By BuJ, at January 18, 2006 at 3:32 AM
I wish I hadnt seen the video. Its left me very very upset. All I want to do is get in and pick up that baby and hold it close...and the beat the living daylights out of that woman. I hope the parents gave her a few resounding slaps. sadistic bitch.

By *, at January 18, 2006 at 8:36 AM
precisely what happens when maids without proper background checks are hired. also i do agree with samuraisam - again - not that beating a child so severely is justified - but - i'd be curious to know the maid's story.

By शक्ती, at January 18, 2006 at 10:28 AM
Hey Moryarti...I know this has nothing to do with this post, but your blog name was mentioned in Campaign this week. There's a small article about a blog site that's been set up for the media community (www.marketing-menablog.com) and yours is also mentioned there, amongst others. Way to go!

By Dubai Sunshine, at January 18, 2006 at 8:16 PM
Oops...that's www.marketingmenablog.com
Sorry about that!

By Dubai Sunshine, at January 18, 2006 at 8:21 PM
what the h is that pop up for?
do they pay you for that or what?

By CG, at January 18, 2006 at 8:59 PM
Sunshine - Wow .. I didn't know thanks for telling me ;)

CG - i have no clue, it must be one of those link banners - i am working on it

By moryarti, at January 18, 2006 at 10:33 PM
@ शक्ती
Maid's story?
Excuse me short of being raped, sodomised, starved and hung upside down, that woman had no right to treat that child that way.
Its a little baby for gods sake.
It's "MASOOM".
You mean to tell me what you saw on that video somehow correlates with what may have been done to her.
What background checks are we talking about? Lets just not open up that can of worms of all the couples striving to make ends meet,the escalating cost of living, and the difficult choices we have to make on a daily basis, regarding our children.
What about the recent cases of teachers abusing children. Were no background checks made there?
Thank God they found out early, before some irreparable damage took place.

By *, at January 18, 2006 at 11:08 PM
@kaya, i said along with शक्ती, that it was inexcusable for the behaviour she showed, but it would be interesting to hear the how the housemaid was treated, if she was paid, and how much she was paid. Every now and then you read in the papers about housemaids that get treated so badly that they commit suicide, i'd assume psychologically that hurting someone else comes long before killing yourself.
I'd like to act all nice and plushy about this video, but the fact is that, it's a video, nothing else, I personally won't draw a conclusion about this from solely watching this video seeing as I haven't read about the circumstances surrounding this video, even if they had written about who/why/what/when/where on that page, I still wouldn't draw a conclusion, I choose to remain neutral about this video until a half decent newspaper/publication (NO, that does NOT include Khaleej Times) covers it.
I can think of many things the child may have done to warrant a beating like that, But, I don't think a housemaid should be the one handing out a punishment like that. And i know people that would disagree, and when they view that video they get all teary-eyed, but i've seen the sweetest people lose their patience on occasion, i know my parents probably did (more than once, rightly so :p ), it appears though that the housemaid is physically trying to shut the child up, i'm not a parent so i'm not up-to-date on the latest beat-the-crap-out-of-4-year-olds methods, the video quality is pretty bad, so it's difficult to tell what the hell is happening, if any parents feel like englightening me on what the hell she was doing, please go ahead.
I don't know of many parents that can control their kids without beating the crap out of them on occasion, maybe psychologists can, or people who've mastered jedi-mind-tricks, but again, i don't think it is the housemaids position to do so, and the fact that she has been left to do it (or that's what it appears to me) is probably a bad indication.
Also, the parents are trusting their own child's upbringing, especially at such a young age when they cannot stick up for themselves at all, with probably a completely uncertified and without credentials housemaid. If i recall correctly, here in Asstralia, one can do a check on nannys/housemaids, a system such as this couldn't be easy to implemented in the middle east (not too sure about kuwait, but definately dubai), due to people's reluctance to sponsor housemaids or document the housemaids employment.
I highly doubt the housemaid has health insurance, a decent salary, or any other number of must-haves in westernized countries, but then again, we don't know for sure, so best not to assume.
PS: i wrote all of this at ~4 AM, so there are bound to be contradictions and spelling mistakes, sue me.

By samuraisam, at January 18, 2006 at 11:50 PM
samuraisam...you don't know of any parents that can control their kids without occasionally beating the crap out of them...?

You can't be serious..

You don't have to be a psychologist to understand that dragging a young child like that by one arm (medically speaking being able to dislocate its shoulder at such a tender age), is infact not only unislamic, inhumane but also barbaric.

Indeed one cannot derive much from the video or circumstances that led to the beating, but no matter what circumstance it was, there is no justification for it. Period.

It is when one allows a little beating, that alot happens. When a person arrives at a stage where they are ready to beat a little, there is a fine line between a little and whacking the living daylights out of tehir child. that is what anger does to a person.

Many parents have "accidentally" killed their children while administering what they called "chastisement" ...

indeed not all parents will go that far, but you never know who will or will not as long as man is man, he is vulnerable to his "dark side" (pardon the starwars allegory but I felt I had to after your jedi one).

