My son died a day after he sent home money

Emamodin Miya Hawari, 24, left for Qatar like so many others since he couldn’t find work in Nepal. His older brother was there to.

“He sent us $207 the last time,” says his 67-year-old father, Islam Miya Dhobi, who lives in Parwanipur, Bara District.

The following day the family received word that he was dead.

“He used to tell me not to work so hard because he would send home money to help us out,” the father says. “And he did. I never picked up on that he was unhappy or worried, but then I found out that he had killed himself.”

Islam Miya Dhobi has a hard time believing that his son would have committed suicide. It doesn’t add up and he wonders if someone forced him.

“He planned on getting married as soon as he returned from Qatar. He wanted a large wedding with drums and fanfares as soon as he could save up enough money. Every time he sent home money he told me to begin preparing for a wedding,” the father says. “Now I have to hold a funeral.”

The family has received $17.500 as compensation. This includes $5,753 from the Foreign Employment Board and $11,650 from the insurance company.

“But the company he worked for in Qatar have not bothered supporting us, which I think is shameful,” the father says. “We also had to pay ourselves to get his body transported home.”

Today Emamodin Miya Hawari’s family survives by farming their small land but the harvest does not sustain them.

“My oldest son is in Qatar now and works as a driver, but I am too old to go over there,” the father says. “If we could have earned a living here in Nepal, none of us would never have left the country.”

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