Roshan Sedhai

Man Kumari Rai, 40, of Khotang has nothing but a series of bitter experiences from her more than two years of stay in Kuwait. She was overworked, paid terribly, alienated and oppressed. This, sadly, is a common fate for many Nepali domestic workers in foreign lands. Upon getting together enough money for a plane ticket and to pay back her debts, she left immediately and has vowed never to look back. Now, Rai is firmly set on doing something inside the country. However, she has yet to decide on a profession suitable for her. “I want to begin with a small business that can sustain my family,” she said.

Rai is one of several women who received Entrepreneurship Development Training under a programme by the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) with support from the UN Women. Like Rai, Lalita BK, another returnee, also swore that she would never go abroad for work again. Despite working for a year in Lebanon, BK only received a salary for four months and related tales of physical exploitation. “Such trainings are good for women like us but I would like ask for monetary help in starting a business,” said BK. Rai echœd BK and added training dœs not make sense for poor people who live hand to mouth.

Most of the recipients of the training programme reiterated this same sentiment, claiming that training alone wouldn’t address their wœs. Nirmala Panta, a returnee from Israel, said that she wants to open a beauty parlour in the near future rather than going abroad again. She urged financial help from the government to help materialise the dreams of women like her. “Nobody wants to leave the country willingly,” she said.

In recent months, the government has introduced provision after provision aimed at impeding the migration of women abroad for work. There is an age-bar on women leaving for domestic work in the Middle East, strict provisions for parental consent and individual attestment procedures to discourage women from migrating. Experts claim that the government should concentrate more on safe migration rather than restricting citizens’ freedom of movement and employment. Strict attention needs to be paid to pre-departure training courses and orientation.

The government also needs to undertake measures to stop the trafficking of Nepali women through third countries like India and Bangladesh. Furthermore, if the government is committed to the welfare of women, it should provide alternative jobs for those intending to go abroad and rehabilitate the returnees, said experts.

The returnee women concurred, saying that mere training is not a solution as more steps need to be taken to integrate and rehabilitate returnee women with psychological and physical scars. Financial assistance is often key for these women to become independent and productive members of society. While analysts believe that whatever little stakeholders have done so far for safer migration and workers’ welfare is undoubtedly better than the situation before, they still think that a lot remains to be done.

“The MoLE should amend provisions in order to make it more worker-friendly,” said Ganesh Gurung, foreign employment expert. “Then, the Herculean task of cleaning up the rampant corruption awaits.”

Publishrd on: 19 October 2012 | The Kathmandu Post