Pulpally, Wayanad: Several Indians, including Keralites, who are looking for jobs in Kuwait are stuck there, said nurse Sofia Paulose, who escaped from the confinement of her agent in the Gulf country. Most of them are trapped by travel agents who often work as middlemen.
Sofia was given a Dubai visa by travel agents Rajendran and Mavelikkara-native Vishwambharan of a leading firm at Perinthalmanna. I was received by one Ismail at the airport and was taken to a labour camp in Ajman and everything went wrong from there, Sophia said.
Sofia ended up working as a home nurse even though she was taken to Dubai after accepting the offer for a nurse's job. When she protested she was taken to Kuwait. When she refused to work as a home nurse there too, her mobile phone was snatched away, and was soon locked up in a windowless room. Ten women were staying in the house.
Sofia was asked to cough up Rs 2 lakh when she insisted that she wanted to return to Kerala if she was not given a nurse's job. In Kuwait, two women named Rani and Lakshmi were supervising the operations of Ismail, she said. She was beaten up when she told another agent named Suresh that she would not work as a home nurse. Sofia managed to inform her family members by sending a message using the phone of a woman who had arrived at the agency.
Sofia believes that her escape was made possible through a combination of luck and bravery. From Kuwait, she got a ticket to Ahmedabad via Doha. She informed her family members using the phone of a co-passenger.
