My Money is My Blood, Do Not Waste It: A Critical Analysis of the Return and Reintegration Experiences of Ugandan Migrant Domestic Workers from Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The study analyzed the return and reintegration experiences of returnee Ugandan migrant domestic workers from Saudi Arabia. It was grounded in a social constructivism paradigm, an interpretive framework that emphasizes how individuals understand and assign meaning to their world. A qualitative approach was adopted, utilizing a phenomenological research design to explore the lived experiences of returnees. Data was collected through unstructured interviews with 28 respondents, allowing for in-depth insights into their experiences. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data, and concept maps created using NVivo version 10.0 were used to illustrate the findings. The study revealed that the return and reintegration journey for migrant domestic workers comprised three key phases: preparing to leave their employers' homes after the expiration of contracts, travelling back to Uganda, and reintegration into their communities. However, the research highlighted numerous challenges faced by returnees. Some employers forced workers to continue working under exploitative conditions, tantamount to slavery, by withholding their consent to leave. In other cases, employers failed to purchase the required return airline tickets, as stipulated by the bilateral labour agreement, in an effort to coerce workers into renewing their contracts against their will. Upon returning to Uganda, many returnees faced further hardships. They were often met with distressing revelations, such as discovering that the next of kin they had entrusted with their savings had misappropriated the funds. This financial exploitation, coupled with economic and social reintegration difficulties, led to significant psychosocial challenges for the returnees. To address these issues, the study recommends implementing measures to protect migrant domestic workers’ finances. For example, every worker should open a personal bank account where their wages and salaries can be securely deposited and saved, ensuring access to their funds upon return to ease reintegration challenges. Families and next of kin must be educated about the risks and consequences of misusing workers’ money, considering the harsh conditions under which these workers labour. Furthermore, local council members should enforce accountability by ensuring that family members who misuse returnees' funds reimburse the money, potentially with added interest, to deter financial exploitation
Downloads
References
Akhtar, S. (2024). Immigration and Discrimination :(un) welcoming Others. Oxford University Press.
Anaf, A., Ibnu, F., Romdiati, H., & Noveria, M. (2022). Indonesian Migrant Workers: The Migration Process and Vulnerability to COVID‐19. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2022(1), 2563684. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2563684
Angel—Urdinola, D. F., Kuddo, A., & Semlali, A. (2013). Public Employment Agencies in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Building Effective Employment Programs for Unemployed Youth in the Middle East and North Africa, 28.
Bilecen, T. (2022). To stay or to return? A review on return migration literature. Migration letters, 19(4), 367-385.
Bisong, A. (2022). Return, precarity and vulnerability in West Africa: Evidence from Nigeria. In Migration in West Africa: IMISCOE Regional Reader (pp. 211-236). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397241270131
Boccagni, P. (2012). 14 Even a transnational social field must have its boundaries: methodological options, potentials and dilemmas for researching transnationalism. Handbook of research methods in migration, 295.
Boccagni, P. (2013). Migration and the family transformations it “leaves behind”: A critical view from Ecuador. The Latin Americanist, 57(4), 3-24. https: //doi.org/10.1111/tla.12007
Boddy, C. R. (2016). Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative market research: An international journal, 19(4), 426-432.
Boyland, J. R. (2019). A social constructivist approach to the gathering of empirical data. Australian counselling research journal, 13(2), 30-34.
Brewis, A., Wutich, A., & Mahdavi, P. (2020). Stigma, pandemics, and human biology: Looking back, looking forward. American Journal of Human Biology, 32(5).
Brunarska, Z., Mananashvili, S., & Weinar, A. (2013). Return, readmission and reintegration in the Eastern Partnership countries: An overview. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/27874
Carr, H. (2014). Returning'home': experiences of reintegration for asylum seekers and refugees. The British Journal of Social Work, i140- i156. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680181211012958
Cassarino, J. P. (2004). Theorising return migration: The conceptual approach to return migrants revisited. International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS), 6(2), 253-279.
Cena, E., & Heim, D. (2022). A regretful journey home: Albanian return migration in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 23(2), 499-518. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00853-x
Chowdhury, M. B., & Chakraborty, M. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on the migrant workers and remittances flow to Bangladesh. South Asian Survey, 28(1), 38-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971523121995365
Chy, M. T., Uddin, M. K., & Ahmmed, H. U. (2023). Forced returnee Bangladeshi female migrant domestic workers and their social reintegration experiences. Current Sociology, 71(1), 133- 151. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921211048533
D’Souza, A. (2010). Moving towards decent work for domestic workers: An overview of the ILO's work.
