Help! I’ve suffered enough assault in Egypt — 20-year-old Nigerian lady
September 12, 2026 12:31 am
Photo: Emmanuella Omah
Twenty-year-old Delta State indigene, Emmanuella Omah, tells BIODUN BUSARI about how she left Nigeria to work as a house help in Egypt, only to find herself suffering physical assault, verbal abuse and emotional trauma from her employers.
What made you travel to Egypt?
I wanted to go and work to help my parents and four younger siblings. The suffering was too much back home. They were just struggling to make ends meet. So, I believed that when I travelled, I would make money and help my parents.
What do your parents do?
My father works as a hotel manager, but the pay is not encouraging. He used to be transferred from one branch to another. My mother sells used clothes known as okrika. She was a teacher at one time, but poor pay and health challenges made her start working for herself.
Who brought the idea of you travelling to Egypt for work?
My dad’s friend, who is an agent, told my dad about the idea. He said there were girls of my age who worked in different places and earned good pay in Egypt. At a point, my parents told me about it and asked me to think about it for a few days before giving them an answer. After pondering it for days, I made up my mind and told them that I would go.
What were you doing in Lagos before travelling?
I tried different jobs at one time or another. I taught in schools. I am a hardworking girl. I would have loved to further my studies, but there was no means.
How did your mum react the day you resolved to travel to Egypt?
She encouraged me. Even my siblings told me to go. Everyone said it would be fine since they knew I was diligent. My dad’s friend said I would go and work as a house help. I would be paid and, within six months, I would pay off the agent who facilitated my travelling.
Did you travel by air or by road through the desert?
I travelled by air. I departed from Lagos airport on May 19, 2025. My agent, who is my dad’s friend, told us there was another agent in Egypt. He is my sponsor. It was the sponsor who paid all the money for the passport and other documentation, and I would pay him back. He was the one who got jobs for me in Cairo. The agent in Nigeria only coordinated it.
What happened when you landed in Egypt?
It was my sponsor who came to the airport to pick me up. He drove me to his house. It is in Old Cairo. I did not get work immediately, so I stayed in his house for more than one month. He kept telling me that he was going to figure things out. Eventually, he got a job for me.
I was babysitting a child for a pregnant Egyptian woman and doing cleaning work. She, her husband and child lived in the house. I didn’t last long there because I was new to the job. My boss wasn’t satisfied with my performance.
Later, I got to know that my sponsor told her I was experienced when I was not. The woman said she could not be teaching me the chores. She expected me to do everything without being told or taught. I told her that I was a newcomer.
How did you handle it?
I lasted only three days in her house. She got angry unnecessarily, and I didn’t blame her because my sponsor lied to her that I had worked for a year in Cairo, whereas I had no experience. She became hostile and nagged me over every little thing I didn’t do well.
So, I told her I couldn’t cope if she couldn’t teach me how to do the work. She told my sponsor to come and take me away. Both of them quarrelled over the matter. My sponsor promised to get me another job.
The woman didn’t pay me for the days I worked for her. Another reason she was hostile to me was that I learnt that a Nigerian girl who had previously worked with her stole her money. So, I became the scapegoat.
Did you encounter any sexual harassment?
No, there was nothing like that. There was a time my sponsor wanted to ask me out, but I told him I was not interested. He didn’t raise the issue again. Later, his driver told me that my sponsor liked me and that I wouldn’t suffer if I agreed to date him. He said I was a fine girl who didn’t deserve to suffer hardship.
What was the pay arrangement like for you?
I don’t know the amount my sponsor collected from them. But what he gave me was 500 Egyptian pounds, which was about N15,000 in 2025. Currently, it is approximately N13,000. That was what I was paid per month. The arrangement was for me to work for 18 months to repay all the money invested in me.
What was your experience at the second place?
It was the worst place I had ever worked in my life. She was very hostile. She would use her hands to push me around like a ball. I did all kinds of work in the house that I didn’t sign up for. When I complained, she would say I was lazy. I was also taking care of her mother, but that was not in my job description. The house was a three-storey villa.
One day, she asked me to climb through a window so I could clean the net properly from outside. I was scared for my life and told her it was risky. She said I should put one leg inside and one leg outside. I respectfully told her that I couldn’t do it. She became furious, pulled me down, slapped me and started beating me mercilessly.
There was a CCTV camera in her room. She switched it off and beat me to a stupor. She turned me into a punching bag that day. I cried for help, but nobody could save me. When she was still not satisfied, she went to the kitchen and started beating me with a large spoon used for turning rice. Her ailing mother couldn’t come to my rescue, and her son had gone to school.
What did you do after the physical assault?
Initially, I didn’t want to cry because I didn’t want her to see me as a lazy person, but the beating was too much. My body was aching. I started crying. She collected my phone and switched it off. I couldn’t call anyone. After an hour, I begged her to give me my phone, but she refused.
