Last week,a young Indian man was admitted to our ward with chest pain and found to have myocardial infarction(Heart attack).After few days,when he was about to be discahrgerd, I told him I would give him a month' s leave to rest and recuperate. This was part of our standard protocol.I was surprised when he said.....no sir,I have to go back to work.. Can I start work from tomorrow? He was a mason in a construction company, and worked from 8 in morning till 6 in evening. He was paid about 500 dhs a month. And if he didnt work a day,his salary was cut.He cannot be sick..he said .Of the 500 dhs he made,about 150 was spent for food, and another 50 a month to call his family in India. ( he can talk for about 15 mts for that amount....his total contact with his family in a month !).No personal expenses,he cant afford that....he has to send money home to his family. This is the situation of almost all the construction workers in the gulf.Probably,it wouldnt be wrong to say,the wealth of a nation can be its very cheap labour force. And this is the situation where the basic minimum salary for a national is set at about 4000 Dhs,and none of them engages in manual labour.
Our politicians come to the gulf countries almost on a daily basis. They visit the labour camps,and make statements about what they are going to do,but nothing has ever changed.Only recently have we come to know the reason for these visits. Their visits are not for the sake of the gulf malayali,but for their own secret agendas.Almost all of them have their sons and daughters,either working or living in the gulf.All parties have common interests here,and no differnce of opinions!The plight of the labourer is ever the same. World is growing....Richer are getting richer.The rich always have their rights. Poor are getting poorer.....And they dont have any rights. Dont they belong to this world?
Where is justice in this world?
Why are the poor denied of their basic rights?
According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
The world has the wealth and means to end poverty. Yet nearly half of the world's population live on less than 50 rupees day ( Revised stansards of poverty)And over 11 million children will die from poverty-related illness this year alone, read the leaflet that fell out of a recent issue of the New Internationalist. This particular leaflet, entitled "Isn't it time we tackled the causes of poverty?" was issued by an organisation called the World Development Movement.
Policies of governments and companies are keeping people poor. Policies that ensure global trade, benefits only the rich, not the poor. The three richest men in the world are wealthier than the 48 poorest countries combined!! Policies that give increasing power to multinational companies.....for every $1 of aid going into poor countries, multinationals take 66% of profits out!!. The powerful are exploiting the poor to make bigger and bigger profits.
Only less than one percent of what the world spends every year on weapons is needed to put every child into school, and to feed them, and yet it doesnt happen.
An ordianry labourer working in the Middle East,has no right to bring his family to him.But,isnt it his basic right? I often see them in the hospital,being sick, lying lonely and dejected in the ward,and often asking me, doctor,will I be able to go home?I just want to go back home before something happens to me. Then again, to go back,he has to beg around for the ticket. It is almost routine for us to collect money for these people,to help them buy a ticket to go home. People go abroad for work on the hopes of a better life for themselves and their families.But many of them see their families,only once in few years.The lives of those unfortunate women and children left behind...Where is justice in this world?
A world with poverty, where too many lack not only for the basics of life, but also the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations,demeans us all. By helping build a path out of it, we do not just reduce suffering,but give people power over their own lives. Development is a profoundly moral cause and isnt it time we do something about it?
when we pause to think about it, life is a distressing business. But these inequalities will continue, i guess. experiments is equality failed in russia. china is an enigma.No. justice- it's something that's never been there on earth.millenneuuum when the lion & the laaamb willl lie together is promised only in the next world.
ReplyDeletei dont understand why our masons go to gulf when he caan get rs.375 per day here. Work is there for those who are willing to work here, esp in kerala.
Hi,kochuthresiamma,
ReplyDeleteI ask them the same question.
Any time I have some work to be done at home,I have to search and then wait and wait for a mason,they have no time!And the worse is to find a carpenter.I ask these people,why they have to come to this place for this slavery.In spite of having suffered,they tend to come back,given another chance. My feeling is ,it is the typical Malayali attitude. He doesnt want to work in his own place,where he knows only his rights.They prefer to toil and struggle as slaves somewhere else!!Still, where ever it is,they have rights,havent they?
hello doctor
ReplyDeletewhat u said is corrct as a human being we all are thinking about others but nobody is thinking what we can do for this
these poor people they are thinking gulf is like a heaven once they came here then only they are realizing what is gulf specially indians their mentality, we cannot change that. they have more oppertunitys than here & they are getting good salary also but they dont know the value of money once they came here & struggling for live then they realize. in kerala now a days very difficult to get one masons once we are offering good salary then also we are not getting they are thinking "am the boss" but here they are ready to do any work wthout any demand
if they are thinking our country is better than others then they will get good life
All Q simply don’t have answers. To understand the wealthy one has to be so. You just can understand the psyche behind their actions otherwise. They will be feeling the same tensions day after day just like a regular fella. it’s not like god just made it easy for them. Rich usually have education & goals N place 2 keep it up, whereas poor have less incentive 2 do much but just get by & exist. A poor education forces a person to do jobs which he can do and not one that will make him financially secure. People being sorry about leaving their wives and kids back home to work in a different country should think why in the world they got married first and doing that sin continued that by bringing a child into the picture. I guess for the poor the only thing pleasurable and affordable thing to do is sex. And so, the next generation of poor people is created.
ReplyDelete