Stuck Abroad by Nitu Ghale

Photo: Bhim Bahadur Khatri

STUCK ABROAD: Bhim Bahadur Khatri, 32, left for Kuwait two years ago. He worked as a cargo porter at an airport and earned about Rs 30,000. Earlier this year he started having issues with stomach ulcers and was hoping to make his way back to Nepal to be with his family. When the pandemic started, he tried desperately to leave but has been stuck in Kuwait for five months. The company that he worked for stopped paying him last month and refuses to return his passport.

“My visa to Kuwait expired in May, I can’t stay here, but I can’t go home either,” says Khatri adding, “I am unwell, my entire body shakes when I walk, I called the embassy three times, but they keep asking me to wait for my turn. I don’t have money to pay for the flight, but if the embassy made it possible, I would figure out a way to pay. I have small children at home, I have an older mother. I haven’t been able to properly talk to them. I feel so helpless.”

Text: Nitu Ghale @eastern_keen
Photos: Bhim Bahadur Khatri and Nitu Ghale
Edit: Mallika Aryal @mikaness

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