Da Silva Rebelo, M. J., Fernández, M., & Meneses, C. (2021). Societies’ hostility, anger and mistrust towards Migrants: A vicious circle. Journal of social work, 21(5), 1142-1162.
Djafar, F. (2024). The COVID-19 pandemic and the return of Indonesian migrant workers. Journal of Health Management, 26(3), 548-554. https://doi.org/10.1177/09720634231167240
Duus-Otterström, G. (2017). Benefiting from injustice and the common-source problem. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 20(5), 1067-1081. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-017-9845-7
Dzięglewski, M. (2021). Coming home to an (Un) familiar country: The strategies of returning migrants. Springer Nature.
Flight, F. E. S., Center, M. C., & Ababa, A. (2021). Understanding the forced repatriation of Ethiopian migrant workers from the Middle East.
Foley, L., & Piper, N. (2021). Returning home empty handed: Examining how COVID-19 exacerbates the non-payment of temporary migrant workers’ wages. Global Social Policy, 21(3), 468-489.
Glorieux, V., Lo Bue, S., & Euwema, M. (2023). Reintegration of crisis services employees: a systematic literature review. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 11(2), 215-251.
Goodman, M. L., Gibson, D. C., Baker, L., & Seidel, S. E. (2020). Family-level factors to reintegrate street-involved children in low-and middle-income countries: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 109, 104664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104664
Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. Handbook of qualitative research, 2(163-194), 105.
Gunda, A. (2024). The experiences of undocumented Filipino domestic workers in Türkiye: Access to labor market in the context of practices and working conditions.
Guzmán Elizalde, L. (2023). Return to Mexico: Exploring Reintegration Experiences. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 24(Suppl 2), 465-483. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-022-00962-1
Hagan, J. M., & Thomas Wassink, J. (2020). Return migration around the world: An integrated agenda for future research. Annual Review of Sociology, 46(1), 533- 552. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-120319-015855
Hall, K., Phillimore, J., Grzymala-Kazlowska, A., Vershinina, N., Ogtem-Young, O., & Harris, C. Migration uncertainty in the context of Brexit. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1839398’’
Hall, S. (2023). Global lessons learned on sustainable reintegration in rural areas. Food & Agriculture Org.
Hanhörster, H., & Wessendorf, S. (2020). The role of arrival areas for migrant integration and resource access. Urban Planning, 5(3), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v5i3.2891
Harlan, E. A., Miller, J., Costa, D. K., Fagerlin, A., Iwashyna, T. J., Chen, E. P., ... & Valley, T. S. (2020). Emotional experiences and coping strategies of family members of critically ill patients. Chest, 158(4), 1464-1472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.05.535
Joireman, S. F. (2022). Peace, Preference, and Property: Return Migration after Violent Conflict. University of Michigan Press.
Juang, L. P., & Schachner, M. K. (2020). Cultural diversity, migration and education. International Journal of Psychology, 55(5), 695-701. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12702
Kasper, E., & Chiang, M. (2020). Survivors’ Perspectives on Successful Reintegration After Trafficking.
King, R. (2015). Return Migration and Regional Economic Development: An Overview 1. Return migration and regional economic problems, 1-37.
King, R., & Kuschminder, K. (2022). Introduction: definitions, typologies and theories of return migration. In Handbook of return migration (pp. 1-22). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Koch, A. (2017). The politics and discourse of migrant return: The role of UNHCR and IOM in the governance of return. In International organisations and the politics of migration (pp. 41-59). Routledge.
Kuschminder, K. (2014). Female return migration and reintegration strategies in Ethiopia.
Kuschminder, K. (2022). Reintegration strategies. In Handbook of return migration (pp. 200-211). Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839100055.00024
Maksum, A. (2021). Indonesian post-migrant workers: A challenging problem for human security. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100223
McDowell, T., Knudson-Martin, C., & Bermudez, J. M. (2022). Socioculturally attuned family therapy: Guidelines for equitable theory and practice. Routledge. DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781003216520
Meier, H. B., Marthinsen, J. E., Gantenbein, P. A., & Weber, S. S. (2023). Swiss Institutional Investors. In Swiss Finance: Banking, Finance, and Digitalization (pp. 297-333). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23194-0_6
Moreno, J. D. (2014). Impromptu man: JL Moreno and the origins of psychodrama, encounter culture, and the social network. Bellevue Literary Press.
