In September last year, it seemed like a good idea for R. Revathi to go to Malaysia and work as a domestic help. Her family was in debt, and she believed going abroad and earning money there would help secure the future of her three children.
But more than three months later it’s been a nightmare, her children said: first her husband died, and then her mother, and both times she was not allowed to fly back. The children were left to fend for themselves with no one else at home. Revathi’s visa expired in December, and her employer was insisting on money and a replacement to send her back, her family said.
Finally, on Wednesday, while her children were consulting a lawyer, they received the news that with the help of the Indian Embassy, Revathi is due to fly back.
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“My mother left on September 22 on a tourist visa. She was hired through an agent, Selvaraj, to work in the home of Ezhilmani and Shanthi in Malaysia,” said her 20-year-old daughter, R. Shwetha. “My mother was told she would have to cook, clean and look after a baby and the salary would be 1000 ringgits,”
But within a month of getting there, Revathi said she was unhappy and wanted to come back. “She was only allowed one phone call per week for three minutes. She did not have a SIM card for her mobile phone and her employer had taken her passport. She would call us in tears – she wasn’t even being given proper food. But Ezhilmani had a big fight with her and said she could not go,” said Shwetha.
On November 12, their father V. Raghunathan, died, said 18-year-old Sriram. “He used to be a tourist guide,” he said. He was a heavy drinker, Shwetha said, and had been ill for a while.
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The children phoned their mother, who began crying. “Then she told us her employer hit her and would not let her come back home,” said Sriram.
With 16-year-old Sanjay Kumar and Sriram still studying and Shwetha having just finished her catering course, things began to get worse for them: the rent has not been paid in two months.
Their mother has not been paid at all so far, they claimed, and they have not received any money from her.
Last Monday, their grandmother, who was living with them, too died. “We again called her employer who said he would pass on the message. But he clearly didn’t – my mother called on Thursday and did not know about our grandmother. When my mother said she wanted to leave, he demanded that we pay Rs. 41,000, which he said was the expense he had incurred for her visa and flight tickets. But she went on a tourist visa and as we were worrying about these problems, it expired on December 22,” said Sriram.
By this time, Shwetha said, the agent who took her to Malaysia stopped taking their calls and said he did not know what was going on. After many phone calls and with the help of relative of theirs, the children heard from their mother on Wednesday. “She told us she had her passport back and she was at the Indian Embassy, safe. We are now waiting for her to fly back. We don’t care about the salary now, we just want her back safe here,” said Shwetha.
Efforts to contact officials in the Consulate General of Malaysia here were unsuccessful.