The Gulf Air plane from Bahrain to Qatar is exclusively filled with Nepali workers travelling from Kathmandu. Clad in cheap but new clothes, each wearing a manpower agency cap, what is immediately striking is how young they all are. Some are going for the first time; some are heading back after a few weeks' holiday in Nepal. Still others have had disastrous experiences in Malaysia, and have now found a job in khadi, or the Gulf. Around all, there is an air of tension.
When the plane lands at Doha airport, the anxiety level increases palpably. The migrants do not chat or smile, but quietly follow one another off the plane and through the airport's hallways. "Sangai basne," or Let's stick together, can regularly be heard from these new arrivals. They have all heard the stories, after all. This is the point when trouble began for Ram B, for instance. When he reached Doha a few months back, after having paid NPR 60,000 (USD 940) to a manpower agency in Kathmandu, the Qatari police suddenly told him that both his visa and work contract were fakes. For nine days he was stuck on the airport premises, drinking water from the taps in public toilets, and eating food provided by the airport's Nepali staff. In the end, his embassy sheltered him, and he is now waiting for his family to send him enough money to buy a return ticket to Nepal. By now, of course, the loan that he had to take out to come to Qatar in the first place has doubled, and the only way of paying it back will be to go abroad again.
Although stories of Ram-type predicaments abound, in general this process is much more straightforward. After going through immigration, Nepali migrants in Qatar are picked up by their employer and taken straight to 'labour camps', where they will live in tiny spaces along with thousands of other economic migrants. In these camps, far from home, a new life begins. From July 2007 to January 2008, at least 110,000 workers left Nepal for work purposes, with Qatar among the main destinations. This figure represents a 25 percent increase over just the previous year. An average 240 Nepalis arrived at Doha Airport every day. Nepali men in Qatar numbered 170,000 in October 2006, and by February 2008 there were 266,000 men. Nepalis were just about to become the country's largest expatriate community; and this trend is not about to stop. This year, an estimated 100,000 more workers are required to power the Qatari economy.
When asked why they have gone abroad, Nepali labourers in Qatar give a spectrum of answers. First and foremost, mere compulsion drives many out of Nepal. "I have no choice but to come in order to feed my family," says Hari M. But working abroad is not only a way of filling empty stomachs in the family. Many have sufficient land by which to feed their family, after all, but no way of earning cash. Making decent earnings in Nepal is difficult without good qualifications or connections, particularly if one's 'own people' (aphno manche) cannot help. Beyond economic reasons, a common feature of workers coming to Qatar is a lack of hope. What's in Nepal? There is nothing. How can I improve my family's life in a country crippled by strikes and conflicts? has long been a stock answer to explain why they have come to Qatar.