Another view of where I live
Only 15 days to go and I’ve got my ticket! Originally there was a problem getting me on the August 31 flight, with no ordinary seats available until September 12. My kind bosses here decided to update me at a cost of Eu250-ish.
Since my visa expires on September 7, I really did have to be out of here soon. We have to get our visas renewed every month; after three months you’ve got to leave the country and be re-admitted. Two of the boys are off for the day to
The alternative to renewing visas infinitely is to apply for residency. This you can do only through a ‘sponsor’. If you change jobs and so sponsors, you may have a problem and won’t be allowed leave the country. This causes huge problems; the word ‘slavery’ is often bandied about, especially when it comes to construction workers who will have paid an agent a large sum of money to come here in the first place. The Humans Rights Commission are on the case, so hopefully it will all get more rational soon.
Further good news is that there will be more lightning inspections of building sites to ensure that safety standards are adhered to. At home, the death of four people in a crumbling building would be the subject of anguished articles for days. The area would be cordoned off and wreaths of flowers placed on the site.
Here, it makes the front page the first day and an inside page the next; the articles are heartfelt and well meaning, but really it isn’t good enough. Time to start campaigning against the unscrupulous recruitment agents in Nepal and Pakistan who promise workers the world and then bleed them dry when they get here; often construction workers have to pay a year’s wages before they are free of these blood-suckers.
Only the Indian government requires such agencies to be registered at the embassy here and probably in other Gulf nations as well. It’s the way to go for other countries as well.
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