Sources have stated that Wats’app is helping Indian domestic helps stuck in hostile conditions in the Gulf countries to get back home. A woman from Tamil Nadu, for example, who went to Jeddah to work as a cook, was able to get in touch with an NGO in Chennai and eventually return.
Meanwhile Sister Valarmathi, Tamil Nadu Coordinator, National Domestic Workers Movement has said in the last few months, her group has coordinated in at least three cases through Wats’app and the migrant workers somehow manage to get our number through their families back home and they form groups for each case, including volunteers, journalists and lawyers who are willing to help and guide them.
In one case, where a woman escaped from a household in which she had to cook for 36 persons and also for a catering service run by it, the group managed to guide her to the Indian embassy, where she was beaten up badly and finally a group of volunteers and an advocate has helped her.
Sister Valarmathi has told that even if the person in distress does not have Wats’app, networking with others helps and in some places it is dangerous for migrant workers to use mobile phones and in some camps like in Kuwait, there are restrictions and they need a Minister to deal with issues pertaining to migrant labour.
