Speakers

Santosh KC

I am Santosh KC.  I’m originally form Dolakha District of Nepal. I’m a migrant worker based in the Middle East. I was working as lower secondary teacher in the government school in the same village I’m originally from. It was the peak time of Nepalese Maoist civil war, so the political situation in the place was not good. Life was in danger and trapped in the war between the government and militants. Since the situation was poor, I felt immense insecurity of life, so I decided to resign from my decent job and move to the Middle East.   

I came to the Middle East in 2003 and have continued until present.  I have started my career as a store keeper for a big construction company then moved to another construction firm as a health and safety officer. It has been a really fluctuating life as I have been to almost to all the countries in the GCC. 

I have very long working experience in the Middle East and I have observed many issues migrant workers are facing in the region.  Through my experience, Nepalese migrant workers are facing similar issues in the Middle East and there was no any form of initiative to work for the migrant workers issue when I came first. There are many issues but there has not been enough effort to solve the problems and in 2017 I found the migrant worker led initiative, Shramik Sanjal working with the purpose to support each other in an organising way through advocacy and I have been actively engaging in this initiative.   

Sunita Maharjan

I am Sunita Maharjan from Kathmandu Nepal.

After completing my graduation, it was challenging to find a decent job in my own hometown. So, I decided to move abroad for better opportunities. I had my real professional opportunity in fast growing countries in the middle east. My main purpose to move in the Middle East was to support my family financially and also to enhance my skills. Hence, I started my career as Customer Service Advisor in Retail Division of the large franchise Retail company. Recently, I have moved to Corporate Office as a Front Desk Executive.

When I entered into the Middle East for the first time, I felt completely contrast as my family wasn’t together with me. Getting along with different nationalities, binding together with the diversity gave me new challenges and experiences throughout; however since I am living in a vibrant multicultural country, it’s great to understand cultures other than yours. Despite feeling lucky where I am today, I could see lots of workers who are working hard day and night to earn living while going through tough situations wherever I go. And the situation is even worse for women. Being a woman myself, this makes me very sad.

I believe that if we join our hands together in a team by participating and supporting each other, most of the problems will come into attention. Therefore, I have joined Shramik Sanjal, as a member where our issues are openly discussed and address them through advocacy. Being a women migrant, I believe that my initiation to speak the voice of many women’s migrants and sharing my own personal experience and stories will help change the perception towards Nepalese migrant workers and also help address our problems. 

Hari Krishna Neupane

I am Hari Krishna Neupane. I’m a Nepalese migrant worker currently working in the food and beverage department of a large franchise company in the Middle East.  I have been living here for fourteen years. Due to lack of job opportunities and limited economic scope in Nepal, I decided to come to the Middle East for work so that I could support my family maintenance and children education. 

Since I came to the Middle East, I have witnessed many Nepalese migrant workers facing difficulties and losing their lives and I was always trying to support my fellow workers in need and also was looking for something we could work at for the well-being of fellow workers in organizing ways to find better and long-term solutions by the process of discussion, dialogue and exchanging support for each other, I found this Shramik Sanjal (Workers Network) working in the field of my interest, so I joined this network in 2016 and have been actively engaging to advance our work through advocacy. 

Sangita Timilsina Paudel

I’m Ms Sangita Timilsina Paudel, I’m from Kathmandu Nepal. 

With a purpose to provide financial assistance to my family, I moved to the Middle East  as a sales promoter after my graduation as there was not enough job prospects and economic opportunities in Nepal. I’m currently working as Management Information System data analyst in a multinational FMCG retail company.  

Being a migrant worker myself, I have noticed many Nepalese Migrant workers in the Middle East lack information and are unaware of basic dos and don’ts being in the Gulf and adapting with diverse cultures.  So, I along with my husband thought of producing informational & educational videos about basic rules and regulation about the country, where we live, to educate our fellow migrant workers and put them into YouTube, social sites and another digital platform and we have been receiving a positive response and appreciations form the many audiences. Since then my husband and I  have been producing videos to create awareness among  Nepalese migrants and encourage them to live a positive life, I came to know through a friend of mine that Shramik Sanjal is working on the Migrant workers issues  for improving  better well-being of our fellow workers  in the region then I decided to join the network, and I have been a member since oct 2018. 

Laxmi Prasad

Laxmi Prasad, a Nepalese migrant worker is a member of Shramik Sanjal and coordinates the team from UAE. He is a trainer by profession for a retail franchise which has operations in MENA region. 

A teacher and trainer in home country too, Laxmi Prasad, saw that he could make a significant contribution as trainer in Middle East. He has been training the staff members on occupational Health and Safety, Food Safety, Customer Service and similar topics. Health and Safety directly impacts the life of migrants in foreign land to save them from occupational hazards, road accidents, and so on. He believes that learning and development improves the lifestyle of a migrant’s worker benefiting on the future career prospects. 

Bhim Shrestha

It’s me Bhim Shrestha recently residing in Qatar as migrant worker. I have been staying in Qatar and working as an operations associate in a large fashion retail company for six years. Besides my work, I am also engaging in other volunteering works for Nepali Migrant Workers Network. This migrant worker network is a group of Nepali migrant workers working in the Middle East and Malaysia to work for better well-being of Nepali migrant workers to ensure their rights are in place and secured through advocacy. 

I have passed Bachelor of Business Studies form Tribhuvan University in 2010 and due to low job and economic opportunities in Nepal, I decided to move to the Middle East for work with the purpose to earn money and support my parents for the family maintenance. 

During my work and stay in Qatar, I have met many Nepalese migrant workers and see them working in the road and building construction sector with poor health conditions and I also found that they are unable to achieve the basic right to live in peace with dignity and work in peace and decent conditions.  

I believe as I’m a migrant worker myself  I understand migrant workers issue better than anyone else. And I found some fellow migrant workers together with other likeminded workers had started an initiative to work for the well-being of Nepalese migrant workers with the idea of creating a situation where every migrant worker is valued, respected, and are listened to in a way they feel safe, live with dignity and work in decent condition and safe condition. And since 2016 I have been engaging with this network and leading Qatar chapter to advance our work. 

Sun Bahadur Tamang

My Name is Sun Bahadur Tamang. I’m from Nuwakot district, the neighboring district of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. I have been living in the Middle East for fifteen years. I came as a driver in a construction company and after a full course of five years contract with the company I decided to become an independent taxi driver, where I could earn more money and support my family maintenance and children’s education in Nepal. Working as a driver, I had couple of cases of poor behaviour, verbally abused and sometime not being paid taxi tariff. It has been a common issue for many drivers. So, I thought of initiating to form a group of Nepalese taxi drivers to support each other in need and emergency situations, like poor behaviour, verbal abuse and threats by the passengers.  In 2016 I have started to build a network of Nepalese Taxi Driver Association and now we have more than hundreds of members in our association. Being united under an association gives us sense of security and is more powerful than being an individual. 

Starting the taxi driver association was more of my individual initiative and working for one particular sector but there are many of my fellow workers who are facing problems in other sectors as well.  I have seen workers living difficult lives and I was looking for some group working in different sectors for the well-being of my brothers and sisters.   Through a friend of mine I came to know about Shramik Sanjal and I have become a member of this initiative from 2018 and have been actively engaging with it.