By Noah
“It’s just for a few days, you’ll be back to your room in no time,” said the camp official, as he came to escort Jonathan* to the isolation area.
This was basically just the ground floor of one accommodation block within the labour camp, flimsily cordoned off with empty metal lockers placed side by side for the length of the building. One security guard was stationed at the only access point, with only a face mask and occasionally gloves for PPE, and a length of red tape between him and the closest door – some two or three metres away from the more than likely possibility of infection.
Jonathan was among those marked for isolation because of his proximity to a colleague who tested positive for Covid-19. What he thought would be a quick, in and out thing, turned out to be a living nightmare for him & his colleagues.
The room he was moved into had two bunk beds, meaning he had to share the room with three other people. Needless to say, social distancing was not considered, as would be expected in such a situation. This is, after all, the same virus that brought the world to its knees, and, you would think that isolation procedures would be followed to reduce the risk of transmission. Now, I’m no virologist or infectious disease specialist, but that was the logical thing to do, right? But in reality, their wellbeing wasn’t a concern for the company or the client. They later complained about this and the number per room was reduced to three.
Aside from the close quarters, those awaiting swab tests had to use the same washroom facilities as those who had tested positive, increasing their risk of catching the virus. Said facilities were, in fact, not even cleaned, to begin with. They had to endure the unsanitary conditions for a day or two, and it wasn’t until they raised their voice that the washrooms were cleaned. And in this period, by the way, there was no water inside the washroom. So that meant no showers and no flushing of toilets.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was the issue of food. Of all the things the company chose to deny these unfortunate souls, it was most cruel to not give them proper nourishment during this isolation period when they needed it the most. Breakfast was usually two parottas, some vegetable stew, and a boiled egg. Lunch was the same sloppy vegetable stew with rice. Dinner was some subpar, diluted chicken stew with rice, or this meal made from Semolina (for illustration purposes, google Ugali), or rice with some appalling vegetable stew, or rice with two boiled eggs which were somehow fashioned into making some hellish soup. Egg soup? Who does that!? They were never supplied with fruit, and drinking water was never enough, and they had to demand more each day. Imagine being given 1.5L of water to survive on for the whole day. And to aggravate matters, on most days, the food they were served had already gone bad, as was evident in the pungent smell it gave off. So, on some days, they went without eating, as the ‘food’ proved inedible.
Here’s a timeline of the whole thing. On the evening of 20 February, Jonathan and his colleagues were taken into ‘isolation’. They went for their swab test on the afternoon of the 22nd and didn’t get their results, and subsequent freedom, till the afternoon of 28 Feb. Do results really take that long?
An eight-day ordeal, where they faced neglect, where they were exposed to further risks, including infection. Eight days of malnutrition, mistreatment by camp officials, and a deterioration of mental health. Eight days of inaction by the relevant authorities, who I made aware of the situation through a series of tweets. Twitter is a valid medium of contacting authorities, seeing as how everyone is online these days., One institution, PHCC, saw the tweet and never bothered to inquire further.
This eight-day ordeal opened my eyes to how insignificant migrant workers are to the authorities and health institutions. And it’s not like I could call the 16000 hotline and report this. That would mean revealing my identity, which would expose me to retribution. I also couldn’t advise the unfortunate souls to make a formal complaint with ADLSA, as one ILO official ‘advised’ me. This person knew well enough that formal complaints are a no-no because that requires giving up one’s identity as well.
With the ILO being diplomatic, the Ministry of Public Health, the Primary Health Care Corporation, Hamad Medical Corporation, and Qatar Red Crescent Society not wanting anything to do with it, there was nowhere left to turn. In desperation, I even reached out to this well-known public figure, a social media personality who sometimes shows support for human rights, hoping he’d raise awareness, but that was a dead end.
So, there was no option left but for the guards to soldier on for the length of the ordeal. And just like that, all those who conspired to have them in these conditions got away with it. And those responsible for welfare oversight, stood idly by and did nothing – just because the guards, like many other migrant workers, were viewed as having no value whatsoever.
And after getting the results, the following day, on 29 February 2021, they were back to work in their shiny new uniforms at the Msheireb Properties, as if nothing happened.
(These are migrants employed by GSS Certis and contracted to work for Msheireb Properties.)
