21 Zimbabwe Women, Girls Abused in Kuwait Return Home 
House Speaker Jacob Mudenda on Monday met with President Robert Mugabe and informed him on the situation in Kuwait.
WASHINGTON — Twenty-one women and girls, who were allegedly abused in Kuwait after they were trafficked to that country by employment agents and later forced to perform menial jobs, arrived in Harare Friday after getting air tickets from the Young Women’s Christian Association International led by Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda. The chairman of the portfolio committee on parliamentary affairs and ZANU PF lawmaker, Kindness Paradza, said the women and girls are part of a group of more than 200 women that are believed to have been trafficked to Kuwait on the guise of getting greener pastures. Some of them were forced to become commercial sex workers. Paradza, who presented a report in the House of Assembly this week on the situation in Kuwait, said the parliamentary committee that traveled to Kuwait has recommended that government should set up an ad-hoc fund that will assist in the repatriation of victims of human trafficking. He said House Speaker Jacob Mudenda on Monday met with President Robert Mugabe and informed him on the situation in Kuwait. Paradza said some government officials, medical experts and non-profit organisations were at the airport to welcome the women and girls. "We arranged a similar welcome party for the women and girls and ensured that their privacy was protected when they arrived and we hope that they will receive the social support they need before being reunited with their families," said Paradza. Meanwhile, the head of the Young Women’s Christian Association International, Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda, told Studio 7 that she was inspired to help source the tickets for the women and girls in Kuwait after hearing the story from the Voice of America's Zimbabwe Service. She said the work being done by the Zimbabwean Embassy in Kuwait and other women's rights groups in the country also inspired her.