2006年VOA标准英语-Young African Maids Seek Protection from Abusiv

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
19 December 2006

Impoverished¹ young women throughout Africa are sent into the homes of more affluent² families, to work -- often in near slave-like conditions as maids. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from Dakar on a group trying to change this, in this, the second report in a series on challenges facing young African women.

 
Young African maids waiting outsied a shed set up to help them
Fatou Ndao is one of several maids complaining outside a shed at a roundabout in Senegal's capital.

Like others, she talks of working from before sunrise to beyond midnight, being forced to sleep in a garage or outside on the floor and being fed spoiled food, working as a maid for less than one dollar a day.

Soriba Samateh tries to console them. He is a retired³ night watchman who says he has had enough of seeing young women being abused by jealous wives, victimized by employers, treated as thieves, beaten and raped⁴ - just because they were maids.

 
Sorbia Samateh helps maids in Senegal
He set up a local association to hear their complaints and to act as a mediator⁵ between abused maids and their employers.

His shed has also turned into the site of an informal recruiting agency. But, unlike other agencies, his also screens employers before allowing them to hire the maids that go through his system.

Maria-Tou Sow is one of his recruits. She is pounding pepper at the home of a large middle class family in the Sacre-Coeur area.

Even though the work is hard, speaking through a translator, she explains she now feels protected.

"This new negotiation⁶ is good because, if somebody comes to look for a maid there, at least when something is missing from the house, or there is a problem, or conflict, that person will have somewhere to go to, to lay the complaint. In the same vein⁷, if, as a maid, we are not treated well, we will also have somebody who will be able to go to the person who employed us and intermediate for us," she said.

Despite the initial progress, maids say getting formally registered with the government as domestic workers and forcing employers to pay for their social security is still too much to ask.

1 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

5 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

6 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

7 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。