I'm gonna try to include several topics in this entry but they all relate to women from other countries who end up in Doha. In Doha has a population of 600,000. About 1/4 of that is made up of Qatari nationals. The rest are Westerners and foreigners who have come here to work. Many people, men and women, come from other countries because they can earn more money than in their own countries. They come alone and send money home. Workers may come from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Africa. I suppose about any poor country in the nearby region. They have very few rights.
I recently had my hair cut. Lucy is from the Philippines and speaks very good English. We were making small talk and she said she was heartbroken because one of her daughters is about to marry. I thought she was sad because the daughter was growing up. When I realized she was separated from her daughter I couldn't speak for a moment. I couldn't imagine having to be separated from my child for years. She was a very sad woman. I learned the lady who cleans for me a few hours a week has two children back in Indonesia. I hadn't thought of the women who come over having children. They leave their children behind because each person has to be sponsored to come to Doha. That means the sponsor pays for the worker to come, pays them wages while here and pays their way back home. Their contract may be for one or two years. That means the woman or man is away from their family for years at a time. I'm told sometimes there are broken promises regarding work and wages. Sometimes they have to settle for less wages. Once they're here they have to work or they'll be deported. Many of the men live in camps outside of town and are bussed in for work everyday to do construction work. I'm told some women who work in a fast food chain are allowed one afternoon to do their shopping. They are either working or at home. They are not permitted to go out on their own.
Some ladies from our fellowship visited a ladies' deportation prison recently. These foreign ladies are here in jail waiting to go home. Some have embassies who bring them extra goods like soft drinks and other foods. Some don't have embassies here so they get nothing extra. They are in jail for different reasons. One said she had been there for over a year. She said her sponsor hadn't paid her in many months. When she asked her sponsor about this she said it was because the worker had stolen from her and put her in jail. Some are there because they had a "love affair." I'm not clear how they get out of jail or where they get money to go back home.
Today I met a young single Muslim woman from Ethiopia who is pregnant. The father was stationed here but has since gone back to the States. She is all alone in this country. If she delivers her baby in a hospital here they would immediately take her to jail. For a Muslim woman to have a child out of wedlock is forbidden. I hope you'll pray for her. You feel for these people who are looking for a better way of life and trying to help their families. It seems hopeless for them but I know the Lord can give them hope. Pray that these people in desperate situations would be willing to turn to Christ so they could have His hope in them.
Posted by nellie at March 9, 2004 03:59 PM