Bahrain: Penniless Indian ex-convicts, who have served their prison time in Bahrain but are yet to be deported, will now be given special carry-home kits under a new initiative.
The aim is to restore dignity and bring a little light to the lives of despondent and demoralised men, who often have nothing in the way of worldly possessions.
Hope, as the group behind the idea is appropriately called, wants to present former inmates with the bare necessities of life to take home with them when they return to their families.
It is the brainchild of a collection of Indian community social workers, who were spurred into action by the plight of one man they met at a detention centre.
“We happened to meet a man who had his deportation order and was ready to go home after months in detention,” Hope co-ordinator K R Nair told the GDN.
“He asked us for a bag, but we could see that he didn’t have any belongings and was headed straight to the airport.
“So we asked him what he needed the bag for and what he had to carry.
“He said he had saved some biscuits, chocolates and caramel puddings that were given to him over the months he was in detention, and that he wanted to present them to his children as gifts.
“He said he could not go back empty-handed to his children, but he did not have the means to even take them some chocolates.
“It was such a touching incident that we decided to start this group to help others like this man, who often are forced to leave the country without having anything to their name.”
Each of the group’s 20 founding members has put in BD10 to purchase five of the “carry-home” kits, which Mr Nair estimates will contain BD40 worth of essentials, household items, chocolates and gifts.
“Each month we have a maximum of four to five Indian nationals leaving the country from detention centres and this budget seems to be enough to support them for now,” he said yesterday after a launch event for Hope held at the Green Capsicum Hotel in Salmaniya.
“However, in future we plan to approach businesses such as hypermarkets to support us with these kits.
“We will not be receiving funds but will be open to receiving kits with such items that would be useful for these people.”
Although initially aimed only at the Indian community, Mr Nair said that they were aiming to extend their services to all expatriate ex-convicts, once they were officially registered with the authorities in Bahrain.
“As of now, we will be offering these kits to Indians and as we go forward we will see what could be done for the larger community,” he said.
“We feel this will be a great help to many people as we are attempting to rekindle hope.
“Many of the people, who find themselves in this situation, are often victims of circumstance, but whatever their situation we believe that as expatriates we have the responsibility to share the burden of our fellow men and to help them lighten their load.”
raji@gdn.com.bh
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