{"id":2068,"date":"2014-02-24T13:12:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T07:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=2068"},"modified":"2022-09-28T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:21:00","slug":"an-interview-nepalis-pursue-overseas-employment-despite-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/an-interview-nepalis-pursue-overseas-employment-despite-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview: Nepalis pursue overseas employment despite risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is a reproduction of an article, for which I was also interviewed, written by a DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) journalist. The German version was published in handelblats.com<\/a> on January 18, 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give a little bit of a context, at around that time, COMMITTED was running an awareness and fundraiser campaign<\/a> about the plight and education of the children of dead migrants.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * * * * * *<\/div>\n\n\n\n

FEATURE: Nepalis pursue overseas employment despite risks
By Pratibha Tuladhar, dpa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathmandu (dpa) – Seven months ago, Dorje Gurung returned to Nepal from Qatar, where he was imprisoned after a student alleged that he had called him a terrorist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His documents were confiscated, he was denied several months of salary and incarcerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA student made racist remarks at me in the cafeteria. I told him his calling me names would be the same thing as me stereotyping him and that got me behind the bars,\u201d said Gurung, 44, who was a science teacher there for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressure from the Nepali intellectual class managed to secure his release after 12 days, and he was sent home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, he has been raising funds to educate children of dead migrant workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf an educated person like me could be subject to being imprisoned on false charges, how deep must be the problems facing the other Nepalis in that country, who cannot even communicate properly in a foreign language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gurung met many other Nepalis in prison who said they had been locked up on false grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Kafala system in Qatar gives full authority to the employer over the employee, which means the right to the legal documents or even a change of employment can only take place with the employer\u2019s permission,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat has often been termed modern-day slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistreatment or incarceration is far from the worst fate for Nepali migrant workers, up to 1,600 of whom head each day for Malaysia and the Gulf countries, mostly as manual labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And every day, the bodies of between two and four dead Nepali workers arrive home at Tribhuvan International Airport, according to Department of Foreign Employment spokesman Divas Acharya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to government reports, about 7,500 Nepali migrant workers have died in the major labour destinations in the Gulf and Malaysia since 2000. At least 60 have died within the last four months, the data showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the bodies arrive in Nepal, they are reported by the employers as “natural deaths.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Qatar, workers’ deaths are mostly reported as cardiac arrest or heat stroke,\u201d said Gurung. \u201cSometimes, employers say workers went to bed and didn\u2019t wake up, and not all employers abide by the rest period for employees during the day, when the mercury is at its highest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Nepal asked Qatar look into the treatment of its workers after reports that 44 of them had died during June-August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Qatar government has stepped up monitoring of their companies and our embassy has reported that things have improved in terms of living conditions of the workers,\u201d Acharya said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others including Gurung disagree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNepal government\u2019s presence is weak. Our embassy did nothing for so many innocents, who are still languishing in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, young men and women queue up from as early as 10 pm for the offices to open the next morning, so they can apply for passports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Department of Foreign Migration in Kathmandu, hundreds of Nepalis line up every day, shivering in the winter cold, to seek labour permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat can you do in Nepal?\u201d said Mohan Singh Basnet, who has been hopping countries since 2005, in search of work. \u201cEither you have to cheat or you have to have the right connections to get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe politicians have no intent of changing things in this country. The political situation is bound to get worse in this country. Where are jobs for people like us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. I knew I could die there. But at least I made enough to fend for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite media reports on the deplorable condition of the migrant workers, the labour migration has not slowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to work in Kuwait as a maid but moved to Qatar, because I got mistreated by my employers,\u201d said Maya Tamang, whose husband also works in Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We can\u2019t live as husband-wife there because of strict laws but at least we\u2019re in the same country instead of being jobless in Nepal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign remittance accounts for 28 per cent of Nepal\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who apply for these jobs are mostly unskilled and uneducated, which makes them physically, socially and economically vulnerable,\u201d Ganesh Gurung, former member of the National Planning Commission explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe agents sell them hope, saying there\u2019s money abroad and they can take care of their family. And it is easy to sell hope to the hopeless,\u201d said Dorje Gurung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people he met in prison were minors, who had faked documents to get jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn entire group of construction workers had been jailed on murder charges because their colleague died after they took him to hospital when he fainted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of them, a 22-year-old, has not had any contact with his family since his imprisonment five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had it easy,” Gurung said as tears welled up in his eyes. “But there are thousands out there who have lost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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