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 Phase Two of Migrant Workers Project Maintains Progress and Builds Hope
Dewi is a 25-year old Indonesian migrant worker in Malaysia. She left her family and friends in the Jember region of East Java five years ago when an agency recruited her to work abroad due to high unemployment in her village. Initially she felt enthusiasm to support her family while working abroad, but her zeal for work turned sour soon after she’d arrived in Kuala Lumpur.
- Migrant Domestic Workers: Dreams Washed Away by Tears
Everyone longs for security, success, and a promising future. What happens to those with the greatest faith, those who take the biggest risks in order to realise their dreams?
- Domestic Migrant Workers: Pride and Prejudice
Ida* was tired of sitting around and wasting time when she felt she
could do something productive with her life, but no work was to be
found in her area. She yearned to work, earn money and travel outside
of her village. One day a recruiter came to her home and told Ida about
all the money she could make working abroad. He convinced the 17-year
old Indonesian and her family to leave her home near the city of
Bandung, West Java, in order to find employment in Singapore as a
domestic worker.
- Dulce Soares: Working out of Crisis, Getting Back to Work
Dulce Maryal Soares is a 30 years old resident of Dili. Prior to the crisis she lived in Betor Leste but as the violence in her neighbourhood escalated, she and her family abandoned their home and fled to an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp. Conditions in the camp were very basic. Shelter, food, water, and sanitation facilities were provided by aid organizations, but—with no source of income—she found herself trapped in a difficult circumstance. She has been living in the camp for eight months and does not know how much longer she will have to remain there.
- Terezinha: “The Training Made Me Change My Mindset about Business”
Terezinha lives in Maliana and she is a very dynamic businesswoman. Her husband died in the clashes erupted after the 1999 referendum for independence, leaving her alone with three daughters. Since then, for almost three years, Terezinha had been sustaining her family selling vegetables along the road. However, this demanding source of income, did not allow her to dedicate enough time to her family and the revenue was not sufficient to pay school fees for her kids.
- HIV/AIDS: "They never give up"
There are many sad stories to be found among the migrant workers who seek their fortunes overseas. Sometimes the reality turns out to be far removed from the dream. Some come home injured and traumatized by rape, others return empty-handed because their employers never paid them or because they were subjected to extortion by officials and scalpers upon their arrival in Indonesia. Some of them come home with HIV/AIDS.
But for them, giving up is not an option. Cursing the darkness will not bring back the light, as the Indonesian saying goes. These are stories of those who refused to stay in the dark. They are the stories not only of migrant workers, but also of those who dedicate their lives to the "foreign exchange heroes". They are shedding some light in the dark. *
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