By Shaykhspeara Sha'ira, at January 19, 2006 at 6:16 AM
hmmm I have to say that I do not think it is a fine line that parents are crossing between physical discipline and whacking the life out of them. Physical punishment can be a smack on a toddlers hand when they put it near an electric socket, necessary but hardly close to the line of death. Some kids are calm and placid and others are completely wild and out of control except through physical punishment. I should know, I have 2 who are so so different, and their punishments are different too. If I have to leave my 'wild' one alone with the maid (which I try not to do, because he can be exhausting) then I usually leave her some bribery methods to use while I am away. Not ideal, but better than the maid getting irritated with him.
I do not believe there is any reason for the maid to treat that child in the way she did, all children need to feel secure and loved, it is their god-given right. As I said before, from the sound of the crying that toddler needed a sleep and a cuddle would have been all it takes. The maid should be hung from her ankles and left there for a day or two. I hope the parents learnt a valuable lesson aswell.

By CG, at January 19, 2006 at 9:31 AM
in no way am i condoning her behaviour, but it takes the patience of Job to not hit your children. and when a child refuses to stop screaming, for what seems like hours (probably a few minutes), your life can turn to dust.
and that's MY kid. let alone the spoilt brat of some asshole employers who treat you like a piece of dirt.

By Anonymous, at January 19, 2006 at 10:23 AM
Hey Guys.
I am not a very patient person, and am known for my short fuse.
My older one is an angel in terms of 0-10 years, my younger one can be rambunctious.
I am from that generation where a spanking was not a call to the NSPCA. I will on occasion administer a slap (on the bottom).( but only now when the younger one is able to understand at 3+ Since the older one turned 8,I do not hit her, I take away her TV/NET/Pocket money privelages)

Sam, you are right about some kids- esp in public areas where they are wreaking havoc and disturbing others- and ones fingers literally itch first to smack parents then the kid.
The maid in question is chastising a infant with a wooden spoon.

But to repeat myself when you have 2 parents working, and the salary is thinly spread, then you cant be so picky and choosy about a maid.
Secondly there is no concept here of nannies/maids coming through an agency with referrals, being able to do a background check, or all the other hoopla that is mandatory in many western countries.
You pay for what you get thats the way the cookie crumbles.
What I do see is a child being repeatedly hit with a wooden spatula,being dragged by one arm like a ragdoll.

I know housemaids are not treated properly, fed , paid and abused sexually.
I know they are poor desperate women trying to eke out a living and will put up with so much.
But a mistake has been made, it has been taken care of , and simulated, prank, advertising gimmick or not.
It serves as an eye openener of what can happen.

By *, at January 19, 2006 at 11:04 AM
I think I will also add to my point, that parents don't need to hand out brutal punishment very often (my previous comment was written at 4 am so excuse me not going into detail, but by brutal punishment, I mean every so often, enough to let the child know who is boss, otherwise, they will just run circles around the parents), it's only natural for the children to test the limits of what they can and can't do.
I've been to peoples houses, the children are saints normally, they aren't stupid, they try and take advantage of the fact that their parents aren't there or not paying attention, and they wreak havoc, until the parents eyes catch them, i'm not going to punch the kid or anything, it is not my responsibility, I try to ignore it, but it's human nature, I know I did much the same when I was a kid, but some people don't have the patience and will lash out children that aren't their own, they shouldn't have to, but this is a housemaid, she has to take care of this kid for probably 12 hours a day if not more, she will have to lay down the law. I'm not judging the parents for having to leave their children in the care of the housemaid.
I'm not a parent and I was the youngest of 3 so i'm not quite sure how to lay down punishment, but when i've see parents disciplining their children it does look very similar to me, only part i'd disagree with was when the maid is leaning over the childs face and appears to by physically trying to silence the child, i've seen mothers lose all patience and pick their children up by the arms, heck, funny story time, when we were kids, we used to get a wooden spoon to the backside upon bad behaviour, one time my mother smacked my brother on the backside so hard that the wooden spoon snapped in half, (it was a made in china spoon, harhar), what do you expect the housemaid to do? We used to live next to this housemaid that had a child of her own, and could put up with it crying and screaming it's lungs out all day long, different people have different reactions, it's obvious the child wasn't going to stop crying no matter what, but the housemaid continued trying to shut it up, probably in the wrong way.

I think that child (i'd say it's a toddler 2-3 years old) is a tad bit young for the wooden spoon treatment, and on my third watching on the movie (this time with a proper level of attention and caffiene), it does appear that she is trying to watch TV rather than do her job in the beginning (if she is watching a video with the kid or the kid is asleep I can't see anything wrong with that, but I can't see what the kid is doing when she goes "over the edge") and it appears she is distracted because the kid did something, but I can't tell what.
With audio (i previously didn't watch with audio IIRC) it does appear to be a bit more gruesome (heaven knows what the hell my neighbours think I am watching), again I don't think that there are many excuses for the housemaid behaving like she did, and upon closer inspection of the video by expanding it, she does appear to be hitting the child too hard, but this video is taken entirely out of context, circumstances anyone?

By samuraisam, at January 19, 2006 at 2:13 PM
Kids should never be at the mercy of maids without being supervised by a family member. At a very young age he could be taken with the maid to his grandmother or an aunt during the mother’s working hours. This toddler looks like about two and at his age he could be taken to a proper day care center. And if both parents are working, they should be able to provide for such a daycare no matter how expensive. It’s their kid and he has the priority. If they can’t afford having kids then why should they have them in the first place. Personally, I do not prefer having a live-in maid unless it’s extremely necessary.
This video tape was really disturbing; I hope parents can learn the implications of their actions. As for maid abuse, I do agree, some are treated worse than slaves with very low wages and they tend to let it out on the innocent child. And for those who are asking about the post actions taken against the maid, I assure you that we have in Kuwait some policemen who are specialized in torturing workers. I’m sure that she had more than her share. Not that I approve, on the contrary; I’m devastated by this whole system.

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