Nampewo, Z. (2021). The illusion of greener pastures: Violence and justice for female Ugandan migrant workers in the Middle East. Strathmore LJ, 5, 11
Newland, K. (2020). Will international migration governance survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Migration Policy Institute.
Nimkar, R., Savage, E., Tesfalidet, I., & Adugna, G. (2020). Reintegration of Migrants Returning To Ethiopia: An Analysis Of Needs And Program Options.
Nisrane, B. L. (2020). Home, but not'at home': the reintegration of unskilled Ethiopian female return migrants from Arabian Gulf countries.
Nonchev, A., & Hristova, M. (2021). Returning Migrants-Success Or Failure. Economic Studies, 30(3).
Nonnenmacher, S., & Naik, A. (2010). Mainstreaming migration into development planning: A handbook for policy-makers and practitioners. (No Title).
Özerdem, A. (2012). A re-conceptualisation of ex-combatant reintegration: ‘social reintegration’ approach. Conflict, Security & Development, 12(1), 51- 73. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2012.667661
Phillips, M. J. (2023). Towards a social constructionist, criticalist, Foucauldian-informed qualitative research approach: Opportunities and challenges. SN Social Sciences, 3(10), 175. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-023-00774-9
Pine, F. (2014). Migration as hope: space, time, and imagining the future. Current Anthropology, 55(S9), S95-S104.
Rai, M. K. (2023). The Reintegration of victims of human trafficking: Approaches and Practices in Nepal. The Journal of Knowledge and Innovation, 58-65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jki.v9i1.53942
Saguin, K. (2020). Returning broke and broken? Return migration, reintegration and transnational social protection in the Philippines. Migration and Development, 9(3), 352-368.
Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2023). The role of return preparedness, assistance and networks in returnees' reintegration in origin countries.
Salgado, L. (2022). Leveraging Predeparture Counselling to Support Returning Migrants’ Sustainable Reintegration.
Salgado, L., Triculescu, R. M., Le Coz, C., & Beirens, H. (2020). Putting Migrant Reintegration Programmes to the Test. A road map to a monitoring system, Brüssel: Migration Policy Institute Europe, online: https://www. migrationpolicy. org/sites/default/files/publications/mpie-reintegration-monitoring-report-2022_final. pdf (10.03. 2023).
Scalettaris, G., & Gubert, F. (2019). Return schemes from European countries: assessing the challenges. International Migration, 57(4), 91-104.
Silvey, R., & Parreñas, R. (2020). Thinking policy through migrant domestic workers’ itineraries. American Behavioral Scientist, 64(6), 859-877.
Strand, A., Akbari, A., & Chaudhary, T. W. (2008). Return in dignity, return to what? Review of the voluntary return programme to Afghanistan. Cmi.
Tanis, N., & Richter, T. (2022). Social Work with Trafficked Persons for Sexual Exploitation in Germany. In Social Work and Prostitution: Professional Approaches in Theory and Practice (pp. 153-173). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37761-8_10
Thobejane, T. D. (2022). Human Mobility, Covid-19, and Survival in Africa: Revisiting the Coronavirus pandemic as the Russia-Ukraine war rages. IKENGA: International Journal of Institute of African Studies, 23(3). DOI:10.53836/ijia/2022/23/3/008
Thompson, J. D. (2017). Organizations in action: Social science bases of administrative theory. Routledge.
Thong, T. N. P. (2023). Policies and Regulations for Repatriation and Sustainable Reintegration in the ASEAN Region. ДЕМИС. Демографические исследования/DEMIS. Demographic Research, 3(2), 40-54.
Tizazu, A. T., Derluyn, I., & Lietaert, I. (2021). Towards a definition for returnees' reintegration processes in the context of rural Ethiopia. International Migration, 59(2), 202-220.
Wickramasekara, P. (2019). Effective return and reintegration of migrant workers with special focus on ASEAN Member States. The ILO ASEAN Triangle Project, International Labor Organization, Bangkok.
Zewude, B., Tadele, G., Engdawork, K., & Assefa, S. (2023). A social-ecological view of the factors affecting the effectiveness of reintegration interventions targeting children out of family-based care situations: A scoping review. Cogent Social Sciences, 9(2), 2277343. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2023.2277343
Copyright (c) 2024 Florence Munyonyo Asiimwe
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
