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Hope is his only companion

“I finally got a job as a kitchen helper in a restaurant a year ago. But I was never paid on time and had to work 16 hours a day. My employer didn’t give me a single day’s off and I ran away after nine months of working for him,” he says.

Struggling to go back home since the launch of the amnesty programme, Roshan finally managed to raise enough money for his ticket. His sponsor, however, allegedly refused to return his passport unless he paid him some money.

“Initially, I thought the passport would be with the consulate and I checked with the consulate. Since they didn’t have it, I went to the restaurant, hoping my employer would be able to help. However, I was told that the ownership had changed and had to get in touch with the old owner. When I contacted the previous owner, he told me the passport was with him but I had to pay him Dh1,600 to get it back,” he claims.

Roshan said that despite trying to convince him that he had no money, his sponsor did not budge. “I just cannot afford to pay the money and I have to leave the country by the end of the month, before the amnesty period ends. It is so hard to get a passport made in my country and I want it back. I just don’t know how to retrieve it,” he says.

He is determined to go back to Sri Lanka and find work there. Though he had brought with him dreams of earning a decent living, Roshan, like many others, would be going back penniless.

“Hope is his only companion,” he says.

• UAE