06/12/2025
A horrifying incident took place in Egypt involving a South Sudanese woman, and the perpetrator was a well-known Sudanese businesswoman.
Rasha Garang recounts the incident:
She explains that she had been working in Sheikh Zayed for a Sudanese woman named ‘Mayada’ (“a devil in human form,” as she describes her).
Rasha says she met Mayada through her friend ”Ashinq". They had worked for Mayada for two months, and when they traveled home for a holiday, Mayada suddenly asked them to return to work. They agreed, and after two weeks Mayada called. She said she had tried calling Ashinq but found her phone switched off, then asked Rasha if she had resumed work yet. Rasha said no, and Mayada asked her to return to work because she had dismissed the other workers.
Rasha trusted her because they had worked for her before and never expected what was about to happen.
The next day Rasha and her friend returned. They worked daily, agreeing with Mayada that they would be paid every Sunday of the month. Rasha worked as a live-in worker (staying for 13 days before going home), while her friend worked daily and went home each evening.
Mayada worked in Rehab, where she owned a shop selling Sudanese perfumes and incense. She would leave in the morning and return at night.
One Friday night, Mayada came home, took off her gold ring and chain, put them in her bedside drawer, and went to sleep. On Saturday morning, she discovered they were missing. She did not say anything at first, left around 1 p.m., and returned at night. On Sunday morning she woke up and began searching everywhere.
Then she told the two women:
“My ring and chain are missing. Did you see them?”
They said no. They searched the entire house until 2 a.m. but found nothing. They suggested that she might have forgotten them at her shop or dropped them in the car. But she insisted she had brought them home and stored them in her drawer.
She then told them:
“Go upstairs to your room and think carefully. Bring out the ring and chain before I take action.”
Rasha thought she was joking and couldn’t believe she meant it seriously.
Mayada went downstairs and made some phone calls. Rasha’s sister sensed something was wrong and called her, but Rasha, overwhelmed, forgot to send the location or explain the situation clearly.
While she was on the phone with her sister, Mayada came, seized Rasha’s phone and Ashinq’s phone, and ordered them to come downstairs. They were interrogated, then separated—Ashinq upstairs and Rasha downstairs.
Rasha describes being threatened by two men and two women who were with Mayada. They made her call Ashinq’s mother under threat, forcing her to claim they were at the police station, even though they were being detained inside Mayada’s house.
After the call, Mayada told them to “think carefully” and insisted that no one enters her home except her husband and children, implying that the workers must be responsible.
Mayada threatened them, saying:
“If you don’t bring out the jewelry, I will bring in enforcers, and they will force it out of you.”
Rasha thought it was a bluff—until Mayada actually brought four Egyptian men and two women (one Sudanese, one Egyptian), plus two Sudanese men she knew.
They took Ashinq upstairs and left Rasha with the others. Rasha was slapped, beaten, and shocked with electric cables. Ashinq suffered even more: she was electrocuted multiple times and burned with a spray can that they ignited.
They tried to turn the two women against each other, telling each one the other had confessed to taking the jewelry. But both remained firm and insisted neither had stolen anything.
At one point, Rasha begged Mayada to take them to the police instead. Mayada replied:
“No police. I will take my rights by force, not through the government.”
Mayada even put one of her friends on loudspeaker, who insulted South Sudanese people and suggested selling their organs instead of involving the authorities.
Rasha and her friend were horrified.
All of this took place while Mayada's husband was present, and he did nothing to stop it.
The next morning, despite their injuries, they were forced to clean the house. Later, they were given sandwiches and tea and ordered to sleep. When Ashinq refused to go upstairs, several people beat her and tied her up.
Some of Mayada’s people forced Rasha into the bathroom, removed her clothes, and photographed her against her will. They did the same to her friend.
After that, they were taken downstairs and forced to sign papers. They were then driven in a car to the gate of the compound, where the guards were instructed never to let them in again. They were dropped off near the bus station.
The two women immediately went to the UNHCR office and reported everything, then went to the Embassy of South Sudan.
Their hope is that their government will stand with them and ensure justice is served, because what Mayada did was inhumane and criminal.
Source: Bateah John Jock
