Tin Box Existence
20 January 2009
Aishath Shazra
2009-01-20
Maldive News
http://www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=5879
See also comments @ http://doreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/tin-box-existence.html
Photographs at http://www.minivannews.com/gallery.php?gallid=8
Home: peeking through the doorway
He worked as a vegetable merchant in Bangladesh earning US$100 a month. He met a broker one day who painted a rosy picture of a better life. Of better pay. Of a job in a reputable company in the coral-fringed islands of the Maldives.
There was just one hitch: to make this dream come true, 22-year-old Mohamed Juen had to pay US$2,200 to the broker for expenses.
And so he borrowed, scrimped and saved from friends and relatives. After all, with a higher wage he would be able to pay it back in no time.
Soon he was standing in the airport and on the advice of his agent, telling Bangladeshi immigration he was off for a holiday in the Maldives.
Three years and six months later, he is living in a house with six bedrooms and 69 of his compatriots; there is barely room to move let alone breathe.
Living the dream
Juen works 12 to 18 hours a day cleaning at reputable institutions such as the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital and People's Majlis earning US$30 more than in Bangladesh.
After work he comes home and washes his clothes beneath a tap outside his living quarters. Inside, clothes belonging to 69 others are strung from wall to wall. His meagre belongings are stored in wooden boxes, wedged against the wall.
In the morning he gets up early, collects his daily ration of fresh water and joins the queue for the single shower they share.
He sleeps on a large double bed with two others and shares his room with 17 of his fellow citizens. But he has it easy. Others sleep on any space they can find.
Juen says he is happy here. He likes the locals and doesn't mind his job. All he asks for is shorter working hours and better housing conditions.
Crammed: sleeping up to five in a bed
But, sadly, Juen is not unique. There are countless others who just like him come to the Maldives in the hope of improving their lot.
His living conditions are the same as for most of the 35,000 Bangladeshi labourers living in the country.
Cramped
It all started about 17 years ago when the construction boom hit the city.
And now Bangladeshis build our roads and houses. They throw out our garbage. They clean our houses and public buildings. In short, they do the jobs that Maldivians refuse to.
It is true that Male' is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and a third of the population – 385,925 at last count – lives on an island less than 2km². But is this reason enough to make Bangladeshis live in what can only be described as subhuman conditions?
A report published by the Human Rights Commission in October 2008, noted the living situation of foreign labourers.
It wrote of cramped conditions, of 30 men sharing rooms measuring 3m by 3m without running water or sanitation facilities. It wrote of them taking shifts to sleep for lack of space.
Ignored for a long time, this issue has gradually inched its way to the forefront. At a recent photo and art exhibition Bangladeshi workers were a common theme.
One artist, Ifham Niyaz, depicted the reality of Bangladeshi lodgings in a bleak but apt way: a tiny tin box with no windows, just two slits on the side and front.
Blood, sweat and tears
Aslam Shakir, state minister for housing, admits we can't forgo foreign labour. "As long as we bring them to work for us," he says, "we are obliged to give them a home fit for humans to live in."
He says the problem is one that has intensified over time but is optimistic the situation for migrant workers will improve under the new government. There are even plans to build living quarters for workers in Thilafushi and other areas, he says.
For the Bangladeshi ambassador Professor Selina Mohsen, agents in both Bangladesh and the Maldives are to blame for taking advantage of "innocent" Bangladeshis.
"They come from villages with so many expectations," she sighs.
Waving her hand across the city skyline, Mohsen issues an overdue reminder: "This city has been built by the sweat, hard work, tears and blood of Bangladeshi workers."
Letter On Bangladeshi Living Conditions
23 January 2009 letter to the editor
2009-01-23
Dear Editor,
I find the following statement by an anonymous writer in Dhivehi Observer on the treatment of foreign workers from low-income countries such as Bangladesh as outrageous. The comment was feedback given on the Minvan News article, Tin Box Existence (20 January 2009):
"Apart from all. most of them are Muslims so we should be ashamed to treat as such to our "akh" while being Muslims."
Don't non-Muslim human beings deserve to be treated according to the international norms of decency enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Maldives is a signatory?
The anonymous writer implies that Maldivians ought to be ashamed of the shabby treatment Bangladeshis receive only because the Bangladeshis are Muslims.
I ask the anonymous writer to put himself in the shoes of a Muslim worker from the Maldives working alongside a Christian worker from the Philippines in the United States, for example. What will the anonymous writer feel if an American colleague said as follows of the Filipino?
"We have two guest workers in this organisation, one is a Filipino Christian and the other is a Maldive Muslim. We Americans ought to be ashamed of treating our Filipino Christian brother shabbily."
The fact is that an average American would not even think in those terms. They are decent and treat human beings as humans. They wouldn't even dream of treating someone who doesn't share their religious beliefs as "apes and swine".
To be part of the civilised world, Maldivians will have to respect and treat all human beings with respect; not just Muslims.
All human beings living in the Maldives, local and foreign, must be treated according to the Maldives' obligations under the ICCPR.
Regards,
Editor of maldivesroyalfamily.com
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