When the sirens go off, Norma Tactacon just prays. 49 year old Norma is a domestic worker in Qatar. She is survived by her husband and three children in the Philippines. Amidst the war between America and Israel, the Gulf countries are Iran’s target. Norma is trapped in the same flames. She says, ‘I feel scared seeing missiles in the air. I have to stay alive – for the children. I am his everything. In fact, what one gets from domestic work in the Philippines is 4-5 times i.e. $500 (about Rs. 45,000) per month in the Gulf. This is the reason why she is not able to return home despite her life being in danger. Norma is not alone. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are 24 million migrant workers in the Gulf countries. Among these, people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia are the largest. At least 12 South Asian workers have lost their lives in this war so far. Dibas Shrestha (29) of Nepal was a security guard in Abu Dhabi. He died in an Iranian attack on March 1. His uncle Ramesh says, ‘I had asked him to return to Nepal, but he used to say – life is good here.’ Dibas was saving money to rebuild his parents’ house which was damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Ahmed Ali, 55, from Bangladesh, was killed by missile debris in Dubai. Ali used to send 45-55 thousand rupees home every month. Returning home is not easy either. The war has disrupted flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. In the last return flight to the Philippines, 234 workers were transported 8 hours by road from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, only then were they able to catch the flight. But most people do not want to go home. Su Su (31) from Myanmar works in a real estate company in Dubai. She had fled the civil war in Myanmar. She is working at home and turns away from the window when she hears the siren. Still she says, ‘The atmosphere here seems calm. I am sure everything will be fine. The economy of some countries depends up to 10% on the money coming from the Gulf. More than half of the total foreign workers of the Philippines, about 1 million, are in the Gulf countries. Their remittances account for 10% of the Philippines’ economy. Most of Bangladesh’s 14 million migrants work in the Gulf. Their remittances are the lifeline of the country’s GDP. According to the ILO, there are 24 million migrant workers in the Gulf, who are the backbone of every sector from construction to domestic work. The war has shaken this entire system.
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जान जोखिम में पर 45,000 की तनख्वाह छोड़ना मुश्किल: खाड़ी से रेमिटेंस बंद हुआ तो डूब जाएगी 2.4 करोड़ परिवारों की इकोनॉमी
