On a cricket pitch on the outskirts of Doha, thousands of migrant workers have gathered to watch the football World Cup on the big screen. During the match break, there are free cultural events with entertainment from the home countries. The artist features are greatly appreciated by migrant workers, who cannot afford to watch the matches in the stadiums they have built themselves. The worries are put away for an evening. Pakistani Mohammed Aref is one of those who have come to enjoy the evening off after a hard 12-hour workday. Young men like Aref travel to Qatar with the hope of feeding their families in their homeland. – We do everything for our families. We come to Qatar to have a better life and a future for ourselves and our families, says Aref. Some succeeded, others experienced a nightmare. December 18 is Qatar’s national day. It is also International Migrants Day. news visited two former migrant workers in Nepal. The two have helped build the WC. After three years in Qatar, they now lead completely different lives. HALF-TIME CONCERT: Free half-time shows are at least as popular as the football matches for the migrant workers. Felt trapped – Qatar was hell. It is an open prison. It’s like being in detention, says Ganesh Sherpa. He sits in his cramped one-room apartment in the slums of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. For three years he worked in Qatar as an excavator driver for a European company, which had won a public tender. He helped build the foundations of several of the WC arenas in Qatar. He says that he experienced Qatar as a prison because his employer would not have let him go home when his father fell ill. HELL: Migrant worker Ganesh Sherpa experienced his stay in Qatar as a nightmare. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoude / news – You go there voluntarily, but you can’t leave there if you want to, says Sherpa. Missing his wife and daughter only made it worse. – She was only eleven months old when I went to Qatar. She couldn’t even say daddy. I left with tears in my eyes. I was making money but was unhappy there. 430,000 Nepalese go to Qatar to work in the oil and gas-rich country. Everyone has one goal in mind when they travel: to get a well-paid job that can give them a better life. EXTREME HEAT: Sherpa and his colleagues covered their entire bodies on the construction site to protect themselves from the extreme heat. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoude / news Several deaths Qatar has introduced a ban on working outdoors in the middle of the day during the scorching summer months. It didn’t help much, according to Sherpa. – The temperature will be more than 50 degrees there. It was very tough, says Sherpa. The former migrant worker says the suffocating heat had major consequences. – We had worked the night shift and went to bed to sleep. But when I woke up, there was no life in him. The air ambulance was sent to rescue him, but they could not. According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty, 15,021 non-Qataris have lost their lives in the country between 2010 and 2019. World Cup manager Hassan Al-Thawadi claimed during the World Cup that between 400-500 workers have died during World Cup preparations. On Wednesday, another migrant death was reported. Earlier in the WC, a Filipino also lost his life in a forklift accident. A new life The stories of the migrant workers in Qatar are not black and white. news took the hour-long drive east from Kathmandu to Panauti. Here we met Bidur Humagai. He lives off the land and cows he just bought. The cows provide him and his family with milk, butter, fertilizer and daily income from the sale of milk. – I bought these two cows with money from Qatar, says Bidur Humagai to news. He lives with his wife, daughter and two elderly parents. – You have built a great house. – Thank you. A house of my own has been a dream for me, says Humagai. DREAM FULFILLED: After Humagai returned home from Qatar, he started a family and started his own construction company. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoude / news Humagai worked for the state-owned airline Qatar Airways for 3.5 years. He stood in a refrigerated commercial kitchen, where he packed the food that is served on the planes. He says his short stay in Qatar changed his life. – I earned between 75,000 and 80,000 rupis (approx. NOK 6,000). In Nepal, I had earned a maximum of 10,000 rupees (approx. NOK 700), says Humagai. – After one year I came home and got married. My family increased from three to four with my wife. Now there are five of us, because I have also had a daughter, he says happily. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: Humagai worked for the state-owned airline Qatar Airways. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoude / news The 33-year-old used the money from Qatar to buy a mountain plot with a view, where he built a house. He also started his own construction company with seven employees: – My financial situation improved. And I gained confidence and motivation to start something of my own in Nepal. Heavy heart Back on the cricket pitch in Doha’s industrial area, Kenyan migrant worker Edward Duangiko says Qatar is nice compared to where he comes from. – I don’t have to look over my shoulder. I feel safe. There is no stealing and, for now, no discrimination. There is no fighting and compared to where I come from, the mentality is completely different. In my country I would have been afraid now. FEELS SAFE: Kenyan Edward Duangiko works as a security guard and says the pay is good. He says he fears being sent home before his three-month contract is up, or that he won’t be paid, as someone he knows experienced. For now, he has nothing to complain about, according to himself. – Where I come from, you have to be prepared for the unexpected, he says. In the slums of Kathmandu, Ganesh Sherpa sits watching the football World Cup on the screen. On the wall, Sherpa has several Manchester United effects. UNITED FAN: Sherpa loves football, but follows the World Cup with vexation. Photo: Imad Abou Jaoude / news The Nepalese is a sworn United supporter, and follows the WC because he loves the sport. But it is with a heavy heart. – I feel that I have contributed with my sweat and my blood. Sherpa is an image of why so many people travel from East Asia and Africa to Qatar to work. They are in need, and they are betting everything on getting a better future. – Money is not everything. I went there because I was in need. If people like me didn’t work hard there, Qatar wouldn’t be so great.
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For Sherpa, the WC work was hell. For Humagai, it changed his life. – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
