The World Cup in Qatar is already far behind us and the discussion about the migrant workers who had to work as slaves has long since died down. Gerard Arink from Tilburg still cares about their fate. He knows how Nepalese still suffer in the oil state: “They didn’t even know what they were going to do there.”
Gerard Arink has been coming to Nepal every year since 2009. On his mountain bike he cycled 1000 kilometers over the slopes of the Himalayas. This is also how he came into contact with the population: “It is a completely different culture. That fascinates me, that people look at life so differently.”
When he flew back to Amsterdam in 2018, he was on a plane with migrant workers who were going to work in Qatar. “They were promised a monthly salary of about 600 euros through an employment agency. Nepal is a very poor country. After a major earthquake and corona, tourism has come to a standstill. People literally have nothing.”
“It was one big disappointment.”
The migrant workers would receive a good salary, food and shelter. But when Arink was back in Nepal last year, he heard the real story: “It turned out to be one big disappointment.” He spoke with Beli Maya Thing, a mother in her early 30s with three children, among others.
She had lost her husband in 2018, but her village could no longer provide for her children. So she had to earn money in Qatar, as a cleaning lady: “In the stadium where the Dutch national team played. She worked twice six hours a day. She was exploited, did not have time to eat. She was paid a salary of 700 promised euros, but she only received 50 euros a month.”
“She came back penniless, hungry and in debt.”
When she ended up in a corona lockdown, she was no longer allowed to work and did not receive a salary: “She was locked up against her will for half a year. To stay alive, she had to borrow money from compatriots. When her visa expired, she was put on a plane back to Nepal, she came back penniless, hungry and in debt.”
Arink helps victims like Beli Maya Thing. He has imitated the shirt of the football legend with the Cruyff brand. He raised 80,000 euros before the start of the World Cup. He can help dozens of migrants with this: “We give them money so that they can start small businesses. If it is promising, we pay the salary for a year or two. For a taxi company or a supermarket.”
“Can the Titman be paid by Qatar?”
Arink has a bitter aftertaste about the World Cup: “The discussion about labor migrants has mainly been conducted on our own initiative. Can supporters go there? Can the Titman be paid by Qatar? Can you watch or not? In fact, no one has done anything for the migrants. That disturbed me. That’s a big hangover that I got from that whole discussion.”
Arink wrote there the book ‘The Hangover of Qatar’ and it comes out on April 11.
