Zineb Chtit no hospital.

Uma jovem garota está sofrendo em um hospital, machucada e espancada. Enviada ao trabalho como empregada doméstica aos 10 anos, Zineb Chtet não conhecia outra vida além da que ela tinha, trabalhando para empregadores ricos que batiam nela e a negavam alimento. O blog A Moroccan About the World Around Him [Um Marroquino sobre o Mundo à Sua Volta, en] descreveu as feridas da garota em um post recente [en]:

Zainab looked emaciated. Her body was bruised and bleeding from beatings. She was branded on her lips with a red-hot iron. She was burned with boiling oil on her chest and private areas. She was illiterate. She never experienced the joy of playing with friends. Her future was decided for her: trudge around the mill till the day she dies. And a few days ago, she almost did.

Infelizmente, a história de Zineb está longe de ser única. O Marrocos tem 177 mil crianças abaixo de 15 anos de idade trabalhando, 66 mil dos quais trabalham como empregadas domésticas. E embora o Marrocos faça parte da Convenção das Nações Unidas para o Direito das Crianças, sua idade mínima de trabalho é 12 anos, com poucas restrições impostas. Foram feitos vários relatórios sobre os maus-tratos de empregados domésticos, como este feito pelo editor da Tingis, Anouar Majid. E, mesmo assim, impulsionadas pela pobreza, as famílias continuam a vender suas filhas a quem oferecer mais, para trabalhar como domésticas, por vezes ininterruptamente. A blogueira Sarah Alaoui [en] nos conta a situação da maioria dessas jovens:

These poverty-stricken, uneducated women come from villages on the outskirts of Moroccan cities and have no choice but to provide for their families and children by taking jobs as maids for the country’s most ostentatious citizens. The stigma of poverty they are branded with at birth is further emphasized by this symbolic occupation—maids are to be seen and not heard. They work behind-the-scenes—similar to the house elves in J.K. Rowling’s famous wizarding series.

There are many families in Morocco who attempt to provide a home and not just a workplace for their maids. My grandmother has always made sure her maids’ children received an education alongside her own children and grandchildren—during the time her mother worked in my grandmother’s house, Naima went to the same school as my cousin. Unfortunately, it is safe to say that most people in the country do not provide the same earnest care to their maids.

Um relatório [fr] em La Vie éco afirma que tanto o marido quanto a mulher que empregaram Zineb serão acusados, mas como a blogueira Reda Chraibi sugere, mais mudanças devem ocorrer, e logo. Em um post detalhado [fr], a blogueira oferece uma proposta para prevenir que famílias enviem suas jovens garotas ao trabalho. Em uma parte da proposta, ela diz:

Accorder des aides sociales aux familles les plus pauvres afin qu’elles ne soient pas contraintes de faire travailler les enfants au lieu des le envoyer à l’école. La scolarité pour cette catégorie de la société devrait être totalement gratuite tant pour l’enseignement que pour l’équipement scolaire. A ce propos, l’opération de distribution de cartables équipés est une bonne initiative qui devrait être étendue dans tout le Royaume.

Donner à l’Association « Touche pas à mon enfant » (touche pas à mes enfants) ou à une institution publique le droit de recenser et de contrôler le travail des enfants servantes, le droit d’entrer dans les maisons pour discuter avec elles et vérifier si elles sont traitées dignement. Encourager leur éducation et leur alphabétisation. Ouvrir et faire connaitre un centre d’accueil pour les enfants servantes qui veulent fuir d’urgence le foyer dans lequel elles travaillent, afin que plus aucune Zineb Chtet n’èrre dans la rue dans le sang en demandant l’aide d’inconnus…

I am reminded of a speech Mr. Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel gave at the White House in 1999 “The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.”