I knelt before her and wept. I insisted that she must return my phone. When I refused to stop asking for it, she threw it on the floor and I picked it up. I switched it on and called my sponsor to explain everything that had happened. This occurred last July. I had worked there for only eight days. I had endured maltreatment even before that day.
How did your sponsor intervene?
I took photographs of myself and sent them to him, explaining how the woman humiliated me. The woman didn’t want to let me go. She wanted to seize my phone, but I refused. My sponsor spoke with her on the phone and asked his driver to come and pick me up.
Did he get another job for you?
He got me another one with a 60-year-old woman. It was the third job that made me conclude that I couldn’t continue working. This happened in July. The woman lived with her husband. She couldn’t communicate in English, so she used a translator.
On that fateful day, she gave me a ladder to climb and clean chandeliers hanging from the PoP ceiling. We placed it on the staircase. I had never used such a ladder before, so after some hesitation, I climbed it because she shouted at me. The woman held it with one hand.
My heart was beating fast. It had nine steps. After I reached the last step, she told me to remain there so I could reach the light fitting. I was already cleaning the chandeliers when I fell and landed on my back. I groaned in pain and screamed. Her husband and child ran out of their room.
The husband quickly carried me on his back to my room. I was crying. My hands and legs were bleeding. They didn’t take me to the hospital, whereas she went to the hospital for a check-up. I took photographs and recorded a video of myself, which I sent to my sponsor. I was in pain and couldn’t help crying.
I couldn’t lift my legs. Sadly, my sponsor told me I was crying like a baby and should pull myself together. About two hours later, my madam returned. She said I should have recovered enough to resume work. She could say that because when she spoke with my sponsor, he was not on my side.
He didn’t care. I managed to get up and continued my work in the kitchen. I struggled on for four days. I was weak and sleepy. I didn’t take any medication. As my condition worsened and I became sluggish, she started maltreating me.
Did she reduce your workload?
Another day, she came downstairs and asked me to use a vacuum cleaner to clean the rug. Later, she returned and said I hadn’t used it. She told the translator to tell me that I hadn’t used it, but I insisted that I had. She said she didn’t hear me using it. I told her she was upstairs when I used it and that she had even told me she went to sleep, so she couldn’t have heard me working.
Apparently, my response infuriated her. She picked up the vacuum cleaner and hit me in the chest with it, causing me to fall to the floor. She left me there groaning. I couldn’t breathe properly.
I was coughing but managed to stand up. I drank water, but I still felt dizzy.
How did your sponsor react to the incident?
I told him on the phone as usual, but he was not in Egypt when it happened. I called my parents and told them everything I had been through. They felt sorry for me. My parents also called him. He then told me that I shouldn’t leave because the police would arrest me if they found me wandering on the road.
I told him I didn’t mind if the police arrested me because I could no longer endure the suffering and assaults. He then asked his driver to come and pick me up. The driver took me to his house. The woman didn’t pay me when I left.
I worked for her for 16 days. She and my sponsor exchanged words over the matter.
Have you done any other work after the incident?
I am currently staying in my sponsor’s house. It is a large house where his workers stay. Some people also stay there when they are on vacation. We are all girls doing menial jobs to survive in Egypt.
I learnt that my sponsor travelled to Nigeria as of early September 2026. I am left to fend for myself.
It is my parents who send money to me from Nigeria. I am stranded here and want to return home. I have realised that all the pictures painted about this place are not true. It is like the saying, “What I ordered versus what I got.” I am not feeding well, and I now have an ulcer.
What are your parents and your Nigerian agent doing about it?
My dad developed high blood pressure the day I told him about my predicament. He was admitted to hospital. So, I am trying to seek help because I don’t want my parents to worry too much about me. They are helpless. My parents suggested that he should allow me to return to Nigeria, but he wanted me to continue working because of his money.
The other day, his driver said I should not return to Nigeria and that I would be fine in Egypt. He looked at me and said, “Look at how beautiful you are. Are you supposed to be sick?” He said my sponsor was kind and that I should stay in Egypt instead of returning to Nigeria.
I told him that I didn’t want to listen to that kind of advice again. My parents told my sponsor that they would repay all his money, but he doesn’t want me to leave. I have worked for him for 11 months, which amounted to a repayment of N2.6m. He claimed that bringing me to Egypt cost N5m, whereas only N1.5m was actually spent.
Biodun Busari is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with five years of experience reporting on human interest, crime, diaspora issues, and feature storytelling. He focuses on producing engaging, informative stories that enlighten the public and provide context on complex topics. Biodun’s work demonstrates hands-on newsroom experience and a strong commitment to accurate, purpose-driven journalism.
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