Naomi Mugure returned to Kenya with nothing but broken dreams. Within a week of her arrival, her biological mother began mistreating her, eventually denying her entry to the home she had funded and built with her own earnings from the Gulf.
With nowhere to go, Mugure is now sheltering at a friend's place, an arrangement that offers no permanence and no peace.
Desperate to provide for her growing family, Naomi seized an opportunity in October 2019 to work as domestic help in the Gulf. By 2021, a connection through her sister secured her a better position in Qatar as a security guard, earning 1,200 Qatari riyals (approximately KSh 42,500) per month.
She worked there for several years, sending the bulk of her salary home to support her family.
Starting in 2022, Naomi directed her remittances toward constructing a permanent house for her mother, who had never owned one.
Working alongside her sisters, she completed and furnished the home within two years—a symbol of her perseverance and love for her family.
Her life abroad unravelled in 2023. Naomi resigned from her security job after being promised a promotion to supervisor that would have doubled her salary, but the agent failed to deliver.
She found new employment, only for a dispute with her employer to escalate into a court case over alleged desertion. One morning, police officers summoned her downstairs. “One morning, I was called by police officers and told to go downstairs because they were waiting for me,” she recounted. She was detained in a deportation camp and returned to Kenya a few weeks later.
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