Maids Key words - maid, mulhaq, sponsoring A maid is like a teenage daughter � independently minded, irrational and the source of male attentions. This is an over-simplification of course because many expat women will look to hire a matronly maid to prevent any own goals from being scored but even so, maids come in for their share of attention from the large population of �bachelor� males in this country and neither age nor beauty appears to be a deterrent to male intentions. For some people the most fascinating subject of all in Kuwait is the time spent discussing maids at the pool side while little Johnny, Tamsin or Brittany is learning to swim. This appears to be even more interesting than seeing their child learn to do the crawl for the first time which I have observed. A maid is invaluable in Kuwait (and other countries) for the expat as it can really make the difference for the wife from being a domestic worker in a bigger house to that which she had in the west to a lady of leisure where the cleaning, washing and cooking is done by the maid. Madam can either not work or work and not have the domestic chores to do on getting home. Needless to say, some expat women very quickly forget what UK women do in terms of washing, cleaning etc and you get the feeling that one reason they have for not returning to their own country at the end of their husband�s contract is that they don�t want to have to do the domestic chores again. They would not be able to afford a maid in the West for 100 pound a month, 6 days a week and have the option of shouting at them so they find some reason for not going back. Maids can be the bane of your life in Kuwait and can involve the police and hospital at the drop of a hat but where would you be without someone to talk about. The cost (to the sponsor) officially in 200KD to take on their sponsorship for the first two years on top of their wages which varies from 50KD per month (Kuwaiti rate) to whatever an expat feels is acceptable (to them). It is not unheard of that the new expat to Kuwait will fix a wage with their new maid only to find that they are paying 50% more than �the going rate� and then for them to try to renegotiate the rate back to the lower figure. Not surprisingly, the maid them takes the hump, gets rebellious and little things start to go missing. By all means treat you maid like a slave, a non-entity or idiot but don�t be surprised if she gets her own back on you down the line. There are many stories of things going missing with money, jewellery, the wife�s underwear for starters. Stories of expats returning to find that their maid has used their house and the main bedroom as a brothel are not as rare as it may sound. Treat your maid like a slave �..you have been warned. You know when the expat has gone bush when they install a bell in the maid�s quarters or mulhaq such that she can summon the maid when madam of the house requires a cup of tea. English country houses had these 100 years ago as a matter of course and this is just another example of the western expat getting ideas above their station. Sponsoring of maids is straight forward and strictly speaking you should do this if you have a maid work in your house but most people don�t want a maid in their house all the time although by having a maid live in it is cheaper as you won�t be up for travel costs. You are responsible for the maid if you do sponsor and if anything goes wrong or the maid runs away �absconds� you can be in line for all costs associated with this including paying for fines. The solution should your maid abscond is to file a police complaint to this effect which removes your responsibility towards her. Single men are not supposed to or allowed to sponsor a maid for obvious physical reasons although you would have thought that be being single they clearly need a maid for their apartment, etc. Maids can also cover domestic staff such as drivers and house boys to the same effect. If you ever start treating your maid as an animal then it is time you left the country and went home... home