Dreams turn nightmare for Nepali woman in S Arabia

KATHMANDU: Forty-five-year-old Ajabun Nesha Dewan’s dream of a rewarding job in Saudi Arabia and a brighter prospect of her kids’ education turned into a nightmare when her landlady threw her out of the 2nd floor of the building. Ajabun has sustained spinal injuries.

Dewan, mother of nine children— fours sons and five daughters aged between 2 and 15 — stayed

in India’s Mumbai before she was flown to Saudi

Arabia on November 7, 2009. Her agent Nabi Dewan, hailing from the same village, had promised her a handsome salary.

“Nabi took Ajabun to Mumbai and Mohammad Arrif escorted her to Saudi Arabia promising her that she would be hired as a caretaker of an elderly woman there. But, she came back home with life-threatening wounds,” Abdullah Dewan— the victim’s husband— told mediapersons at Maiti Nepal today.

As per a medical report, Ajabun was referred to King Fahad Hospital in Soudi city of Hofuf. She was diagnosed with “polytrauma”. Physicians have diagnosed her with “paraplegic”, “brust fracture” and “bilateral fracture calcanenus.” Ajabun is also suffering from mental trauma following the incident. She gets scared if someone approached her. She only says, “I made a mistake, please forgive me” and burst into tears. She can not stand upright and is fit for travel only by plane. It is learnt that the Nepali Embassy in Saudi Arabia is unaware of her situation.

Abdullah demanded the authorities concerned to bring the agents— Nabi and Arrif— to justice.

Chairperson Anuradha Koirala, Maiti Nepal said, “We wouldn’t have seen the plight of Nepali women, if the government signed an MoU with the southern neighbour prohibiting them to fly to other countries via Indian airports,” she added. She was flown to Nepal yesterday.