Video: Ethiopian maid in Kuwait balcony plunge describes terror

The Ethiopian domestic worker who fell seven floors from a home in Kuwait has spoken out for the first time since the incident, debunking claims she had attempted suicide.

Narrated

2 min read

Diana Alghoul

02 Apr, 2017

The maid was filmed hanging and falling from a seventh floor window [Twitter]

An Ethiopian housekeeper who was filmed begging for help as she dangled from the seventh floor of an apartment complex – while her Kuwaiti employer stood by and filmed her on Snapchat – has spoken out about her ordeal and debunked media claims that she was trying to kill herself.

The domestic worker has spoken to Ethiopian media for the first time since a video went viral showing her clinging to a window ledge before losing her grip and dropping seven floors.

She escaped without major injury.

"I am fine, thank God, I am fine," she said in a video as she lay in a hospital bed after the fall.

She suffered a broken arm and bleeding from her ear and nose.

The house helper speaks of her ordeal [Ecadf Ethiopia/YouTube]

"I was trying to save myself; my employer locked me in the bathroom and was about to kill me. She wanted to throw my body out without anybody finding out, so instead of staying there, I jumped."

In the video, she said God had protected her from a worse fate, had her employer grabbed her when was she hanging on to the ledge.

Several media outlets have recycled what seems to be the most common, but false, narrative, that the maid was attempting suicide.

They appeared to rely on the fact that many Arabic-language social media sources also claimed it was a suicide attempt, but without any substantial proof.

In the Arab world, when a domestic worker is seen in this sort of a situation, the first assumption is often that they were attempting suicide. This discourse sadly remains dominant until proven otherwise.