Thousands of young Nepali men, mainly from remote villages, slaving now in horrendous conditions in the Gulf states to support their rural families, must be suffering agonies of not knowing the fate of their families who depend on them (In the villages they wait for aid that may never come, 28 April). They will have barely any means of communication, nor the means to return home to help. Many will not even have possession of their passports.
They left to work on construction sites in the Gulf because there was no work for them in Nepal. Now, however, there is an urgent need for the skills they have honed abroad. Might those rich countries that host them now release them, pay for them to fly home and establish a fund to pay for them to work in the reconstruction that is so urgently needed? Such a return is needed also on compassionate grounds, to address the psychological trauma these young Nepalis must be experiencing far from home. They should be welcomed back not just by surviving, injured, homeless relatives, but also by the Nepal government.
Margaret Owen
Director, Widows for Peace through Democracy
