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| Wednesday, 18 August 2004 |
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from Mohammed Rasooldeen in Dubai A group of Sri Lankan garment factory workers rendered jobless overnight due to bankruptcy of the firm, is being looked after and repatriated by Asian expatriates in cooperation with the country's mission here. "This is a shocking news since the owner of the factory is missing ever since he closed the factory," Sri Lankan Consul General in Dubai, P. D. Fernando said. He added that due to the cooperation of a group of expatriates from the SAARC countries that the mission was able to repatriate half of them to Colombo last week. The remaining workers are left to fend for themselves in their Sharjah accommodation without power and water. The workers live in two rooms, 14 in one and five in the other. These women are awaiting repatriation with the support of the community members. Food and other basic necessities are now being provided by a few good Samaritans and the Colombo-based Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) through its consulate here. The workers said they would rather not go to court for fear of dragging their misery further. In Dubai, there are about 40 to 50 garment factories and an estimated 12,000 Sri Lankan women working in them. Some 160,000 Lankans are in the UAE and 60 per cent of them are housemaids and women factory workers. "All we want is to go back home," said Malini, 38, a cutter. "Our electricity and water supply was cut off but was reconnected with the interference of the Sri Lankan Consul General. Now it has been cut once again and the owners wants us to pay the bill amounting to Dh 3,000. How on earth are we going to pay such a large sum?", they queried. Sunita is 32-years-old and her marriage has been delayed due to financial troubles. "I earn Dh 385 monthly and if I work overtime I receive Dh 520 to Dh 550. I came here to earn some extra money so that my family can lead a decent life," she told the local press. "When the company closed down, I did not dare to tell my family. The news could have upset them. But recently, I called home and told my parent how the things are here. They simply asked me to come back," she said. Nandani, 24, one of the workers, said: "The Lankan mission has provided us with daily rations such as vegetables, rice, dairy products and fish. The question is: how can we cook and where? We have no water. There is only a small stove for all of us. The heat is unbearable." The workers are ready to go home with their names written on the crates that contain their belongings. "The consulate has had enough of the false promises made by the factory owner who is a Bangladeshi holding a Pakistani passport," Fernando said adding that it will not be wise under the current circumstances to reveal the mission's future plans." But he promised to take a firm stand. "We have been doing whatever we can and are constantly in touch with the workers. The Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) in Colombo has been notified about their plight. We will seek their advice too," Fernando said. The consul general said the remaining stranded workers will be sent home shortly with the support of a Sri Lankan philanthropist in the UAE. "Their tickets are being sponsored by Kumara, a Sri Lankan recruitment agent as a humanitarian gesture," Fernando said. The consul general said maids running away from homes is negligible," the mission gets an average of 15 housemaids a month," he said adding that most of the cases were due to harassment. The mission's safe house where the runaway housemaids are kept is managed with the funds provided by the SLBFE. The highest number of runaway housemaids in the Middle East are reported at the Lankan mission in Kuwait while, the embassy in Riyadh had received the second largest number of these maids during this summer. |
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