As part of the PhD full registration process, I gave a seminar today on my proposed research topic, urban transformation of Male’, which focuses on the social aspects of urban livelihood. The seminar went well and I got very good feedback from the audience of students, professors and Maldivian colleagues at Victoria Uni. One of the questions put to me by a member of the audience related to the expatriate workforce in Maldives, about their living conditions, and what their presence meant for the urbanisation process and congestion in Male’. My simple answer was that they lived in terrible conditions and that I find their living conditions shameful.
I come home from Uni, boots up the computer and go online to see these photos published by Haveeru in their News in Pictures section.
(photos: Haveeru Online)
At first I thought that they were photos of a slum area in India or Bangladesh, and then I read the caption. It turns out this is part of an expatriate living quarters on the land where Furugan Mosque used to be. This is quite appalling. I know that some Male’ families are living in dire conditions but the living conditions of some of these workers are beyond human. If we want someone to do all the dirty work that us rich, developed, proud Maldivians don’t want to do, at least we have to look after the people who get these jobs done for us. As long as these people are here it is our moral responsibility to look after their welfare. We wouldn’t ask less if our people were in a similar situation in some foreign land. They have not come to Maldives on their own. Each single worker is brought to the country by a Maldivian, and that person should be held responsible for their welfare and well-being.
Drugs and extremism ticks away in the concrete jungle of Male’, ready to explode. This is another stick of dynamite, the fuse has already been lit.
Tags: expatriate, foriegn workers, maldivians, migrants, workers
April 10, 2009 at 7:53 am |
THIS IS MALE’? what the… what is that water there? do they use it wash up? I am having a hard time digesting that picture. is it really male’ ???
i knew people were becoming more whiny and lazier by day and if u dont wear a tie to work u are more respected as a junkie than a hard working janitor, but bringing people because no one want to clean their own shit, and flesh from drains and build penth houses and yet complaining theres no bloody job to do, and this is how they treat them ??? this is disgusting, i feel ashamed to even say that picture was taken in my homecountry and my home town/ city or what ever male’ is :@
April 11, 2009 at 4:43 am |
that used to be where the mosque was. They dug up the ground and i guess sea water mixed with rain created the ‘lake’. I was a bit surprised to see them myself