Lives torn apart

“MY brother, my sister, my wife, won’t even look at my face,” a very upset Khalilur Rahman said yesterday.

He is one of the 372 Bangladeshi men who arrived in Namibia just over a month ago in the hope of providing a better life for their families who live in poverty back home. Now he is being sent back virtually destitute.”All people are very poor.There are no jobs in Bangladesh.We came to Namibia to get money.We thought we would get lots of dollars,” said Khalilur.The disappointment and despair the Bangladeshi workers have suffered during their short stay in Namibia is certain to linger even after they leave the country.They return home deeply indebted to family, friends and banks from which they borrowed money to pay for a work contract here.Most sold their houses, land and livestock to raise the needed collateral.They had to raise as much as US$3 500 for the recruitment agency Eastern Overseas to secure a work contract at the Ramatex Textile Factory.Only US$1 000 was recorded in receipts.They will probably never see this money again.Most were unemployed before coming to Namibia and their future, the men said yesterday, would undoubtedly be one of dire poverty, unemployment and hunger.Another of the Bangladeshi workers tells The Namibian that he is almost certain a large number will commit suicide on their return home – unable to face their families given the sacrifices they had put them through to travel here.They had hoped that by coming to Namibia they would not only be able to recover the money spent on being recruited, but would still have enough to send home to their families.Little did they know that a few hundred of them would have to share one house with only one toilet.The National Union of Namibian Workers’ Union has described the conditions under which they have been forced to live, as worse than at migrant worker hostels in colonial Namibia.They were to be paid US$120 a month (about N$774) – but the company Saujana Blossom Import and Export, linked to the agents from Eastern Overseas, demanded another US$45 (about N$290) from them for food.In addition, Ramatex paid the company US$70 (About N$450) per person to pay for food and accommodation for the men.By tomorrow all of them, some of whom have been in Namibia for only two weeks, will have left the country at Ramatex’s cost.The factory management said yesterday that it could not arrange work permits for the men because they were unskilled and would be unable to transfer skills to Namibians.The company has already instituted legal action against Eastern Overseas after having paid US$580 (about N4371) for each person they recruited from Bangladesh.Now he is being sent back virtually destitute.”All people are very poor.There are no jobs in Bangladesh.We came to Namibia to get money.We thought we would get lots of dollars,” said Khalilur.The disappointment and despair the Bangladeshi workers have suffered during their short stay in Namibia is certain to linger even after they leave the country. They return home deeply indebted to family, friends and banks from which they borrowed money to pay for a work contract here.Most sold their houses, land and livestock to raise the needed collateral.They had to raise as much as US$3 500 for the recruitment agency Eastern Overseas to secure a work contract at the Ramatex Textile Factory.Only US$1 000 was recorded in receipts.They will probably never see this money again.Most were unemployed before coming to Namibia and their future, the men said yesterday, would undoubtedly be one of dire poverty, unemployment and hunger.Another of the Bangladeshi workers tells The Namibian that he is almost certain a large number will commit suicide on their return home – unable to face their families given the sacrifices they had put them through to travel here.They had hoped that by coming to Namibia they would not only be able to recover the money spent on being recruited, but would still have enough to send home to their families.Little did they know that a few hundred of them would have to share one house with only one toilet.The National Union of Namibian Workers’ Union has described the conditions under which they have been forced to live, as worse than at migrant worker hostels in colonial Namibia.They were to be paid US$120 a month (about N$774) – but the company Saujana Blossom Import and Export, linked to the agents from Eastern Overseas, demanded another US$45 (about N$290) from them for food.In addition, Ramatex paid the company US$70 (About N$450) per person to pay for food and accommodation for the men.By tomorrow all of them, some of whom have been in Namibia for only two weeks, will have left the country at Ramatex’s cost.The factory management said yesterday that it could not arrange work permits for the men because they were unskilled and would be unable to transfer skills to Namibians.The company has already instituted legal action against Eastern Overseas after having paid US$580 (about N4371) for each person they recruited from Bangladesh.