Expats help stranded youth in Kuwait return home

MANGALURU: Some

expats

turned

Good Samaritans

for youngster Nelson D’Souza, by helping him

return

home. The resident of

Thokkottu

landed in Kuwait to work as a driver to support his family, but became the victim of a

job fraud

. After facing an ordeal for nearly 15 months due to his Kuwaiti employer, he is all set to return

home

.

This is thanks to the efforts of James Paul Karkala, Mohandas M Kamath and Robert D’Souza. “It’s through their efforts, which included running from pillar to post in Kuwait government offices in between work for nearly five months, which helped me get out of here, where I landed with the hopes of supporting my family. I was promised a driver’s job, but given odd work, including cleaning homes and feeding camels in desert camps. The owner abused me and made me work for long hours,” Nelson said.

Before landing in Kuwait, Nelson was eking out his livelihood as an autorickshaw driver. “I had got in touch with a person on social media, who helped me to get a driver visa in Kuwait. The offer was hard to resist, since my sister discontinued her college studies due to financial constraints. I wanted to support my family and sold my autorickshaw for Rs 30,000 and paid it to an agent as commission. I booked the tickets and made other arrangements by paying from my own pocket to get to Kuwait. However, what was supposed to be a smooth beginning started to turn into a nightmare. Apart from driving, I was made to do different odd jobs, which I found hard to do. Though I tried to adjust to my circumstances, the harassment from my employer became unbearable. I was not paid any salary, and I had to beg my employer for the same. He did not allow me to return to India by claiming that my contract is for three years. My agent did not help me to get me back. Finally, I ran away and took shelter in my friend’s place,” said Nelson over phone.

After Nelson reached his friend’s place, he was later assisted by James Paul and others. “We had to go through legal procedures, which took nearly five months to get completed. Nelson’s employer had booked an absconding case against him, which is a serious matter in Kuwait. Finally, he was set free and his temporary passport was handed over to him on Tuesday evening,” said James Paul, who hails from Karkala.

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